Ah, 'RuPaul's Drag Race', TV's most glamorous reality-competition show since 2009. 'Drag Race', has gained a whole lot of popularity in more recent years; it has boosted the careers of over 113 drag queens over 10 seasons of airing, Alaska, Trixie Mattel, and Adore Delano to name a few. Considering it is one of my favorite shows right now, I have decided to comprise a list to answer the question that is: "Colin, why do you love 'RuPaul's Drag Race' so much?"
1. The drama.
When you wrangle a group of 10-14 gay men who do drag, you're bound to catch some cattiness and shade, not thrown but pelted to each other. Yes, some arguments seem more produced than others, however, it doesn't take away from the entertainment value. One of my favorite fights is from 'All-Stars' season 2, where Phi Phi O'Hara was tired of the judges giving Alyssa Edwards 'free passes' because of her personality. Then, after Alyssa gets eliminated by Alaska, Phi Phi goes off about Alyssa, come to find out that the eliminated queens (including Alyssa) were standing behind the one-way mirror and heard everything. I have included a YouTube video going over some of the best fights in 'Drag Race', including Alyssa v. Phi Phi.
2. The LOOKS.
There are a lot of conceptual, and visually amazing looks that grace the runway on 'Drag Race'. For that, we have to thank Raja (Season 3), Courtney Act (Season 6), and Violet Chachki (Season 7) just to name a few. One of my favorite looks ever shown on 'Drag Race' is from the Season 8 Finale when Season 7 winner Violet Chachki comes back to crown the winner of Season 8. She comes out in a beautifully constructed dress, with makeup to make it looks like she's dead to signify the end of her reign, with a prosthetic crown coming out of her scalp to signify that she will always be a queen.
3. Snatch game!
If you're a crazy fan of 'Drag Race', like me, you know that snatch game is the pivotal moment in the season. Snatch Game is a spoof of the widely popular game show, 'Match Game'. The queens are challenged to pick a celebrity and impersonate them in Snatch Game. This challenge comes to be one of the hardest ones in the competition as the queens must be funny and crack jokes as they are impersonating their celebrity. It usually comes at the beginning of the middle of the competition, which helps weed out the stronger queens from the weaker queens. It has been going on since Season 2 of 'Drag Race'. Some of my personal favorite Snatch Game performances include Chad Michaels as Cher (Season 4), Shangela as Jenifer Lewis (All-Stars 3), and Aquaria as Melania Trump (Season 10).
4. Lip sync for your life!
The best yet saddest moments come from the end of the episode where queens must do a lip sync battle to a pre-determined song to fight to stay in the competition. It's a bit different in 'All-Stars' seasons, on 'All Stars', the top 2 queens of the week lip sync for their 'legacy', where they win a $10,000 cash tip, and the power to eliminate one of the bottom queens. There have been MANY unforgettable moments, however, one of the most controversial comes from Season 9. In episode 9, fan favorite queen, Valentina, and Nina Bo'Nina Brown had to lip sync as they did the worst in the challenge that week. Valentina had a mask on during her lip sync leading RuPaul to stop the track and ask Valentina to remove her mask, as Valentina hesitantly complies, the lip sync continues. It is then revealed that she didn't know the words to the song, prompting her to be eliminated from the competition. You can watch the lip sync in the video above, I highly recommend it.
Well, aside from Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent, these are the four things, I believe, that make 'Drag Race' such a special show to watch. I'm very excited to see how the current Season 10 will turn out and all the future seasons to come.
You can watch 'RuPaul's Drag Race', Thursday's at 8 PM only on VH1.