RuPaul's Drag Race

RuPaul's Drag Race
Genre	Reality competition
Directed by	Ian Stevenson
Judges	RuPaul Charles Santino Rice Michelle Visage (2011–present) Merle Ginsberg (2009–10)
Country of origin	United States
Original language(s)	English
No. of seasons	6
No. of episodes	71 (as of May 6, 2013)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Brent Zacky David Cortez Fenton Bailey Mandy Salangsang Pamela Post Randy Barbato RuPaul Charles Steven Corfe Tom Campbell
Camera setup	Multiple
Running time	42 to 48 minutes
Production company(s)	World of Wonder Productions
Broadcast
Original channel	Logo
Picture format	480i (SDTV) 1080i (HDTV)
Original run	February 2, 2009 (2009-02-02) – present
Chronology
Related shows	RuPaul's Drag U
External links
Website

RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality competition television series produced by World of Wonder for Logo. RuPaul plays host, mentor and inspiration for this series, which details RuPaul's search for "America's next drag superstar."

The show was greenlit in May 2008, according to a press release by MTV Networks. It premiered in the U.S. on February 2, 2009 on Logo. It premiered in Canada on the MuchMore network on February 15, 2009. The show also airs at 9:00 pm Eastern Time on the VH1 network. On March 12, 2013, RuPaul's Drag Race was renewed for a sixth season.

The show was marked as the most watched series on Logo in its first season, and it became the most streamed series ever on LogoTV.com during its second. The title of the show is a play on drag queen and drag racing, with the title sequence and theme song "Drag Race" both having a drag racing theme.

Format

Casting calls are announced online, where prospective contestants submit audition tapes in hopes of being cast. All contestants selected must be 21 years of age or older at the time of taping. While sexual orientation is not important, to date, most contestants have been gay men. Transgender women are eligible to win, and have become more common as seasons have progressed. Sonique (a season two contestant) became the series' first transgender contestant when revealed her status as transgender during her season's reunion special, while Monica Beverly Hillz became the first transgender woman to reveal her status during the competition in season five. The remaining transgender contestants have entered the competition as biologically male, but then began transitioning after their elimination. Season three contestant Carmen Carrera announced her own transition during an episode of ABC's Primetime: What Would You Do?, and Season 4 contestant Kenya Michaels announced her own transition via Facebook and Twitter.

RuPaul plays dual roles in the show. USA Today's Lifeline explains: "RuPaul the drag queen will be the final word in judging and eliminations, while RuPaul the man will offer guidance to contestants for each challenge." RuPaul's Drag Race uses progressive elimination to reduce the initial field of drag queens (which was established as including fourteen in the fifth season) down to three before the final challenge. Each episode (with the exception of the casting special, "recap" episode, and reunion special) follows a format consisting of a mini challenge, a main challenge, a runway walk (where the contestants model fashion on a runway, usually in a theme based on the main challenge), and the judging panel.

Mini challenges

In the mini challenge, each contestant is asked to perform a different task with varying requirements and time limitations. Special mini challenges sometimes repeat themselves across seasons. For instance, the first mini challenge of each season is a photo shoot with photographer Mike Ruiz that includes some kind of special twist (such as being doused with water while in full drag, having a high-powered fan turned on during the shoot, or being photographed while jumping on a trampoline). A mini challenge is also dedicated to "reading," which is a drag term referring to insulting one's peers based on observation for comedic effect. The winner of the mini challenge is sometimes rewarded with some kind of advantage in the main challenge. An example of such an advantage would be the one given prior to the "make over challenge," where contestants must put a random individual with characteristics atypical of a drag queen (like elderly men or masculine, male athletes) into drag. The winner of the mini challenge given during these episodes is allowed to choose the guest they'll be making over, and also gets to pair their competitors with the guests that they'll be working with.

Main challenges

The requirements of the main challenge vary across each episode, are usually individual challenges (though group challenges do occur in each season), and initially grant immunity to the winner (until RuPaul announces the discontinuation of that policy mid-season). The winner of the main challenge receives a special prize for their win. In the past, challenge winners have been rewarded with custom designer clothing, cruises, and quality cosmetic items.

