(One of the many, many, many running gags of the series is a complete lack of shame surrounding product placement.) While they are technically two separate shows, they really go hand in hand, and it’s difficult to understand one fully without having the other. To give us a little more insider dirt that we’re missing out on, each hour long episode of Drag Race is followed by the 30 minute after show, Untucked, which shows us the other side of judging as the queens await their fate backstage in the Absolut Vodka Lounge. The show occurs entirely on set, with us viewers not seeing anything that occurs outside of the workroom, sound stage, or judging panel. The contestants stay in a hotel during their duration in the competition and are, unusually for a reality show, not filmed when they are not competing. One of the places where Drag Race differs majorly is that there is no majestic RuPaul Reality Mansion that the girls are forced to live in during filming. At the end of the number, RuPaul decides which of the bottom two queens lives to see another day, and who must “sashay away.” Those bottom two queens then compete in a Lip Sync battle to a predetermined song, with RuPaul reserving final judgement. After grilling each queen, the judges deliberate, determining who is the winner of that week’s main challenge and which two queens have performed the worst and will risk elimination. As with many other shows, the queens are then split into two groups–the safe contestants who fill out the middle, and the top 3 and bottom 3 performers, who remain onstage for critique. Each judging session is preceded by a runway show, which is usually given a theme that the queens must adhere to. Each week, the queens meet the judges– Project Runway alum and fashion designer Santino Rice radio personality and long time friend of RuPual Michelle Visage and RuPaul herself, along with two weekly guest judges–out on the Drag Race Main Stage. This Main Challenge is the biggest piece of the puzzle, and its what the judging panel will primarily be evaluating from week to week. Each week, the queens are usually given two challenges–a mini-challenge that is seldom relevant to anything and is primarily used as a method of selecting team captains and/or handing out advantages, and the Main Challenge, which matters so we’re putting it in capitals. It is the primary platform for drag queens to get their face out there beyond their local scenes.īesides the very real difference of giving the contestants an actual career boost, the show is pretty par course for the genre in terms of the game format. No girl really gets to says she’s made the big time as a drag queen if she hasn’t done Drag Race. What makes it unique among the myriad of Reality Shows in the “Talent/Job Search” genre is that it is quite possibly the only Reality Show that is actually the pinnacle of its specific field.

Now in its sixth season, Drag Race has a pretty simple format–a group of drag queens are assembled to compete in hopes of being named “America’s Next Drag Superstar,” winning a headlining role in a nationwide tour and a hefty cash prize of a hundred grand.

It’s the perfect mix of humor, smart editing, and over the top gayness. And a show that everyone should branch out for is Logo’s only relevant item of programming, RuPaul’s Drag Race and its companion after show, Untucked. of Reality TV, but that doesn’t mean I don’t branch out. So Survivor is always going to be the O.G.

Rupaul drag race season 6 episode 6