"Trash choice": RuPaul's Drag Race fans slam judges for sending a “fan-favorite” queen home in season 16

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 episode 5, released on Friday, February 2, sent Amanda Tori Meating packing home, and fans aren't loving it. This exit comes just a week after another fan-favorite contestant, Mirage, was eliminated from the Emmy-winning competition series.

Viewers do not seem happy with the back-to-back elimination of their beloved contestants on the show. Many took to social media to call out the judging panel's critiques, which fans deem highly incorrect. In Amanda's case, many believed she did not lose the lip-sync battle against Q.

In the wake of the consecutive ousting of their favorite queens, a netizen, @_DooleyNoted_, wrote on X:

"Eliminating those girls back-to-back is a reeeeeeeallly trash choice."

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How was Amanda eliminated in RuPaul's Drag Race season 16?

In episode 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race, titled Girl Groups, all the contestants participated in a singing competition. 12 queens were divided into three teams, with Plasma, Sapphira, and Geneva as the captains. The main challenge was to create individual lyrics, write verses, and choreograph their take on RuPaul's songs from the album Black Butta.

The selected tracks were Star Baby, Courage to Love, and A.S.M.R Lover. Drama arose while choosing team members, leaving Megami, the last one standing, picked by Geneva alongside Nymphia and Mhi’ya. Plasma invited her arch-rivals Amanda and Plane Jane into her team with Xunami Muse. Meanwhile, the girl group of Saphhira included Morphine, Q, and Dawn.

Notably, Geneva's team with Megami was considered the weakest, while the team with past winners Plane Jane and Plamsa was deemed the strongest. After judges' critiques without Rate-A-Queen, Geneva's team was announced to be the winner, while the group of past winners fell to the bottom.

Eventually, the bottom two queens of this week were announced to be Q and Amanda, who competed for survival in a lip-sync battle. The contestants performed on Icona Pop's smash-hit Emergency, the Swedish synth-pop duo who were the guest judges in episode 5.

After the lip-sync, the judges eliminated Amanda Tori Meating, the third queen to be sent home on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Last week, Mirage battled with Geneva in the lip-sync segment but was sent home after judges highlighted that she didn't know the lyrics of the song. During an interview with Michelle Visage on Whatcha Packin’, Mirage reflected on her elimination while suggesting the show was nothing less than a joyful ride for her:

"Honestly, that’s part of the reason why I was so gagged because I was having a great time. It was really fun and then it felt like a rug was pulled out under me."

She also accepted that not knowing the lyrics during the lip-sync battle was her mistake.

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Fans criticise the judges' criticism on RuPaul's Drag Race season 16

After Mirage's exit, the elimination of Amanda Tori Meating came as a shocker for fans. As season 16 progressed, both queens quickly amassed significant support for them. A section of viewers on X can't fathom the back-to-back ousting of their favorite queen.

While some are having a hard time processing the news, many have condemned the judges for passing alleged unacceptable critiques.

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In the next episode, the 11 remaining queens will return to compete in a DollHouse contest, tasked with designing a doll that represents their drag personas. RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 episode 6 will be released on Friday, February 9 at 8 pm ET on MTV.