The Pork Chop

"The Pork Chop"
RuPaul's Drag Race episode
Episode no.Season 13
Episode 1
Featured music
Original air dateJanuary 1, 2021 (2021-01-01)

"The Pork Chop" is the first episode of the thirteenth season of the American television series RuPaul's Drag Race. It originally aired on January 1, 2021. The episodes sees a new group of contestants face-off in a series of lip-sync contests. It received nominations in the Outstanding Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program and Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program categories at the 73rd Primetime Emmy Awards.

Episode

Thirteen new contestants enter the Werk Room. For the main challenge, the contestants face-off in a series of six Lip-Sync for Your Life contests.[1] Joining RuPaul and Michelle Visage on the judging panel are Carson Kressley and Ross Mathews. Following are the contests and results:

The seven losing contestants are tasked with voting someone out of the competition.[2]

Production and impact

The episode's title refers to Victoria "Porkchop" Parker, the first contestant to be eliminated on the first season of Drag Race.[3][4]

According to Gay Times, Denali "serv[ed] kicks, flips and splits" while wearing ice skates.[5] After the episode aired, Denali shared a video of her ice skating and lip-syncing to "When I Grow Up".[5] The video received approximately 1.2 million views by March 2021.[6]

The episode's airing resulted in "Rumors" becoming a "trending topic" on Twitter and seeing an increase of steams by 264.97 percent, according to Variety.[7]

Fashion

Joey Jay wore a red bodysuit or leotard with "voluminous" chicken feather sleeves,[8] garters, and red beaded high-heeled boots. The outfit shed during the lip-sync contest. Jennifer Goldberg of the Phoenix New Times said Joey Jay's outfit "wasn't exactly conducive, it turned out, to an impromptu performance".[9]

Reception

Kate Kulzick of The A.V. Club gave the episode a rating of 'A-'[10] and said it "was exciting and fun, subverting expectations and keeping the queens on their toes".[11] Kevin O'Keeffee of Xtra Magazine wrote, "It will come as no surprise that I love this premiere, the best in five years. It's my favourite regular-season premiere since Season 8, and my favourite including the spinoffs since All Stars 2. It's fast-paced, fun, genuinely surprising and gives us a lot of hope for what could come next."[12] Evan Hecht of The Diamondback said fans have referred to the episode's challenge as "RuPaul's Stanford prison experiment".[13]

Stephen Daw included the "When I Grow Up" contest in Billboard's 2022 list of ten lip-syncs on the show "that were highway robbery". He wrote, "Both queens absolutely killed this lip sync, no doubt. But let's make one thing clear — Denali did it while wearing literal blades on her feet. Lip syncing in ice skates on a stage (not made out of ice, mind you) without tripping or falling is a ridiculous accomplishment on Denali's part, and one that should have been acknowledged with a win."[14] Sam Damshenas of Gay Times said the episode was the season's best in 2023.[15] He also said Denali "killed" her lip-sync"[5] and Tina Burner's performance of "Lady Marmalade" was among moments that earned her "rave reviews".[16]

Paul McCallion of Vulture gave the episode a rating of three out of five stars.[17] The website's Justin Curto said the lip-sync to "The Pleasure Principle" was the season's "diva moment", with both contestants successfully "competing to embody the diva at hand".[18] Rodney Ho of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution said Tamisha Iman "pulled off very respectable Janet Jackson dance moves" during the performance.[19] Curto said "Rumors" was the season's "song we've been waiting to hear" and opined, "Just imagine the shrieks you would've heard if the gay bars had been open."[18]

Accolades

The episode earned Curtis Foreman and Ryan Randall nominations in the Outstanding Hairstyling for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program category and David "Raven" Petruschin, Nicole Faulkner, and Jen Fregozo nominations in the Outstanding Makeup for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program category at the 73rd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards.[20]

References

  1. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race season 13: Queens ranked after The Pork Chop". Metro. DMG Media. January 2, 2021. ISSN 1469-6215. OCLC 225917520. Archived from the original on December 22, 2025. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  2. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 13 Episode 1 Recap: The Pork Chop". IN Magazine. January 2, 2021. Wikidata Q137301748.
  3. ^ ""RuPaul's Drag Race" Episode 1301 Recap: Racers Start Your Engines". Autostraddle. January 2, 2021. Wikidata Q137301759.
  4. ^ Yomi Adegoke (February 11, 2021). "'No queen is a loser': why RuPaul's Drag Race is a tender balm in lockdown". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Wikidata Q137301781.
  5. ^ a b c "Drag Race season 13 star Denali shares fierce new lip sync to When I Grow Up". Gay Times. January 4, 2021. ISSN 0950-6101. Wikidata Q137301803.
  6. ^ "Exclusive: Denali addresses her controversial Drag Race elimination". Gay Times. March 15, 2021. ISSN 0950-6101. Wikidata Q137303489.
  7. ^ "Lindsay Lohan and Crystal Waters See Streaming Surges Following 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Lip Syncs". Variety. February 26, 2021. ISSN 0042-2738. Wikidata Q137301805.
  8. ^ "'Never had a queen like me': How Joey Jay from Phoenix is doing on 'RuPaul's Drag Race'". The Arizona Republic. ISSN 0892-8711. Wikidata Q137301810.
  9. ^ "Drag Race's Joey Jay on TV Stardom, the Politics of Drag, and His Love for the Phoenix Scene". Phoenix New Times. January 20, 2021. ISSN 0279-3962. Wikidata Q137301828.
  10. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race kicks off season 13 with goops and gags, courtesy of "The Pork Chop"". The A.V. Club. January 2, 2021. Wikidata Q137301860.
  11. ^ "The Pork Chop queens take center stage in RuPaul's Drag Race's third, hopefully final premiere". The A.V. Club. January 16, 2021. Wikidata Q137301867.
  12. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 13 premiere recap: Welcome, and goodbye". Xtra Magazine. January 1, 2021. ISSN 0829-3384. Wikidata Q137301896.
  13. ^ "Everything you need to know before the RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 finale". The Diamondback. April 23, 2021. Wikidata Q137303500.
  14. ^ "10 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Lip Syncs That Were Highway Robbery". Billboard. March 3, 2022. ISSN 0006-2510. Wikidata Q137301952.
  15. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race: The best episode from each iconic season". Gay Times. February 28, 2023. ISSN 0950-6101. Wikidata Q137301911.
  16. ^ "Exclusive: Tina Burner reflects on shock Drag Race elimination". Gay Times. March 29, 2021. ISSN 0950-6101. Wikidata Q137301942.
  17. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race Recap: Pair of Queens". Vulture. January 1, 2021. Wikidata Q137301901.
  18. ^ a b "This Was the Best Lip-Sync Season of RuPaul's Drag Race". Vulture. April 23, 2021. Wikidata Q137301903.
  19. ^ "Atlanta reality contestants: Rachael Kirkconnell ('The Bachelor,') Tamisha Iman, Lala Ri ('RuPaul's Drag Race'), Syann Williams ('Hell's Kitchen')". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. January 7, 2021. ISSN 1539-7459. Wikidata Q137301923.
  20. ^ "73rd Emmy Awards Complete Nominations List" (PDF). Academy of Television Arts & Sciences. Archived (PDF) from the original on December 22, 2024. Retrieved December 9, 2025 – via Deadline Hollywood.

External media

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.