Home » Television » RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: Heavens To Betsey!

RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE: Heavens To Betsey!

Posted on March 02, 2025

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As the OG Project Runway recappers and the OG Drag Race recappers, of course we’re thrilled whenever the show unleashes another sewing challenge on the dolls. Maybe it’s due to the challenge being one of our faves or maybe we’re just getting a little soft-brained in response to current events, but it occurred to us while watching this episode play out that we’re kind of enjoying this season of Drag Race.

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Is that damning it with faint praise? Sure, but we’re on the seventeenth season here. It’s nearly impossible for any show to remain fresh for that long, which means the last few seasons, while fine, haven’t been particularly memorable. Don’t get us wrong; we don’t think this one’s going to go down in the record books as an epic season. The only thing it’s likely to be remembered for in the long term is that train wreck of a Snatch Game.

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But this is a likeable crew of queens and even if the format of the show has mold growing all over it, it’s never a bad time watching a bunch of drag queens just be a bunch of drag queens. We suspect the show’s Emmy wins are likely to stay in its rearview mirror but we have to give credit to the producers of Drag Race. They devised a format that can coast on fumes for another decade. Sometimes, you just want to watch a bunch of queens make dresses and kiki.

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Or maybe we’re just feeling kindly at the moment. It’ll probably pass. The Library challenge is always fun, but in recent years it’s become so highly edited (roughly ten seconds is devoted to each queen, if that) that it’s nearly impossible to gauge who did the best job. Sure, give it to Suzie.

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The queens broke themselves up into three groups based on three Betsey Johnson runway collections, from which they’re meant to take inspiration. It’s VERY Project Runway in tone; skipping right past the stagewear of most DIY Drag challenges and tasking the queens with embracing a specifically fashion vibe.

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In related news, Lexi is the very definition of a drama queen. We don’t mean that in a bad way at all. She has extremely telegenic meltdowns in practically every challenge, then pulls herself together and gets on with it. She’s reality TV gold. It was sweet of Sam to devote the time to bucking her up.

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Ru brought Betsey in to consult with the queens, which is exactly the kind of expertise-based coaching we’ve been asking for, except all of her advice amounted to “Rock out” or “Just go for it.”

 

PUNK GRUNGE FLAPPERS

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We weren’t as in love with Jewels’ look as the judges were. It made a fabulous drag costume, but it didn’t feel very high-fashion to us with all of that muppet fur. Still, the styling is gorgeous and the way she uses the spikes and grommets was inspired. Lydia’s look was typical Butthole: wildly overdesigned to the point of obscuring her. She piles so much onto her drag that you never know where to look. There’s a way to do thoughtful maximalism in design, but she just throws everything at her dress form. As per the usual, we were not nearly as impressed with Suzie’s output as Suzie was. It wasn’t a bad blend of rocker and flapper, but the styling was pretty stale and the aesthetic didn’t look like Betsey Johnson.

PRENUP

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Arietty is clearly a very talented designer and her piece was beautifully executed. The problem is that it doesn’t embody the Betsey Johnson aesthetic at all. Sam’s was a surprisingly mediocre effort, working a total cliche of a look. We were genuinely taken back by how not-great it was, given how polished she usually is. For our money, Lexi was the hands-down winner of this one. That was a pure high-fashion runway moment. She may not be a designer in her mind, but she’s a hell of a stylist.

 

BETSEY’S PROM

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The minute Kori said that she couldn’t bring herself to wear a gown even after RuPaul warned her about it, we knew she was going home. The delulu has been strong with this one. She’s fun and occasionally funny, but she’s had an insane amount of unearned confidence in this competition. Her dress was terrible. We were surprised by how bad Onya’s turned out. Girl, you couldn’t even make a halfway decent bow? Her styling was insanely good, though. It probably saved her. Lana’s look was really cute and her Covid backstory had us thinking she was a shoo-in for the win.

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It wouldn’t have been our choice, but she does look gorgeous, it has to be said.

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You could argue that the producers put the love connection queens in the lip sync for the pure drama of the moment, but from where we’re sitting, we don’t think there were two more deserving queens to be in the bottom. Maybe they should’ve devoted less time on their kai kai and more time on their drag. Either way…

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They gave the producers exactly what they wanted. It was a genuinely fun lip sync moment. Not perhaps an epic one, but a highly entertaining one.

 

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We don’t know if Kori did a worse job in that lip sync, but it was very much time to send her home. The judges like queens who listen to them. It’s amazing that there are still queens who don’t get that after all this time.

 

 

Legendary Children: The First Decade of RuPaul’s Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life, a New York Times “New and Notable” pick, praised by The Washington Post “because the world needs authenticity in its stories,” and chosen as one of the Best Books of The Year by NPR is on sale wherever fine books are sold!   It’s also available in Italian and Spanish language editions, darlings! Because we’re fabulous on an INTERNATIONAL level.

 

[Photo Credit: MTV via Tom and Lorenzo]

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