RuPaul has jokingly said of the show: "Tell Tyra [Banks] that the Queen has returned, and while you're at it have Heidi Klum clear the runway. I'm going to pump some 'realness' into reality. To be a winner on this show the contestants need to be a fashion designer, an American Idol, and a top model all rolled up into one. And they definitely have to be smarter than a fifth grader." The goal of each main challenge involves a new theme and outcome. Contestants are often asked to design and construct a custom outfit, sometimes incorporating unconventional materials. Other challenges focus on the contestants' ability to present themselves on camera, perform with music, or perform comedically. Some challenges become a tradition across seasons. For instance, Snatch Game is a challenge where the contestants re-enact Match Game: the drag queens impersonate celebrities of their own choosing, RuPaul stands in as host, and two celebrity guests stand in as Match Game contestants.

Judging

As of season five, Santino Rice and Michelle Visage are the staple judges alongside RuPaul. Visage replaced fashion journalist Merle Ginsberg, who was a regular judge in the first two seasons. Prior to the grande finale, the two are joined by a celebrity guest judge and an extra-special guest judge each week. Celebrity judges have included Kathy Griffin, Henry Rollins, Jackie Collins, Sharon Osbourne, LaToya Jackson, and Eliza Dushku. In certain instances, Rice has been absent and replacement judging has been provided by make-up artist Billy Brasfield, Mike Ruiz, Jeffrey Moran (Absolut Vodka marketing executive), or Lucian Piane.

The judges each provide their opinion on the contestants' performances on the runway and in the main challenge before RuPaul announces which drag queen is the episode's winner and which two had the weakest performances. The day before judging, the contestants are all provided with a song that they must learn the lyrics to. The contestants deemed as being the bottom two must "lip sync for their lives" to a song by a female artist in a final attempt to impress RuPaul. After the lip-sync, RuPaul alone decides who stays and who leaves. RuPaul describes the qualities the contestants must have to be crowned the winner of the show as "Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent... These are people who have taken adversity and turned it into something that is beautiful and something powerful." The phrase "charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent" is used repeatedly on the show, the acronym of which is CUNT. On the All Stars season, "synergy" was added to provide an explanation behind the contestants being sorted into teams (expanding the acronym into CUNTS).

Under the Hood and Untucked

The first season of RuPaul's Drag Race was accompanied by a seven-episode web series called Under the Hood of RuPaul's Drag Race. LOGOonline published a webisode of Under the Hood after each episode of Drag Race. In this companion series, RuPaul presents a documentary of contestants' conversation in the green room, replays pertinent moments from Drag Race, and airs deleted footage.

Starting with season 2 of Drag Race in 2010, Logo reformatted Under the Hood, increased its production budget, moved it from the web to television, and retitled it to RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked. Logo broadcasts an episode of Untucked after each episode of Drag Race. Untucked replaces the basic green room of Under the Hood with two decorated rooms sponsored by Absolut Vodka and Interior Illusions, Inc.: the Interior Illusions Lounge and the Gold Bar. These two backstage areas allow for separated group conversation.

Seasons

Season	Premiere	Finale	Winner	Runner(s)-Up	Third Place	Number of Contestants	Number of Episodes	Miss Congeniality
1	February 2, 2009	March 23, 2009	BeBe Zahara Benet (Nea Marshall Kudi)	Nina Flowers (Jorge Flores)	Rebecca Glasscock (Javier Rivera)	9	9	Nina Flowers (Jorge Flores)
2	February 1, 2010	April 25, 2010	Tyra Sanchez (James Ross)	Raven (David Petruschin)	Jujubee (Airline Inthyrath)	12	12	Pandora Boxx (Michael Steck)
3	January 24, 2011 (2011-01-24)	May 2, 2011 (2011-05-02)	Raja (Sutan Amrull)	Manila Luzon (Karl Westerberg)	Alexis Mateo (Alexis Pacheco)	13	16	Yara Sofia (Gabriel Ortiz)
4	January 30, 2012 (2012-01-30)	April 30, 2012 (2012-04-30)	Sharon Needles (Aaron Coady)	Chad Michaels (Chad Michaels) Phi Phi O'Hara (Jaremi Carey)		13	14	Latrice Royale (Timothy Wilcots)
All Stars	October 22, 2012 (2012-10-22)	November 26, 2012 (2012-11-26)	Chad Michaels (Chad Michaels)	Raven (David Petruschin)	Jujubee (Airline Inthyrath) Shannel (Bryan)	12	6	N/A
5	January 28, 2013 (2013-01-28)	May 6, 2013 (2013-05-06)	Jinkx Monsoon (Jerick Hoffer)	Alaska (Justin Andrew Honard) Roxxxy Andrews (Michael Feliciano)		14	14	Ivy Winters (Dustin Winters)
6	TBA

Statistics and Milestones

Regular series

Season 1:

• Ongina is the first contestant to win more than one challenge.
• Nina Flowers is the first contestant to reach the finale without being in the bottom two.

