There's a reason why RuPaul's Drag Race is the most lauded reality competition show in history: it's just sickening, point-blank period. You don't just win 30 (and counting) Emmys for nothing, y'know! But as all reality competition shows know, you gotta spice things up every now and then. Shows have to evolve with the times, and that means rule changes.
Drag Race knows how to werk a twist or two into a format. Just look at the All Stars spinoff franchise. It's been shaking up the game since the very beginning, and the upcoming All Stars 10 will shake things up like never before. We're talking brackets, baby!
But I want to turn around and look at RuPaul's Drag Race: Regular Edition. We've had 17 seasons of the Emmy-winning series, all with more or less the same format. We've had some twists and tweaks, but nothing significant enough to qualify as what Survivor would dub a "New Era" and I think you'd have to squint really hard to see how any of the twists actually altered the outcome of the season. I think it's time for Drag Race to enter its new era, and — because my brain won't stop thinking about Drag Race — I have some suggestions for a new format.
1. Immunity Potion, for real this time
Drag Race previously offered immunity for challenge winners for the first five seasons — and then immunity prevented Alyssa Edwards from sashaying after a catastrophically bad performance as Katy Perry in Snatch Game. No more immunity ... until Season 16.
The thing is, I like the immunity potion. I truly adore the Death Becomes Her-of-it-all; love when the show pulls from gay culture post 1980! And offering up the potion as something the queens earn via winning a Maxi Challenge and can then hold onto to use when they feel uncertain adds a nice bit of tension; a queen can still earn immunity and go home the next week if they aren't careful.
But there were so many problems with Season 16's immunity potions. First, they only gave them to the winners of the first challenge. Second, they kept them viable for almost the entire season. And third, neither one did anything to affect the outcome of the game! Sapphira used it when she didn't need to, and Plane Jane gave hers to Nymphia Wind ... on a challenge wherein the judges knew no one was to be eliminated.
This can be fixed by giving the immunity potion to the first challenge winner of the season, and then putting a swift expiration date on it. Let's say two episodes. And when that potion is used or expires, another one is given out to the winner of the next challenge. This ensures that there's only one potion in play at a time, but it also gives the queens enough flexibility to strategize. Like, if a queen earns immunity and then hits home runs for the next two weeks, what does she do with that potion? Give it to a sister in trouble, or pour it out on the Main Stage? Imagine the drama, pouring out an immunity potion in front of the three bottom queens. They could use a gurgling drain sound effect and everything.
2. The Golden Beaver: US Edition
By far the gaggiest format tweak in the franchise's herstory, the Golden Beaver has spent the last few years stirring the pot in the Great White North.
The twist works like this: after initial judging, Canada's Drag Race host/judge (Brooke Lynn Hytes in this case) announces the week's winner and names the bottom three queens. The winner receives the Golden Beaver, which she can give to one of the bottom three queens, thus saving them from the lip sync. This leads to all sorts of drama during the Untucked portion, which is where the bottom queens plead their case. Alliances are formed, strategy comes into play, and queens get heated. It's brilliant.
The US could implement this in either regular or All Stars seasons and it would be delicious. And since beavers are distinctly Canadian, maybe it's called The Squirrel Friend.
3. Let the dolls judge the dolls
One thing that I particularly love about reality competition shows is when they're on long enough to develop a real feeling of community and continuity. And I love when knowing that history is rewarded by including past contestants and winners as mentors or judges in new seasons.
Top Chef does this all the time (new host Kristen Kish), Survivor did this frequently pre-New Era (remember when they gave Sandra and Boston Rob their own islands?), Ink Master does it (two of the current three judges, Ryan Ashley and DJ Tambe, are previous winners), Project Runway does it (Christian Siriano, the current mentor). Even Drag Race does it — just not in America.
International seasons of Drag Race are hosted by previous contestants: Brooke Lynn Hytes (Canada), Nicky Doll (France), Lolita Banana and Valentina (Mexico), Pangina Heals (Thailand), and Rita Baga (Belgique). And, of course, the late, great, legendary icon Jiggly Caliente served as a judge on Drag Race Philippines. Additionally, Drag Race Down Under Season 4 brought back all the previous winners, runners-up, and also Maxi Shield as guest judges and mentors. And Brooke Lynn Hytes always has room at Canada's judges' table for alumni (Shea Couleé, Ra'Jah O'Hara, Vanjie, Jaida Essence Hall, etc.).
