Few reality series are as visually stunning as RuPaul’s Drag Race. Created by the legendary Queen herself, RuPaul Charles, the LGBTQ+ competition show puts drag performers through various intense challenges before asking them to showcase impeccable fashion on the runway. Yet despite its difficulty, fans have always applauded the show for its openness, for the way it welcomes queens of all kinds and uplifts them for the audience. It was heartening to see a platform where every artist, no matter their background or resources, could come on the show and be celebrated…at least, that’s how it used to be.
While the show has always been built on its contestants’ talent, fans have noticed that, rather than the often self-made outfits of earlier seasons, newer queens are coming in with suitcases filled with clothes from external designers. And while it’s great to see these performers have the funds for this, it’s unfortunate to watch the judging skew in their favor, with the panel favoring the performers who had the money for these kinds of clothes over the ones who don’t. It’s a new aspect of the program that contestants are finally discussing on the show, a conversation that fans — and alumni of the series alike — hope will make it change for the better.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Was Built on Talent
Image by Zanda Rice
Longtime RuPaul’s Drag Race fans know that discussions about the budgets that queens bring into the competition are not new. It was first openly called out in season eight when the late and great Chi Chi Devayne defended critiques that her looks were ‘crafty’ — an unfair criticism that queens have spoken against for many years now. She explained that she didn’t have the monetary resources the other performers had when putting together outfits. Michelle Visage corrected her, explaining how you don’t need money to be a fierce queen and that the best performers rely on their own ingenuity to create dazzling looks. It’s a beautiful sentiment that should be true, but has unfortunately fallen apart in recent seasons. Each installment offers a new showing of glamorous looks from top designers which, while gorgeous to look at, signals a growing need for the contestants to spend immense amounts of money to excel in the series. It has led to many queens without these resources becoming discouraged about their odds on the show, a fear that the judges have unfortunately made worse.
This conversation came up in a recent episode of the flagship series when more established queens Lexi Love and Hormona Lisa called out how many of their younger contemporaries came into the competition with expensive outfits — but not the talent to back them up. It furthers conversations that have persisted online for years, with fans and even the show’s own former contestants speaking up about how the judging panel celebrates massive spending while ignoring the financial troubles that hold certain queens back. Especially as the program has become more and more profitable, there have been widespread calls for stipends for the incoming queens to ensure everyone enters on a level playing field. This stems from the fact that while everybody should be judged at face-value, the judges have exhibited a preference for the expensive, designer-made outfits of their queens while often discounting the self-made ones as looking too ‘costumey.’ It’s an unfair judging style that not only places one kind of Drag on a pedestal, but erases the many self-made, budget-friendly queens who built this franchise originally.
A Queen Shouldn’t Have To Spend Thousands on Outfits To Succeed
While there are many people calling out how money has come to rule RuPaul’s Drag Race, there are many queens who subvert this claim. Rajah O’Hara, one of the franchise’s most popular performers, famously only spent a few hundred on her runway package and handmade all the garments herself, with her and similar queens showing that enough skill can make any outfit look expensive. And while the series has shown a preference to designer-made outfits in the past, that doesn’t erase its focus on uplifting genuine LGBTQ+ talent, with each season offering various different identities and styles for audiences to learn about and love. Yet as the series has become more and more difficult to win, the judging has failed to recognize how much money has become a huge aspect of what queens can bring. I
t’s unfortunate to see the runways become a spending game where performers with money on the outside world are celebrated, while queens who have only themselves to rely on must struggle to get noticed. This would be understandable if these self-made looks weren’t good, but they’re often amazingly unique — they just look different from what judges are expecting! A queen shouldn’t have to spend thousands to do well on RuPaul’s Drag Race, and it’s time for the program to realize this and create a kind of competition where everyone, no matter how much money they have, can thrive.