Season 2:

• Tyra Sanchez is the second contestant in Drag Race history to make it to the finale without being in the bottom two, and so far the only winner to achieve this feat.
• Morgan McMichaels is the first and only contestant in Drag Race history (to date) to win the first main challenge and not achieve top 3 status.
• Season 2 marked the first time that a contestant won two consecutive main challenges. Raven accomplished this feat.
• Tyra Sanchez remains the youngest winner of the series to date. She won the title at the age of 21.

Season 3:

• Season 3 features the first return of a contestant from a previous season, which was Shangela from season 2.
• Season 3 features the first non-elimination episode in the series' history.
• Season 3 features the first return of an eliminated contestant, which was Carmen Carrera.

Season 4:

• Sharon Needles is the first contestant in Drag Race history to have won 4 main challenges throughout the competition.
• Willam Belli is the first contestant in Drag Race history to be disqualified.

All-Stars Season:

• All-Stars Season marked the first time that a contestant won three consecutive challenges: Chad Michaels and Shannel (Shad) accomplished this feat, beating the record that Raven, Alexis Mateo and Manila Luzon set (two consecutive challenges in their seasons).
• All-Stars Season also marks the first time in Drag Race's history to have a contestant being one of the worst of the week over four consecutive weeks.

Season 5:

• Jade Jolie is the first contestant in Drag Race history to be neither in the top or bottom over four consecutive weeks.
• Season 5 marks the first time in Drag Race history to have more than four consecutive different main-challenge winners, with eight consecutive different winners.
• Season 5 features the series' first double elimination, when Honey Mahogany and Vivienne Pinay are both eliminated after their lip sync.
• Jinkx Monsoon is the first contestant in Drag Race history to be in the top for more than five consecutive weeks, with eight weeks.
• Alyssa Edwards is the first contestant in Drag Race history to be among the worst of the week over five consecutive weeks.
• Coco Montrese is the first contestant in Drag Race history to lip sync four times in the same season.
• Alaska is the third contestant in Drag Race history to make it into the finale without lip syncing.

All-Stars

• Raven is the only queen in the history of the show to place as runner-up twice during her time as a contestant.
• Chad Michaels holds the title of being the oldest drag queen to participate in the competition to date. As of 2013 Chad is 42 years old.

Music

Almost all music used comes from RuPaul's albums. More specifically, RuPaul's recent albums, Champion and Glamazon. Exceptions are songs used during the lip-sync portion of the show.

Essentially, Champion is the series soundtrack, but an EP album called Drag Race, was also released to iTunes and other digital markets. Composed of remixes from RuPaul's Champion album, it also serves as a soundtrack.

• Main Event (Matt Pop 80's Tribute) (4:16)
• Let's Turn the Night (Matt Moss' Vidon Remix) (5:11)
• Never Go Home Again (Moss Moss' Vidon Remix) (3:20)
• J.O.M.B.2.0. [Jealous of My Boogie] (RevoLucian's Redux) (3:35) – featuring Tilly Key
• Destiny is Mine (Matt Moss' Vidon Remix) (3:35)
• Hit the Floor (Matt Moss' Vidon Remix) (3:20)
• Champion (DJ BunJoe's Olympic Mix) (3:42)
• LadyBoy (DJ BunJoe's Bangkok Booty Mix) (3:08)
• Main Event (Joe Carrano's TKO Mix) (3:41)
• Let's Turn the Night (Matt Pop Bootleg Mix) 6:43)
• Never Go Home Again (Matt Pop Amsterdam Jam) (4:01)
• Main Event (Matt Pop 80's Tribute Extended) (8:37)
• Cover Girl (Matuchi's Taterz Deep Edit) (4:49)
• Main Event (Chris Thomas' Hi-NRG Mix) (5:07)

