How ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Losers Know They’re About to Be Eliminated
RuPaul‘s Drag Race is now in its 15th season, and it’s more popular than ever. But just like with any other reality TV show, eventually, some of the show’s secrets are bound to be revealed. For example, in the earlier seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, future losers learned they were about to be eliminated from the race in a rather abrupt way.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ explained
So… how does the show work, exactly? For those not familiar, RuPaul’s Drag Race features a series of drag performers, all of which are selected by host RuPaul and the production team to compete. The chosen pool of performers competes in each episode, performing a series of challenges. At the end of each episode, one of the contestants is eliminated. While episodes air once a week, typically, an entire season is filmed in about four weeks.
Losers of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ used to find out they were going home before the competition
Of course, the contestant eliminated each week is supposed to be a surprise. And while the contestants aren’t explicitly told who will be going home, they get a pretty big hint. At least, they did in the earlier seasons. An anonymous tip from a production member was leaked to Buzzfeed, which read:
“In the early seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race, some of the queens received a checkout notice from the hotel the morning of filming elimination. They would go film, get put in the bottom two, and be eliminated.”
An abrupt eviction notice is certainly one way to tip off a contestant that their time on the show is over. We’re not sure if things are still done this way. Hopefully, the team has found a way to be more discreet so the contestants’ surprise is genuine.
Other secrets about “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” revealed
So… what else happens behind the scenes at RuPaul’s Drag Race? Here are a few other tidbits that have been revealed:
In Season 15, viewers saw the first set of identical twins on the show, Sugar and Spice. In one scene, they had to lip sync together in competition, which appeared to be completely unscripted… until they actually performed, and fans claimed it looked like the twins had choreographed it ahead of time.
Later on, the twins admitted they had actually had a little time to choreograph, but added that “it would have been more planned out if we’d had more time and weren’t bawling our eyes out in the Werk Room.” The twins knew the battle meant one of them would be sent home.
Also, while we only see each Ru Girl walk the runway once per episode, they actually have to walk twice — once to the music, and once to complete silence so the judges can make the jokes and commentary. Awkward! (Via BuzzFeed.)
Off set, contestants are not allowed to leave their hotel rooms or have any contact with each other. After filming wraps up, they all go back to their rooms alone. There are also times when the queens are not allowed to interact with each other unless the cameras are rolling. This seems pretty lonely and isolating, but surely it’s worth it if they win the grand prize.
