10 Things I Don't Want To See On Drag Race Anymore
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Over its 16 seasons and countless spin-offs, RuPaul’s Drag Race has definitely settled into a winning formula its loyal audience has come to love and expect, but has also managed the impressive feat of making the show fresh enough to ensure they keep coming back. However, there are a few trends and tropes that have become stale over time (or were actually never that appealing in the first place) that could be tweaked or weeded out altogether to sustain the quality of this cultural phenomenon that has otherwise shown no signs of slowing down.
1. Eliminations in the first episode
More and more across the whole franchise, premiering with a non-elimination episode seems to be the rule rather than the exception – and I think that’s a good thing. If a queen is good enough to get cast then they’re good enough to keep around for at least two episodes (even if they’re not, who cares?) and let the audience get to know them better. There’s really no down-side to this for the queens or the audience, even if it does mean a guaranteed double sashay later down the line.
2. Unabashedly sponsored mini challenges
Remember when mini challenges used to be who can make the most padded badonkadonk, or a “chicken or what?” eating contest? Just straight up, unadulterated tomfoolery that maybe got you an advantage in the main challenge, but definitely made for iconic entertainment. Now they come with cash prizes, which is great, but at what cost?! Sponsored mini challenges aren’t bothersome in and of themselves, but lately it seems like a prerequisite to even have a mini challenge in the episode, and then the whole thing is built around whatever product they’re trying to flog and need to shoehorn in.
3. Male/fictional Snatch Game characters
It’s not lost on me that performing as a male celebrity or made-up character on Snatch Game has proven to be a decent strategy to winning, and I’ll even admit that a few like Thorgy’s Michael Jackson and Gigi’s Maria the Robot are amongst my favourites. But, I think that while it is important to “just make it funny”, ultimately the whole point of Snatch Game is to channel the time-honoured tradition of female celebrity impersonation in the drag community, so it feels like a loophole that isn’t in the spirit of the challenge.
4. Being judged as a group
It often seems like the decision to judge as groups or individually comes down to whatever narrative the producers want to run with, and in a way it’s their right to do so. To me, it’s just a shame when someone who objectively doesn’t deserve to be in the bottom ends up there just because someone more deserving was fortunate enough to be on a winning team. Individual judging as standard just seems more meritocratic.
5. Ballad lip sync songs
Perhaps the most legitimately unpopular opinion on this list, but a hit I’m willing to take. Low-tempo lip syncs, however heartfelt, just feel too anti-climactic to make a satisfying ending to an episode, and aren’t particularly entertaining to watch. It also makes it much harder to determine who the winner is in a format that is already onerously subjective. Except, of course, in the case of Kenya Michaels who did not understand the assignment.
6. Arguments about the line-up order
For every comedy challenge, there is invariably at least five minutes of screen time dedicated to bickering about who goes when, courtesy of whoever was unlucky enough to win that week’s mini challenge. What consistently transpires is that the people with the best material do well and the people with the worst material do badly, and that’s basically what it boils down to. A bit of manufactured drama never hurt anyone (at least not me, a spectator), but let’s put this one to bed for good.
7. All Stars lipstick chats
This only really worked well in All Stars season 2 when the elimination twist took everyone by surprise and nobody knew what the fuck was going on. Since then, it has become a predictable rehash of the same conversation over and over again: “I have so much more to show”, “It’s really lit a fire under me” etc. etc. that doesn’t provide much entertainment value. With the recent adoption of a completely non-elimination format in two All Stars seasons, I wouldn’t mind keeping that around if only to do away with these tedious talks.
8. Ball challenge with the whole cast
In theory, I understand the thinking behind giving all the queens the opportunity to show as many looks as possible, and from that point of view it totally makes sense. But, in practice, watching 30+ runways in one sitting is a lot, to the point where it’s beyond enjoyment and more of a chore. If we’re being really honest, based on offerings to date not all those looks needed to be seen. In earlier seasons the ball used to be towards the last few episodes which meant you were getting around 15 looks and was just much more digestible.
9. Snatch Game of Love
I appreciate the effort and thought to switch things up for All Stars, but Snatch Game of Love is not a winner, baby. At best, the format doesn’t add anything, at worst, it’s a distraction from the entertainment value at the core of what the challenge is supposed to be. Having two Snatch Games on All Stars 7 where everyone got to do two characters each, while not the most inspired of changes, was vastly more watchable, proving that often the simplest solution is the best one.
10. Boring finale episodes
It’s ironic that by the end of the season when left with the best four/five competitors, their talents are wasted on a majority filler episode of drawn out reminiscing and staple conversation topics, leading up to a well-executed but ultimately forgettable music performance. To be clear, I’m talking about the final studio-based competitive episodes and not the live finales (though they’re not without their own problems). This never felt so apparent in the earlier seasons, probably because the episodes were shorter, but they don’t seem to have figured out how to fill the extra time in a worthwhile way. Much like the All Stars lipstick chats, the “younger self” main stage segment, while very heartwarming, has by now become repetitive and formulaic.
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What are you fucking fed up of seeing on Drag Race?