New year, new Ru!
Season 17 of RuPaul’s Drag Race premieres this Friday, Jan. 3, and PEOPLE has an exclusive preview the season opener. You can watch the first 10 minutes above.
The 14 new queens are put right to the test as they’re picked up in mysterious unmarked vans and driven to a secret location, where they are lined up behind a set of double doors.
As the doors open, they learn they are competing in the Squirrel Games, a parody of Netflix’s Squid Game. The first challenge, called “Ru Light, Green Light,” will test the queens’ ability to strike a fierce pose and freeze when the music stops.
Inspired by the Korean drama’s infamous “Red Light, Green Light” game, if the Lil’ Pound Cake statue detects any movement after turning around, the queen is pied and eliminated!
Monitoring the action from above and pushing the buttons is a masked RuPaul, a nod to Squid Game’s enigmatic Front Man.
Joining the new queens for the Squirrel Games are Drag Race alums including previous All Stars winners Angeria Paris VanMichaels, Trinity the Tuck and other fan favorites including Kerri Colby and Morgan McMichaels.
Fans of the long-running, Emmy-winning competition series will also recognize Victoria “Porkchop” Parker amongst the crowd, the first queen ever eliminated way back in season 1 (2009). Porkchop is the first one pied during the Squirrel Games, an homage to the special place she holds in Drag Race history.
In the drag community, “squirrel” is play on the word “girl,” and queens affectionately call each other “squirrel friends.” Squirrels are known for hiding their nuts, and its common practice for drag queens to “tuck” to achieve a more feminine shape.
The queens who survive “Ru Light, Green Light” and advance to the Werk Room are: Acacia Forgot (Los Angeles); Arrietty (Seattle); Crystal Envy (Asbury Park, N.J.); Hormona Lisa (Chattanooga, Tenn.); Jewels Sparkles (Tampa, Fla.); Joella (Los Angeles); Kori King (Boston); Lana Ja’Rae (New York); Lexi Love (Louisville, Ky.); Lucky Starzzz (Miami); Lydia B Kollins (Pittsburgh); Onya Nurve (Cleveland, Ohio); Sam Star (Leeds, Ala.); and Suzie Toot (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.).
Later in the preview, fans are introduced to the first batch of queens, including one who describes her drag as “avant stoopid” and another who calls herself an “elusive elven deity.”