Michelle Visage; RuPaul; Onya Nurve on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 episode 15.
A new Queen of She Done Already Done Had Herses has been crowned!
MTV
Michelle Visage; RuPaul; Onya Nurve on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 episode 15.
Editor’s note: This article contains spoilers for episode 15, titled “LalapaRuza Smackdown Reunited,” of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17.
The time indeed came for season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race to feature its very own Lip Sync LaLaPaRuZa Smackdown (instead of a reunion episode) with all of the eliminated queens from the season. The episode started with RuPaul throwing her coat to the floor, doing her favorite Blair St. Clair move, saying hi to mainstay judges Michelle Visage and Ts Madison, and announcing the new WOW Presents Plus series hosted by Pit Crew legend Bruno Alcantara, cheekily titled Happy Endings with Bruno.
The top four queens of the season — Jewels Sparkles, Lexi Love, Onya Nurve, and Sam Star — came in looking absolutely stunning just to say a brief hello to the queens they had beat in the competition. A special shoutout goes to Onya Nurve for referencing the instantly iconic Thom Browne outfit worn by Doechii at the 2025 Grammy Awards. The NURVE to pull this off with such great execution… you have to stan.
As the top four finalists left the Drag Race stage, Ru announced the beginning of this Lip Sync LaLaPaRuZa Smackdown.
Hormona Lisa vs. Lydia B Kollins (Lip Sync 1)
MTVHormona Lisa and Lydia B Kollins on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 episode 15.
The very first ball drawn by Bruno was marked with Hormona Lisa’s name. Following that announcement, a new reveal was announced: the queen whose name was drawn had the option to pick which queen she wanted to go up against… or pick the song she wanted to lip sync to.
Hormona exercised her choice in the lip sync song: “Say Liza (Liza with a ‘Z’)” by Liza Minnelli. Bruno went on to draw another ball, which was marked with the name Lydia B Kollins.
The expectations were high for Lydia who — despite the failed reveal involving scissors — had been one of the strongest lip sync performers of the season. Hormona had the potential to surprise the judges with new tricks… and though she tried to pull off some goops and gags, she just wasn’t able to outperform Lydia.
As the lip sync ended, Lydia moved onto the next round.
Joella vs. Suzie Toot (Lip Sync 2)
MTVJoella and Suzie Toot on RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 episode 15.
If you’ve ever forgotten the Ella, you’re doing not drag.
A ball with Suzie Toot’s name was drawn by Bruno, and the tap-dancing queen chose Joella as her opponent. In turn, the Slaysian Diva of Los Angeles picked “Training Season” by Dua Lipa as their lip sync song.
As expected, Joella served her pop star fantasy on the stage and paid no mind to her opponent. But that turned out to be quite a big mistake given that Miss Suzie was gagging the entire room (queens and judges alike) with a performance that drew people in, allowed her to show off new moves, and culminated in a post-reveal look that might as well have been a character in Love Lies Bleeding.
Suzie got a SHOOT from Ru and moved on to her next lip sync. Unfortunately, judges and fans had to bid goodbye to Joella (ella, ella) once more.
