‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 15: 90-Minute Episodes Return After Backlash From Fans Over Shorter Episodes
Season 15 of RuPaul’s Drag Race featured the largest cast of queens in the show’s history, as 16 queens came together to compete for the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar and a massive grand prize of $200,000. But despite it being a larger-than-life season, much of Season 15‘s first half contained episodes that were compressed into one hour (with commercials), as opposed to the 90-minute episodes that have been the standard since Season 10. Now, after an outcry from fans, 90-minute Drag Race episodes are back.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 15 has consisted of 60-minute episodes
RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 premiered with back-to-back episodes on Jan. 6, 2023, airing for the first time ever on MTV. Anetra, Aura Mayari, Malaysia Babydoll Foxx, Irene Dubois, Jax, Amethyst, Salina EsTitties, Loosey LaDuca, Marcia Marcia Marcia, Mistress Isabelle Brooks, Robin Fierce, Sasha Colby, Sugar, Spice, Luxx Noir London, and Princess Poppy all compete in challenges including the iconic Snatch Game celebrity impersonation challenge and acting challenges such as a reboot of the fictitious The Daytona Wind series from Season 14.
With a new season of Drag Race came a new slate of programming from MTV, which included the polarizing new reality show The Real Friends of WeHo. To make room for The Real Friends of WeHo, Drag Race episodes were shortened to 60 minutes (with commercials), with The Real Friends of WeHo airing immediately after, as opposed to the behind-the-scenes series RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, which has normally aired immediately after the main show for years.
MTV’s goal in the programming choice was to create a destination night for LGBTQ programming on the network. But The Real Friends of WeHo‘s place on the programming schedule — as well as its cast and content — became the subject of backlash following the Drag Race Season 15 premiere.
‘Drag Race’ returns to 90-minute episodes on March 17
The controversy around Drag Race‘s shortening led to a petition to pull The Real Friends of WeHo from the air and a fierce outcry from fans online. MTV seemingly responded to the backlash, with Drag Race confirming on social media that 90-minute episodes of Drag Race will return on Mar. 10.
“Get ready, racers,” the announcement read on Instagram. “Drag Race returns to 90-minute episodes starting Friday, March 10 at 8/7c on MTV.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World winner Blu Hydrangea acknowledged the elephant in the room in the comment section: “The gay who manages The Real Friends of WeHo’s social media just took a sigh of relief. RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars winner Kylie Sonique Love commented with applause emojis, while RuPaul’s Drag Race UK‘s Cheryl Hole celebrated referencing Vice President Kamala Harris, saying, “We did it, Joe!”
Other fans, including Season 13’s Joey Jay, clamored for 90-minute versions of previously-released episodes. “AMAZING!!!” Jay said. “RELEASE THE 90 MIN EPISODES THAT HAVE ALREADY AIRED PLEASEEEEEE!!! WE WANT TO SEE THE LOOKS!!!”
Seasons 1 through 9 consisted of hourlong episodes
With shortened episodes, many beloved parts of Drag Race episodes have been either shortened or cut entirely for time. This includes most of the mini challenges, which have only been featured in a few episodes of Season 15. The runway portion is also notably quicker, with less time highlighting each queen’s individual looks. And the judges’ deliberations, normally shown after critiques of the top and bottom queens, have been cut entirely.
It’s not the first time Drag Race has been compressed into an hour, however. For the first nine seasons of the show, episodes aired in 60-minute slots, consisting of approximately 45 minutes of show.
