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6 Reasons 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Is the Best Reality TV Show

'Rupaul's Drag Race'

By Georgia AngusPublished 7 years ago 4 min read
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With RuPaul Charles winning his first Emmy and Lady Gaga making an appearance in the ninth season; which was the shows most watched season to date, RuPaul's Drag Race is starting to become popular with more than just the LGBT community. For die-hard fans of the show it's obvious why the show is slowly becoming one of the most popular reality shows around, but for people who have never watched the show or just seen the odd episode it's strange to think that men in drag competing to be "America's next drag superstar" could really make such an inspirational show for such a wide audience. But really Drag Race has all the ingredients you need to make the perfect reality show.

1. Making Gay Culture Mainstream

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Drag Race literally dominates gay media with its sassy catchphrases, amazing fashions, bitchy dramas, rivalries, and bonds created between the queens, RuPaul himself knows he has everything that's needed to make a successful reality TV show. These days you can't go on to social media without seeing at least one RuPaul quote or GIF, the show's becoming so popular outside the gay community. With this being said, a lot of people seem to be jumping on the band wagon that in the past have actually have had negative opinions about the LGBT community and drag in particular, which seems to be one of the issues of the show getting more notice. Like season nine moving to VHS and getting Wendy Williams as the co-host of "Fierce Fridays" a companion show for drag race. Williams is said to have had issues in the past with the gay community for removing someone from her audience because they were dressed in drag.

2. Controversy

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I can't be the only one to admit that we all love to have our opinions and debate about the media and the shows we watch, Drag Race is definitely a controversial show since it's basically centered around men in dresses competing against each other, which at one time would have been something seen in the mainstream eye. But one of the main things the show does really well is demonstrate the struggles within the LGBT community from families not accepting their children for being gay or dressing up in drag to the stigmas over eating disorders, AIDS, and homophobia/transphobia.

3. Great Entertainment

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It's funny! While showing the serious struggles and how all the queens have got to where they are, it remains amusing to watch. Drag Race can take you from crying over three-year-old Roxxxy Andrews being abandoned at a bus stop to laughing at the judges throwing shade on the runway, it has the perfect balance of touching on serious issues and comedy. The queens are given set challenges based around fashion, acting, singing, and dancing, which when you get a tone deaf queen trying to rap or sing or a queen with two left feet, it can make for some hilarious moments.

4. The Judges

RuPaul has got some of the biggest gay icons as guest judges on this show. What makes this so great is that they are all fans of the show and are delighted to be there and take part in the show. Take Lady Gaga for example, she has been a big fan of the show for a long time and was honored to be asked to be on the show to critique the queens, and you could tell when she had her moment with the queens giving them all advice on how they could improve, she had really looked into what they needed to improve on. It's hard to find a show where all the guests on it are actually really passionate about the show. Then there are the permanent judges; Michelle Visage, Ross Matthews, and Carson Kressley who make for some great puns on the runway and some great disagreements between who did badly that week.

5. Twists

Another thing, the show keeps you guessing you can think someone is safe they could have been on the top for 5 weeks in a row and fall short one week and there out. There's also the occasional shock of double eliminations when two queens just haven't lip synced for their life good enough, and if RuPaul is underwhelmed by your performance then that's the end of the road. Probably the biggest shock was in Drag Race All Stars 2 when RuPaul decided he wouldn't be sending any of the queens home, but the queen on top for that week would be the one to choose who went home, just to add to the drama a little bit more.

6. Inspirational

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At the end of the day probably the best thing about RuPaul's Drag Race is that it is inspiring to so many people, not just young boys who want to start their drag career, but anybody who has struggled with being different. Sharon Needles and Jinx Monsoon (winners of season four and five) were great examples of this. Throughout their seasons both of them came out on top multiple times but were put down and bullied by some of the other queens for having different styles and not conforming to what people think drag should be, and both of them then went on to win their seasons.

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About the Creator

Georgia Angus

19, freelance writer & singer songwriter.

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