"Feels rigged"— RuPaul's Drag Race fans react to Hormona Lisa being saved due to the Badonka Donk twist

RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 aired episode 2 this week on Friday, January 10, 2025. The segment saw Hormona and Acacia end up in the bottom and had to lipsync to save themselves.

However, Badonka Donk twist was introduced due to which Hormoa, who had lost the lip sync and was set to be eliminated, was given another chance to save herself. She had to pull one of 10 available levers that would either dunk Michele Visage in water or eliminate them. Two of the levers would dunk the reality star, while eight would eliminate the contestant.

Hormona pulled lever number 7 and successfully survived elimination. However, fans of the show were unhappy by the twist and felt that it could have adverse impact on the competition as it would give production a choice on who to eliminate. One person wrote on X:

"Feels rigged, but good for her because it gives her a chance for redemption."

"I feel like no matter who was in the bottom or what lever was pulled ot was always going to be a non elim episode. Like imagine production have 2 random a** non elim episodes because of the dunk tank like....thats too risky for them too take," a fan commented.

"I don't know if it wasn't Hormona, Michelle would've been dunked. There was no way they were gonna let her go first. If Acacia had lost the lipsyncs, she would've been out. I feel like it was probably designed for her," a tweet read.

Fans of RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 called the twist "fake":

"This is so fake LMFAO. They Will choose whoever they want to demain in the competition," a person wrote.

"Y’all do we think this will be a chocolate bar situation. Like when she actually dunked Michelle I was like “ru serious” like that was fast which to me felt very produced. So now that it’s only 1 more chance left I think it’s gonna be for a production fav like the chocolate was," a fan commented.

"They were obviously going to do this to anyone being first eliminated. Just a psych out since it’s harder to gag. They were always going to do 1 REAL pull for production fave," a tweet read.

Fans of RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 further said:

"Does Miss Hormona Lisa hold some compromising information about Rupaul and Michelle Visage ? The bitch didn’t have to go through the regular audition process, landed in the bottom, saved by a twist, then won a Las Vegas Trip ? And for what ? For bombing so hard," a person wrote.

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What happened in RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 episode 2?

In RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 episode 2, the queens were greeted in the werkroom by UK season 2 winner Lawrence Chaney, instead of RuPaul. The alum informed them of their upcoming runway task, "Is It Cake?." She said that they had to come up with a look showcasing their backsides in a fashionable way.

The cast also had to put on a talent show which saw Lexi Love emerging victorious with her roller skates act, while Hormona Lisa faced criticism for her stand-up comedy act. Towards the end of the episode, Lexi Love was declared top queen. As the RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 cast members participated in Rate-A-Queen twist, Hormona found herself in the bottom.

The contestant had to lip sync against last week's bottom contestant, Acacia Forgot as the two lip synced to Yes, And? by Ariana Grande. Although Acacia won the battle, Hormona received another chance to save herself from elimination as RuPaul introduced the Badonka Donk twist.

By successfully dunking Michele Visage in the water, the at-risk contestant Hormona saved herself from being eliminated from RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 episode 2.

However, fans were unhappy with the introduction of the new twist and believed that it gave production a chance to save whoever they wanted to.

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Tune in every Friday at 8 pm ET to watch RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 on MTV.