By Giulia Gutzwiller, Staff Writer

Episode seven of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 aired on Feb. 14, featuring one of the show’s most iconic challenges: The Snatch Game. This episode sparked controversy as it left many viewers questioning the judging criteria and the quality of the contestants’ performances.  

Each season, contestants compete in the Snatch Game challenge, during which they impersonate famous characters, celebrities or public figures. This challenge is inspired by the 1960s game show “Match Game.” Not only do contestants have to physically resemble their celebrity of choice, but they must also answer questions as their character all while entertaining the judges. 

Impressing the judges with a captivating and memorable Snatch Game performance can help a contestant go far in the competition, but a bad performance can lead to possible elimination. In this season’s Snatch Game episode, the majority of the 11 remaining contestants delivered performances that did not live up to the judges’ or audience’s expectations. 

Onya Nurve won the Snatch Game this season with her spot-on impersonation of Eddie Murphy. Although she impressed the judges, many viewers thought her performance was too simple and that she was only able to pull off a win because of the judges’ favoritism towards her. In addition to her Snatch Game victory, she strutted an elaborate outfit for the “Nailed It” runway challenge, maintaining her top spot in the competition.  

Lexi Love, who had been impressing the judges consistently throughout the season, dropped the ball with her Snatch Game performance. She impersonated Gilbert Gottfried, but frequently broke character, did not have many jokes prepared and judges said did not sound like the well-known comedian. Despite this, she managed to entertain the judges with her execution of the character and earned herself a safe placement for the episode. Viewers also called attention to how the judges’ favoritism towards Lexi Love saved her from a spot in the bottom two. 

Some other lackluster performances from this episode include Crystal Envy as Nicole Richie, Arrietty as Cupid, Acacia Forgot as Trisha Paytas and Lana Ja’Rae as Rosa Parks. Many of these contestants jokes were accused of not preparing enough or relying relied on one aspect of their character to poke fun at. 

Lana Ja’Rae and Crystal Envy’s performances landed them in the bottom two spots for this episode. After they competed in an intense, high-stakes lip-sync battle to “Hands To Myself” by Selena Gomez, Lana Ja’Rae shantay stayed in the competition while Crystal Envy sashayed away.  

While this controversy has sparked a conversation about many fans’ issues with the show, it has also drawn a lot of attention to the series and is enticing viewers for upcoming episodes.