Season 3

The song Champion (DJ BunJoe's Olympic Mix) was used during the show and was the basis for the final video challenge. After the closing of the third season, the album, Glamazon was released through iTunes. Songs from that album that were used in the season were:

• Superstar
• Glamazon
• The Beginning

DVD releases

Season	Release date	Episodes	Special features	Discs
2	December 6, 2011	12	Bonus scenes Interviews with contestants Extended reunion moments	3
3	December 6, 2011	16	Bonus scenes Interviews with contestants Extended reunion moments Bonus footage from the NYC finale party	4
4	June 26, 2012	14	Uncensored episodes Episodes of Untucked Drag Ya Later with Jon & John Bonus footage	5
All Stars	January 22, 2013	6		2
5	June 10, 2013	14		5

DVDs for seasons 2 and 3 are only available in Region 1 and are produced on demand by Amazon.com. Season 4 will be available in Region 1, produced on demand by Amazon.com, is expected to play back in DVD Video "play only" devices, and may not play in other DVD devices, including recorders and PC drives.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Result
2009	NewNowNext Award	Most Addictive Reality Star – Ongina	Won
2010	GLAAD Media Award	Outstanding Reality Program — RuPaul's Drag Race	Won
	NewNowNext Award	Best New Indulgence — RuPaul's Drag Race	Won
		Most Addictive Reality Star — Jujubee	Nominated
2011	NewNowNext Award	Most Addictive Reality Star – Carmen Carrera	Nominated
	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Reality Series – Competition	Nominated
2012	NewNowNext Award	Most Addictive Reality Star – Willam	Nominated
	NewNowNext Award	Superfan Site Award — lipsyncforyourlife.tumblr.com	Nominated
	Critics' Choice Television Awards	Best Reality Show Host – RuPaul	Nominated
	TV.com's Best of 2012 Awards	Best Reality Show Judge/Host – RuPaul	Won
	TV.com's Best of 2012 Awards	Best Reality Competition Series — RuPaul's Drag Race	Won
2013	RyanSeacrest.com's Favorite TV Show Awards	Best Reality Series — RuPaul's Drag Race	Won

Criticism

RuPaul's Drag Race has been criticized for appearing to favor glamorous drag queens over comedic or camp queens. For example, Popbytes commented "Drag Race" has been accused numerous times of keeping some of the more unpleasant but fishy queens in the competition for the sake of keeping the drama high. However, Common Sense Media commented, "RuPaul's Drag Race combines the fashion design drama of Project Runway with the modeling excitement of America’s Next Top Model to create an entertainingly voyeuristic glimpse into the performance art world of drag queens. There's plenty of over-the-top stuff, but rather than simply treating drag performers as people to be laughed at and/or scorned, the show also focuses on the hard work and talent that goes into drag performances". Entertainment Weekly cited the elimination of comedienne and eventual season two fan favorite Pandora Boxx as the season's most controversial. In response, RuPaul has said, "What we're looking for is someone who can really follow in my footsteps: Someone who can be hired by a company to represent their product, someone who can put together a sentence on television and present themselves in the most incredible way."

International airings

• The series airs on OUTtv in Canada at the same time as the US airing. MusiquePlus is also airing the first three seasons.
• During Summer 2009, TIMM – a former gay television channel from Germany – aired the first season every Friday night.
• In Australia the fourth season will air early 2013 on cable television channel LifeStyle YOU.
• RuPaul's Drag Race has also been aired in Denmark, on the channel TV2-zulu, where the two first seasons have been aired in the time-frame of a couple of weeks, including the "extras" of the show.
• In Israel, the show aired on yes stars Next in Summer 2010.
• In Finland the programme started airing on TV Viisi as Huippu- drag queen haussa ("Searching for the Top Drag Queen") on Thursday, November 18, 2010 at 20.00.
• In Hungary the show aired on FEM3 channel as RuPaul – Drag Queen leszek! ("RuPaul – I'll be Drag Queen!").
• In Latin America, The second season premiered in January 2011, while later that same year, the first season was made its debut in May 2012. The third season made its premiere on April 5, 2012 and wrapped up on July 19, 2012. Season four starting airing on July 26, 2012 and wrapped up on October 25, 2012. The entire series has aired on VH1 Latin America.
• Season 1, immediately followed by season 2, started airing in Sweden on TV11 early 2011. All four seasons have since aired.
• In honor of Manila Luzon, the Philippines aired season 3 on the Velvet cable network every Tuesday at 11 pm with RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, airing directly after the show. Season 4 started airing on April 17, 2012
• In Italy, the third season began airing as "America's Next Drag Queen" on FOXlife on July 13, 2011 at 21.55 with dialogue dubbed in Italian.

