Few reality television spin-offs have become as successful as RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars. A continuation of the historic franchise RuPaul’s Drag Race, created and hosted by RuPaul Charles, this series gives Queens who didn’t win their first time in this drag competition another chance at the crown. These were the established icons who faltered during their original season, who messed up in some way, and are hungry for another shot at winning the title of America’s Next Drag All-Star (and a lovely $100,000 grand prize, of course). While the first season of this new spin-off had some rocky moments, the ones that followed featured Queens fans had been wanting to see again and granted them jaw-dropping storylines that all could enjoy.
These were truly some of the best seasons of reality television – if only the show had maintained that star power. Because, as cliche as it is to say that “the earlier seasons are so much better,” fans have unfortunately found truth in this mantra as the past few All-Star seasons have failed to meet the established heights of those that came before. The program has lost its authenticity, the fiery fight that drove each installment’s story as its creators resort to unexciting twists and questionable editing to manufacture storylines like the ones that once made this show so great. In trying to copy that greatness, the series has taken away what made fans love it in the first place, and if something doesn’t change very soon, they’ll be damning RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars to being just another reality show that used to be good.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars’ Has It All (Well, It Used To)
While they certainly had their missteps, it can’t be understated just what a cultural impact the early seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars were. The show’s second season is considered by most viewers as the absolute best; it brought together legends like Tatianna and Katya Zamolodchikova with each episode featuring countless gag-worthy moments, eventually ending in the crowning of Alaska Thunderfuck and granting those watching everything they could ever want from a Drag Race season. This stellar installment offered a model that every subsequent season tried to follow, and while none were ever able to really meet that standard, they each managed to embody some aspect of the fierce spirit that made this one so great. Whether it be BenDeLaCreme self-eliminating in All-Stars 3 or Manila Luzon’s shocking loss in All-Stars 4 each iteration of the spin-off excited fans with so many things they never could have expected. Some of this is owed to production itself, the show implementing twists and the judges offering critiques to drive the Queens through the competition, but it’s really the Queens’ arcs that make All-Stars so great.
The whole point of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars is for the Queens who didn’t win their first time to come back and show the world that they aren’t their past mistakes, that they deserve a spot in this series’ Hall of Fame and how truly anybody can be the biggest Drag Queen in America. There are many contestants who redeemed their past failures, but nobody exemplifies this series’ mission more than All-Star 6’s Ra’jah O’Hara. Originally from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11, O’Hara’s time on the show saw her act primarily as that season’s villain; she constantly got into intense fights with everyone around her and was portrayed as petty and rude, eventually getting sent home after her fourth time in the bot tom two. This meant not much was expected from her when she returned from All-Stars as most fans didn’t imagine this random antagonist could have much of an impact – which is what made her meteoric rise that much more amazing to watch. Her time on All-Stars encapsulated the spin-off’s mission perfectly, O’Hara showing how she’d grown not only as an artist (her self-made style was always glamorous) but also as a person. Viewers were graced with beautiful scenes of her reconciling with those she hurt on her original season, eventually becoming All-Star 6’s resident voice of reason and making it to the top four where she lost gracefully to equally iconic Kylie Sonique Love. O’Hara’s arc embodied what makes this series so great, creating a storyline that the series would try to push going forward…emphasis on try.
What Happened to ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars’?
RuPaul’s Drag Race All-Stars, like every season of reality TV, is built by its contestants and their individual paths to the end of the competitions, which is what makes recent installments’ clear manufacturing so painful to watch. Following the show’s All-Winners season in All-Stars 7, the series continued bringing together iconic Queens who fans had missed in its eighth and ninth iterations. Yet while the show has always been plagued by questionable judging, this clear favoritism had become impossible to ignore; All-Stars 8 saw long-time favorites like Darienne Lake and Mrs. Kasha Davis receive needlessly harsh criqitues and get sent packing early, while artists like La La Ri who, for all of her charm, failed to offer a drag package that stacked up to other competitors received endless praise (and excuses) from the judges. Her treatment mirrored that of similar “underdog” Jaymes Mansfield, becoming epitomized in the end-of-season “Fame Games” where the show claimed to allow fans to vote for who they believed deserved a cash prize at the end. This voting process (a basic website) was proven rigged by online sleuths and was further ruined by RuPaul randomly granting each Queen votes based on more questionable judging, the series trying to fabricate redemption arcs rather than letting their Drag speak for itself.
These hollow attempts to copy what O’Hara had done stripped away the series’ long-loved ingenuity, a loss that was proven even more hard to watch with its most recent season. Fans always knew All-Stars 9 was going to be different; this non-elimination season had Queens trying to win money for charity rather than themselves, granting the entire affair a much kinder energy than the cutthroat one that came before it. Yet, while audiences are glad to be past the days when Michelle Visage’s cruelty made Adore Delano quit, that doesn’t mean they wanted what the show gave them: phony, overly nice judging. The root of any competition is constructive criticism, and even though Queens weren’t going home, it was baffling to watch contestants get away with performances that would have gotten them eliminated on a regular season. And once again, the show clearly favorited certain Queens while leaving others out, seeming to forget about stars like Shannel and Gottmik while once again pushing Vanessa Vangie Mateo to the forefront. The past few seasons of this once-iconic franchise were disingenuous attempts by the show to try and follow the formula that had made their early seasons so amazing – and not realizing there was never really a formula to begin with.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars’ Needs to Return to Its Roots
Just because RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars has seen a lull in quality doesn’t mean that the show can’t easily bounce back. There have been many legendary franchises that have seen some meh seasons, with mega-hits like Survivor and Big Brother offering a few clunky outings to punctuate their endlessly amazing seasons of reality TV. Yet while there’s always a chance to improve, the state of All-Stars is more comparable to what happened to the once-iconic America’s Next Top Model: a show that kept on trying out gimmicks to be as great as it once was before quietly being canceled. It’s undeniable that All-Stars has lost the glamour it once held and that is reflected in the diminishing lack of conversation surrounding each season online, with even the show’s most die-hard fans becoming fed up with fake storylines. RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars can still be one of the biggest reality shows ever, but until the series stops trying to “make good TV” and lets its contestants’ talents speak for themselves, it’ll just continue creating the mediocre seasons it has been for the past few years.