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Onya Nurve

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Onya Nurve is an American drag performer and one of the contestants on the seventeenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race.

Onya would later be crowned America's Next Drag Superstar at the finale.

About[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17[]

Smashburger cook by day, enchanting and in-demand drag artist by night. Onya Nurve got bitten by the performance bug in high school, and took an artistic career path to drag via a BFA in Painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art. A comedic actress as well as being able to belt out a tune, Onya represents a real threat in this competition![2]

Drag Name Origin[]

Onya's drag name was given to her from her brother, as both a reference to their mother's name and as a play on "on your nerve".[4]

Track Records[]

Seasons Competed: USA Season 17
Ranking: 1st Place
(Winner)
Maxi Challenges Won: 4 (Eps. 4, 7, 11, 12)
Mini Challenges Won: 2 (Eps. 6, 13)
Times as Team Captain: 0
Times in Bottom Two: 1 (Ep. 13)
Episode Eliminated: N/A

Memorable Quotes[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17[]

  • "Well, it do take Nurve." (entrance quote)
  • "It's your girl, Onya Nurve, AKA Onyanetta, AKA Miss Nurve if you're nasty, and bitch, I'm from Cleveland!"
  • "I'm not about to ask no bitch for something that I need, and we're supposed to be sharing.” (Trying to justify stealing Jewels Sparkles’s materials)
  • "I was in the top and they were bothered!" (about Crystal and Jewels)
  • "Be mad while I eat." (about Crystal)
  • "I'M OWNING IT NOW!" (To Lexi)
  • "They said 'Lynch', I got nervous." (referring to Lydia's Snatch Game character)
  • "This next entertainer has the comedic timing of a cancer diagnosis." (in The Villains Roast)
  • "You might also recognize them as the cast of 'STD: The Rusical'!" (to Plane Jane, Kandy Muse and Mistress Isabelle Brooks in The Villains Roast)
  • "Eat that up, piggie." (after winning the Episode 13 mini challenge)
  • "Hell yeah! It do take Nurve!" (Winning speech)

Trivia[]

  • Onya got her BFA in painting from the Cleveland Institute of Art.[2]
  • She won the title of Mx. Zephyr in the first Zephyr Drag Takeover competition in 2022.[5]
  • Onya was the 2024 inaugural ArtReach fellow for Haus of Transcendent, a Cleveland-based LGBTQ nonprofit.[6]
  • Prior to appearing on Drag Race, she worked at Doinks Burger Joint in the Waterloo Arts District of Cleveland, OH as a cook.[2]
  • She has two drag kids, Ariyah Fuego and Bia Jewel.[6]
  • Onya is a Gemini sun, Leo moon and Leo rising.[7]
  • Onya is the first and only queen on Season 17 to achieve 4 Main Challenge Wins.
  • Onya is the first queen to win a Singing Challenge, after a gap of 10 years, following Ginger Minj.
    • Coincidentally, both queens won both a Singing Challenge and Snatch Game on their original seasons and won US Drag Race Seasons in 2025 with 4 wins each on their winning seasons.
  • Onya and Jewels Sparkles are the third pair of queens to have survived a Double Shantay that would go on to become the Top 2 of their season, and ultimately lip-sync against each other again in the final Lip-Sync for the Crown, after Yvie Oddly and Brooke Lynn Hytes on Season 11 and Symone and Kandy Muse on Season 13.

Gallery[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17 Looks[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 18[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 18 Looks[]

Videos[]

RuPaul's Drag Race Season 17[]

Filmography[]

TV[]

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2025 RuPaul's Drag Race (Season 17) Self Contestant (Placed 1st) [2]

Discography[]

Year Title Artwork
2025 In and Out InAndOutArtwork
2025 Put Your Lighters Up BitchI'mADragQueenVolume2
2025 It's Got Soul TheWickedWizofOzTheRusical
2025 It Do Take Nurve ItDoTakeNurve

External Links[]

References[]

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