Katy Perry Is Sashaying Onto the ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 17 Premiere
The pop star joins a packed slate of guest judges including Doechii, Sam Smith, Adam Lambert and more.
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To paraphrase the great RuPaul Charles: “Hit ’em with your KatyCatwalk.”
In an announcement on Thursday (Dec. 12), RuPaul’s Drag Race revealed that pop star Katy Perry will appear as a guest judge on the premiere episode of the reality competition series’ upcoming new season. A trailer released alongside the announcement shows Perry in full guest-judge mode, applauding one of the queens on their performance. “She ate, she chewed, she swallowed,” Perry says in the new clip.
Perry joins a stacked cast of guest judges for the upcoming season, featuring music stars Doechii, Sam Smith and Adam Lambert, as well as other celebrity guests including Sandra Bernhard, Hunter Schafer, Quinta Brunson, Law Roach, Tracee Ellis Ross and plenty more.
The new trailer also clued Drag Race fans into the latest twist in the Drag Race format: Along with bringing back season 16’s “Rate-a-Queen” ranking system, season 17 will also feature the aptly named Badonka Dunk Tank. After each Lip Sync for Your Life, the eliminated queen will get the opportunity to try and dunk Michelle Visage into the tank by pulling one of 10 levers; if they succeed, the queen gains immunity and is spared from elimination. Or, as Ru poetically puts it in the clip: “If you dunk Michelle, you Badonka Dunk your way back into the competition.”
Just last week, the show unveiled the official cast for season 17, which is comprised of 14 drag stars vying for the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar, and a cash prize of $200,000. The show will feature Acacia Forgot, Arrietty, Crystal Envy, Hormona Lisa, Jewels Sparkles, Joella, Kori King, Lana Ja’Rae, Lexi Love, Lucky Starzzz, Lydia B Kollins, Onya Nurve, Sam Star and Suzie Toot.
The season 17 premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race airs Friday, Jan. 3, on MTV at 8 p.m. ET. Watch the full trailer above.
