Drag Race season 14 first eliminated

Drag Race finally brought back first out queens, and WHY has it never done this before?

Proof that getting a season of all the first eliminated queens is not a want, but a need


On RuPaul’s Drag Race, being the first eliminated queen has always been in its own way an absolutely iconic rite of passage. Ever since Victoria “Porkchop” Parker infamously became the first ever queen to be told to sashay away, so many queens have followed in her footsteps. Some, like Alisa Summers, nobody has heard from since she walked out the Werk Room. Others, like the inimitable Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, become some of the most loved and acclaimed Drag Race alumni in herstory. For this week’s Drag Race season 14 first eliminated episode, the franchise celebrated three of its first out queens in a good humoured mock advert that had me wondering why on earth they’d never done this before.

But first, a moment for Kornbread

I don’t think it’s actually sunk in yet that Kornbread has left the competition. The news that she had hurt her ankle and could no longer compete was clearly a shock to every queen in that work room, as well as every viewer at home. Particularly because we never saw Ru tell Kornbread on the main stage that it would be being consulted on by a doctor like we had with queens like Eureka and Victoria Scone. It was clear the girls loved her, Willow especially looked devastated. Kornbread coming back for next season is not a want, but a need. She deserves it so much.

This challenge was SO fun

No one said it better than Monet and Alaska on this week’s Pit Stop, going home first is iconic, it’s going home second that’s the kiss of death. To celebrate the funniest first three out, Drag Race brought back Tempest DuJour, Jaymes Mansfield and Kahmora Hall – and all three of the queens brought so much to the episode. It was an absolute delight to have them back, each doing something funny and special in their own way.

I’ve always been the biggest Tempest fan – I did NOT want her to go home first on season seven. Clearly, Kandy ate her up in that lip sync and her nude illusion look was dreadful, so I fully get why the early out happened. I just wanted to see so much of her, and having her back was everything. Jaymes Mansfield seemed so unsure of herself on season nine, but this time she was on great form and her confessionals killed me off. Kahmora Hall seemed to have also grown in the best ways since season 13, taking herself less seriously but still managing to be so immaculate on the runway. She is Chicago’s Mackie dorlllll after all!

One of the best runways… ever?

Okay, hear me out. Every single look on the runway completely understood the assignment, and even when it was a look that wasn’t to my taste (DeJa Skye) it felt thought out and relevant. Jorgeous looked absolutely immaculate, even more so when she gobbled up Orion and left not a crumb in sight when she lip synced the house DOWN to My Head And My Heart. Which, side note, is THEE greatest song ever made. Daya Betty looked perfect in a Björk-esque butterfly look, Maddy looked really good even if her makeup was terrible and Willow Pill? WILLOW PILL?  That crown might as well just be given to her now. Consistent, diverse, versatile. Smashing it every time.

How the hell have they never done this challenge before?

I’m genuinely speechless that Drag Race production have never done this first eliminated return challenge prior to season 14, because it got to play to the best of the franchise’s campy strengths. What is really great about RuPaul’s Drag Race is its enduring love for the queens who came before – no matter where they place. It celebrates and makes irreverent fun out of a poor placement that could be hard for queens to deal with. But this show has never lost its ability to make even its lowest performing queens feel like absolute stars. The loss of Kornbread aside, season 14 is proving to be a lot of fun.

Catch up on the first eliminated queens returning to RuPaul’s Drag Race season 14 by streaming in the UK on Wow Presents PlusFor all the latest Drag Race memes and Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.

Recommended stories by this writer:

15 amazing queens we need to see on season two of Drag Race: UK Versus the World

• Choriza May and River Medway break silence on RuPaul’s worst decision in Drag Race history

• ‘By the time I left, I didn’t want to be there’: Charity Kase on her Drag Race UK journey