Nearly 15 years after the premiere of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” the competition show that puts drag queens through the wringer to crown America’s Next Drag Superstar, the show has spawned 15 international spinoffs, a thriving “All Stars” brand, a “Secret Celebrity” offshoot and the clout to say it has changed the landscape of drag — not to mention pop culture as a whole.
Once tucked away on Logo TV, the World of Wonder-produced series switched to VH1 in 2017, and began a cultural ascension for the ages. Buoyed by social media and a larger platform, the campy confection won the Emmy for reality competition series the following year, a prize it claimed for four straight years. RuPaul is still the reigning seven-time winner for host for a reality or competition program.
But when you strip away the phenomenon and accolades, what makes a good season of “Drag Race?” Is it in the challenges, which have drastically evolved over time? Is it in the runway presentations that now offer Fashion with a capital F? Is it in the interactions among the queens, be they heartfelt or heated?
For myriad reasons, some seasons stand stilettos higher than others and we are here to do the impossible, perhaps even the unthinkable — rank them from worst to best. Or in the show’s words, from sashay to shantay.
But this ranking comes with a few disclaimers.
It includes the first 14 seasons of the original mothership series “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” The currently-airing 15th season, which made the jump from VH1 to MTV, is not included because it’s still finding its place in the pantheon. Even though “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” pulls from the same stable of queens, it tends to be its own (to quote Alyssa Edwards) beast and airs separately on Paramount+ these days, so it is not included here.
Nor are the international iterations that are, one by one, advancing RuPaul’s agenda for global domination.
The criteria for a good season of “Drag Race” is also, of course, subjective. This list is based on the quality of the season itself. The incredible success many queens have found after the series was not a factor.
For all that “Drag Race” has done for its competitors and the drag industrial complex, it is still a TV competition series, and this list reflects which seasons truly snatched the crown.
Season 1 (2009)
The one that started it all is at a disadvantage in the canon of the show it created. Infamously filmed with an inexplicable haze over the lens, the inaugural season on Logo TV has the ingredients of what would become the phenomenon. The Werk Room entrances. The thrifty challenges. The centerpiece runway. The talented queens, like Bebe Zahara Bonet and Ongina. The Interior Illusions Lounge (RIP). But the blueprint for how to pull it all together was still a work in progress. There is no Snatch Game, and the low budget is visible on screen, and not in the endearing way the later seasons would embrace (even though the first challenge was called Drag on a Dime). The best part about the “Drag Race” of yesteryear? Season 1 only had nine queens versus the 16 competing in Season 15.
Season 11 (2019)
It may seem unfair to judge a season by a single challenge, but to understand Season 11, look no further than “Trump: The Rusical.” “Drag Race” has long served as a refuge from the country’s hatred toward the LGBTQ+ community, but suddenly it felt invaded by the worst offenders — and we didn’t even get a memorable musical out of it. Thankfully, one great moment does transcend the season’s curious: the legendary midseason lip sync between Yvie Oddly and Brooke Lynn Hytes. Having faltered during the Snatch Game, the queens had to fight for their lives and did they ever. Brooke Lynn hit the runway with an instantly iconic wardrobe change, before joining Yvie in a bottom-two lip sync that can only be described as a Cirque du Soleil routine set to Demi Lovato’s “Sorry Not Sorry.” The show’s popularity has inevitably forced its evolution and its nuances have faded with time. But this episode and this season proves RuPaul still knows the power of a redemptive arc and it still slaps as hard as it did the day they first split, flipped and death dropped on the runway.
