RuPaul's Drag Race is an American reality competition television series, the first in the Drag Race franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the fifteenth season, MTV. The show documents RuPaul in the search for "America's next drag superstar". RuPaul plays the role of host, mentor, and head judge for this series, as contestants are given different challenges each week. Contestants are judged by a panel that includes RuPaul, Michelle Visage, an alternating third main judge of either Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, or Ts Madison, and one or more guest judges, who critique their progress throughout the competition. The title of the show is a play on drag queen and drag racing, and the title sequence and song "Drag Race" both have a drag-racing theme.
RuPaul's Drag Race has spanned fifteen seasons and inspired the spin-off shows RuPaul's Drag U, RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, and RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race; the companion series RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked; and numerous international franchises including British and Australian and New Zealand versions hosted by RuPaul as well as Chilean, Thai, Canadian, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, French, Philippine, Belgian, Swedish, Mexican, Brazilian and German editions, and international vs. the World competitions hosted in the United Kingdom and Canada.
The show has become the highest-rated television program on Logo TV, and airs internationally, including in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, the Netherlands and Israel. The show earned RuPaul seven consecutive Emmy Awards (2016 to 2022) for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Competition Program. The show itself has been awarded as the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program 4 consecutive times (2018 to 2021), and the Outstanding Reality Program Award at the GLAAD Media Awards. It has been nominated for four Critics' Choice Television Awards including Best Reality Series – Competition and Best Reality Show Host for RuPaul, and was nominated for a Creative Arts Emmy Award for Outstanding Make-up for a Multi-Camera Series or Special (Non-Prosthetic). Later in 2018, the show became the first show to win a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program and a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program in the same year, a feat it has since repeated three times.
Series overview[]
| Season | Originally aired | Network | Winner | Runner(s)-up | Miss Congeniality | Judges | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February 2 - March 23, 2009 | Logo TV | BeBe Zahara Benet | Nina Flowers | RuPaul | Merle Ginsberg | Santino Rice | N/A | N/A | |
| 2 | February 1 - April 26, 2010 | Tyra Sanchez | Raven | Pandora Boxx | ||||||
| 3 | January 24 - May 2, 2011 | Raja | Manila Luzon | Yara Sofia | Michelle Visage | Billy B | ||||
| 4 | January 30 - April 30, 2012 | Sharon Needles | Chad Michaels Phi Phi O'Hara |
Latrice Royale | ||||||
| 5 | January 28 - May 6, 2013 | Jinkx Monsoon | Alaska Roxxxy Andrews |
Ivy Winters | N/A | |||||
| 6 | February 24 - May 19, 2014 | Bianca del Rio | Adore Delano Courtney Act |
BenDeLaCreme | ||||||
| 7 | March 2 - June 1, 2015 | Violet Chachki | Ginger Minj Pearl |
Katya | Ross Mathews | Carson Kressley | ||||
| 8 | March 7 - May 16, 2016 | Bob the Drag Queen | Kim Chi Naomi Smalls |
Cynthia Lee Fontaine | ||||||
| 9 | March 24 - June 23, 2017 | VH1 | Sasha Velour | Peppermint | Valentina | |||||
| 10 | March 22 - June 28, 2018 | Aquaria | Eureka O'Hara Kameron Michaels |
Monét X Change | ||||||
| 11 | February 28 - May 30, 2019 | Yvie Oddly | Brooke Lynn Hytes | Nina West | ||||||
| 12 | February 28 - May 29, 2020 | Jaida Essence Hall | Crystal Methyd Gigi Goode |
Heidi N Closet | ||||||
| 13 | January 1 - April 23, 2021 | Symone | Kandy Muse | LaLa Ri | ||||||
| 14 | January 7 - April 22, 2022 | Willow Pill | Lady Camden | Kornbread "The Snack" Jeté | ||||||
| 15 | January 6 - April 14, 2023 | MTV | Sasha Colby | Anetra | Malaysia Babydoll Foxx | Ts Madison | ||||
| 16 | January 5 - April 19, 2024 | Nymphia Wind | Sapphira Cristál | Sapphira Cristál Xunami Muse | ||||||
International broadcasts[]
| Country | Channel |
|---|---|
| United States | Logo TV, VH1, MTV |
| International | Netflix, WOW Presents Plus |
| Latin America | VH1 |
| Australia | Lifestyle You, SBS 2, Stan |
| Belgium | OutTV |
| Brazil | VH1, Multishow, Comedy Central, MTV |
| Canada | OutTV, MusiquePlus, Crave |
| Denmark | TV 2 Zulu |
| Finland | TV Viisi, Sub, AVA |
| Germany | TIMM, TLC |
| Hungary | FEM3 |
| Israel | yes Drama |
| Italy | Fox Life |
| Netherlands | OutTV |
| Philippines | Velvet |
| South Africa | Vuzu |
| Spain | Ten, OutTV |
| Sweden | Kanal 11, OutTV |
| United Kingdom | E4, TruTV, VH1 |