diff --git a/changelog/james-prysm_skip-e2e-slot1-check.md b/changelog/james-prysm_skip-e2e-slot1-check.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..c40b16a7dc
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog/james-prysm_skip-e2e-slot1-check.md
@@ -0,0 +1,3 @@
+### Changed
+
+- e2e sync committee evaluator now skips the first slot after startup, we already skip the fork epoch for checks here, this skip only applies on startup, due to altair always from 0 and validators need to warm up.
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/testing/endtoend/evaluators/validator.go b/testing/endtoend/evaluators/validator.go
index aed605ba59..8f782c11d3 100644
--- a/testing/endtoend/evaluators/validator.go
+++ b/testing/endtoend/evaluators/validator.go
@@ -262,6 +262,11 @@ func validatorsSyncParticipation(_ *types.EvaluationContext, conns ...*grpc.Clie
 			// Skip fork slot.
 			continue
 		}
+		// Skip slot 1 at genesis - validators need time to ramp up after chain start.
+		// This is a startup timing issue, not a fork transition issue.
+		if b.Block().Slot() == 1 {
+			continue
+		}
 		expectedParticipation := expectedSyncParticipation
 		switch slots.ToEpoch(b.Block().Slot()) {
 		case params.BeaconConfig().AltairForkEpoch: