Who won RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17? Finale explored

The RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 finale aired on April 18, 2025, and crowned the winner of the season, also known as America's Next Drag Superstar. The four remaining queens entering the finale were Jewels Sparkles, Onya Nurve, Leci Love, and Sam Star.

By the end of the season, Onya Nurve was the queen who took home $200,000 in prize money. She has built a strong persona and performance through all the tasks and challenges, and it is only fair that she wins the title and prize money.

Ru revealed the format for the finale at the beginning of the episode. It was supposed to feature the four queens doing a lip sync on their own song, which would include their own vocals.

Based on this performance, Ru would select two queens to compete head-to-head against each other. RuPaul's Drag Race winner was to be crowned after that. The judges for this episode were Ru, Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, and Jamal Sims. Later, the competition also featured an appearance from Liza Minnelli.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 17 finale - What led to Onya Nurve winning the season?

Starting with Jewels, she performed the song "ding," which leaned towards comical lyrics. Michelle appreciated this aspect as she took a unique approach.

Second to take the stage on RuPaul's Drag Race was Lexi Love, who used her roller skating charms to impress the judges. Judges agreed that her performance was fun to see. Lexi said that if she won this show, she would love to use her platform to do something better for the community.

The third blockbuster lip sync was delivered by Queen Onya Nurve. She played well with the words in her name and spun the lyrics to highlight everything she has achieved so far. She was even able to impress the judges with her "it factor" and had all the answers ready for their questions.

The last performance of the night was by Sam Star. She incorporated pageant energy into her lip sync along with some classic tricks. During her interview, Sam tried to convince Ru to give queens from small towns like hers a chance to showcase their talents.

RuPaul's Drag Race stars Jewels and Onya were thus selected to compete in the final round against each other. Sam and Lexi were given a consolation prize of $10,000.

The last round saw the two queens attempting to prove their worth one last time. They did a lip sync battle of the last song Lady Gaga released, "Abracadabra."

Onya understood the real choreography of the music video done by the singer and incorporated that into her performance. As for Jewels, she tried to make it more personal by having outfit reveals and ultimately, got dressed as Catwoman.

By the end of the episode, after creating a lot of suspense, Ru finally crowned Onya Nurve as the winner of RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17. She is taking home the $200,000 prize along with the title of America's Next Drag Superstar.

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RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 is available to stream online via Paramount Plus.

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