So. RuPaul's Drag Race. I know the show is literally RuPaul's Drag Race. And I know that there has long been a heavily-rumored rule set in place by Ru ensuring she's the only queen on the judges' panel. I think it's time to let that slide. And if alumni have to appear on the panel out of drag to appease Mama Ru — it is her show!
But if queens remain persona non grata on the judges' panel, then at least let them mentor the dolls during challenges. This should be an every episode kinda thing. Like, bring in Gigi Goode to do a walk-around for the ball challenge; Plasma for RDR Live!; Bob The Drag Queen for Snatch Game; gag us with Bimini for the Girl Group Challenge, etc. The show has such a deep, deep bench of superstar talent, and there is a very obvious way to utilize them.
4. Leave the Werk Room
There's a bit of claustrophobia to Drag Race at times, a feeling that the entire show is hermetically sealed on one soundstage. That becomes more obvious when Maxi Challenges take place on an unadorned Main Stage, or in the seasons where Untucked was just in a corner of the Werk Room. That's not to say that the production design team isn't working hard to transform what feels like just a few stages into everything from prehistoric times to a '60s variety show stage. The show makes a little look like a lot.
But. You know how Top Chef sets every season in a different city? Or how Project Runway always whisked the finalists off to a gorgeous destination for the last few challenges? America is a country full of drag, and Drag Race showcases so much drag from big cities to tiny towns. What if the show actually went to those cities?
Imagine RuPaul's Drag Race: Chicago, with Shea Couleé and Kim Chi as rotating mentors, featuring a cast from all over the country as well as a few local stars. Keep the Maxi Challenges on a soundstage, but what if every Mini Challenge took place in a different drag venue in and around Chicago, featuring other local queens/kings/hosts/entertainers? That could be gaggy, right?
Or maybe the show stays as-is until it gets down to the final five. What if, for the makeover and finale girl group challenges, the show packed up and traveled to a city wherein the queer community really needs help? Imagine a mix of We're Here with RuPaul's Drag Race. The makeover challenge and the finale performance challenge both lend themselves very well to this format, and it would really make that last stretch of the season feel exciting. But I also think of how important it would be to see those stories on MTV, in front of a Drag Race audience. (If you haven't, please go watch We're Here on Max — and I'm not just saying this because you can see me in drag in the Season 4 premiere)
I also know it would be hella expensive to put a cast of queens on the road or set up in multiple on-site locations. Chefs and fashion designers can kinda just go places, easy breezy; they don't have to lug around huge tubs full of pads, wigs, and drag. It's a big change, but ... think of the Emmys. And also the larger good. But also, Emmys.
5. Let the runways count
I've saved the most-needed format change for last: honest, transparent judging. Wow. Yeah, wild! But the thing is, this shouldn't be a radical change. This is a format change that is actually in favor of the existing format. I just want the show to actually utilize what it has to its fullest, most dramatic, most thrilling potential.
Look at Drag Race's format. It is truly unique in one very specific, very juicy way: queens have multiple chances at saving themselves from elimination. In theory, if a queen bombs the Maxi Challenge, they could save themselves with a sickening runway. And if their runway is more nauseating than sickening, then they can turn out a fierce lip sync to avoid sashaying.
No other reality-competition shows have this format, especially when it comes to the final lip sync. The bottom two chefs on Top Chef aren't challenged to whip up an amuse-bouche. The bottom two designers on Project Runway don't have to crank out a killer mini-dress to stave off the chop. The closest analogs I can think of come from the UK: Glow Up and Great British Bake Off, where judges take into account multiple challenges to arrive at the final verdict.
This should be the case on Drag Race. But as is routinely the case, a poor Maxi Challenge performance is rarely if ever saved by a great runway. And oftentimes the judging feels a bit ... produced, without clear criteria for success or failure (see: Lexi Love's Snatch Game, or the entire C.U.N.T. Monologues challenge). But if the runways actually, truly mattered — like, if the queens were awarded actual points for the challenge and then bonus points for the runway, points that we see on screen like it actually is the Olympics of drag— imagine how that would ratchet up the tension.
It would be great to see bottom queens try, at the last minute, to come up with gaggy reveals and or stunts to pull on the runway. Or to see at-risk queens really, really push themselves harder with their looks or mug in an all-or-nothing way. This is more drama, mama! And I think that's something we can all, producers and audience alike, get behind.
What rule changes would you like to see on Drag Race? Let us know in the comments below, or over on Bluesky.
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