29 Insane Facts About "RuPaul’s Drag Race" That'll Snatch Your Actual Weave
29 June 2018, 15:39 | Updated: 29 June 2018, 15:50
From walking the runway twice to what song is chosen for the lip sync, here's the tea.
It is a known fact that RuPaul's Drag Race is one of, if not THE, best reality competition on television right now. Over the past few years, the show has BLOWN up from a small cable TV audience to a HUGE mainstream one thanks to it's charisma, uniqueness, *Netflix* and talent.
But whether you're a seasoned watcher or someone who has just discovered the whole gig on Netflix last week, we bet there's a ton of behind the scenes info and scandalous facts about the show that'll leave you wigless. So, with help from an incredible thread of tea off the Drag Race reddit page, here's a bunch of facts that you need to know:
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1) 129 queens have taken part in the series so far.
2) And not a single queen with a name starting in Q, U, X or Z has ever taken part.
3) Multiple endings of the finale episode are filmed where each Queen will walk as the winner to make sure spoilers from the audience don't leak.
4) And the queens themselves don't actually know who wins until it airs on TV either. They find out the same time we do.
5) As for the main show? The queens walk the runway twice; once with music and once with the judges commentary. (That's why they never crack up after some of the comments from the judges.)
6) When it comes to the lip sync, each queen is handed an iPod at the start of the season with a list of every song that will feature in the lip syncs.
7) And they have NO IDEA which one will be chosen each week until the day before.
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8) The show is filmed for around 11 and 12 hours a day and the queens are stood on the main stage, in heels and tucked for the majority of it.
9) Tyra Sanchez, Bianca Del Rio, Violet Chachki, Sasha Velour and Aquaria have all won the show without having to lip sync for their lives.
10) And there's also four queens who have made the top three without having to lip-sync: Nina Flowers, Alaska, Courtney Act and Kim Chi.
11) Over the years, there's been ten queens who have NEVER ended up in the bottom two: Nina Flowers, Tyra Sanchez, Alaska, Bianca Del Rio, Courtney Act, Kim Chi, Sasha Velour, Violet Chachki, Sasha Velour and Aquaria.
12) Bianca was never in the bottom three either.
13) The show was sold in RuPaul's very first pitch to the network.
14) Every single winner of the show has released music, except Bianca.
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15) Before they start the show, the queens are given a very vague list of runway themes and outfits they may need to bring to the main challenges.
16) There's also a five suitcase limit.
17) Once they've finished for the day, the queens are then locked into their hotel rooms into their hotel rooms. There is a group of PAs that keep watch.
18) A piece of tape is placed over their doors so they know no one has left the room. This apparently started after Willam's scandal in season four.
19) There are absolutely no phones allowed during filming either. The queens communicate with staff outside their hotel rooms by slipping notes under the door.
20) The confessionals are shot at random intervals throughout the process but in recent seasons, queens are asked to wear the same outfits so they can use reaction shots later in the show.
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21) In the earlier seasons, queens never used to wear the same outfits so some confessionals would start with one queen in one outfit and end with her in another. This is known as a "frankenedit" and it happened to Shangela in season three.
22) The clocks don't work in the werkroom.
23) The queens have absolutely NO IDEA who will be walking into the workroom on that first day. We meet them the same time they meet each other.
24) The drinks provided in Untucked are actually watered down cranberry juice with a tint of vodka. Production placed a limit on the amount of drinks available after Jujubee performed the lip-sync drunk AF.
25) The infamous "Drag is not a contact sport" lip-sync between India Ferrah and Mimi Imfurst was allegedly filmed five times so producers could get the perfect shot.
26) Sometimes, queens are asked to change their performances because of "rights issues". Coco Montrese was asked to change her initial Janet Jackson-esque performance in the talent show performance in All Stars 2.
27) The Vixen was asked to redo her entrance to the show multiple times. She says her now infamous line "I'm just here to fight" ended up coming off like it did because the nerves got to her. The quote is actually a reference to Bad Girls Club.
28) Tyra Sanchez was the youngest winner until Aquaria won season 10. They were both 21 years old when they won.
29) Charlie Hides was the oldest queen to ever compete in the competition at the age of 52.
And that's the tea...
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