Former airing

• The show was also first aired on E4, a UK entertainment channel, in September 2009, with the first episode airing on Wednesday September 9, 2009 at 11:00 pm. E4 announced through Twitter that it would no longer air the show.

Spin-offs

RuPaul's Drag U is a spin-off, in which cisgender women compete to discover and develop their female potential through drag. They are counseled, mentored and given makeovers by Drag Professors, who are contestants from "Drag Race." As the series is filmed in Los Angeles over a month's time, the majority of the professors are queens who reside in Southern California.

In March 2012, it was confirmed by Entertainment Weekly that an All-Star edition of "Drag Race" would commence this summer, and would air in the fall, as well as a fifth season of "Drag Race". A new fan page on Facebook was created, asking fans to pick the queen(s) they would like to see in this spin-off; Chad Michaels, Yara Sofia, Mimi Imfurst, Jujubee, Nina Flowers, Manila Luzon, Shannel, Alexis Matteo, Tammie Brown, Raven and Latrice Royale were selected. Sharon Needles was initially also selected, but declined to participate and was instead replaced by runner-up Pandora Boxx.

Logo scheduled six one-hour episodes of the all-star series for the fall of 2012.

On April 15, 2013 RuPaul confirmed on Twitter that he will be the executive producer of a spin-off show featuring Alyssa Edwards of Season 5. The series is titled Alyssa's Secret and is uploaded Monday's on World of Wonder's YouTube channel.

Notes

^E-1.01 "Drag on a Dime". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 1. Episode 1. 2009-02-02. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1360987/.

^E-1.03 "Queens of all Media". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 1. Episode 3. 2009-02-16. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1360992/.

^E-1.05 "Drag School of Charm". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 1. Episode 5. 2009-03-02. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1360986/.

^E-2.01 "Gone with the Window". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 2. Episode 1. 2010-02-01. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1594648/.

^E-2.04 "The Snatch Game". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 2. Episode 4. 2010-02-22. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1602199/.

^E-2.06 "Rocker Chick". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 2. Episode 6. 2010-02-15. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1615955/.

^E-2.07 "Once Upon a Queen". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 2. Episode 7. 2010-02-01. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628247/.

^E-2.08 "Golden Gals". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 2. Episode 8. 2010-03-29. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1628246/.

^E-2.12 "Reunion". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 2. Episode 12. 2010-04-26. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1646466/.

^E-3.02 "The Queen Who Mopped Christmas". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 2. 2011-11-24. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1822489/.

^E-3.04 "Totally Leotarded". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 4. February 7, 2011. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1833945/.

^E-3.06 "The Snatch Game". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 6. 2011-02-21. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1845442/.

^E-3.07 "Face, Face, Face of Cakes". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 7. 2011-02-38. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1844907/.

^E-3.08 "Ru Ha Ha". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 8. 2011-03-08. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1855679/.

^E-3.10 "RuPaul-a-Palooza". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 10. 2011-03-21. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1866425/.

^E-3.11 "RuPaul's Hair Extravaganza". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 11. 2011-03-28. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1866424/.

^E-3.12 "Jocks in Frocks". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 12. 2011-04-04. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1870751/.

^E-3.13 "Make Dat Money". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 3. Episode 13. 2011-04-11. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1878252/.

^E-4.08 "Frenemies". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 4. Episode 8. 2012-03-19. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2293967/.

^E-5.01 "Lip Synch Extravaganza Eleganza". RuPaul's Drag Race. Season 5. Episode 14. 2013-02-04. LOGO. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2481570/.

External links

• Official website
• RuPaul's Drag Race at the Internet Movie Database
• RuPaul's Drag Race on Facebook