“I didn’t realise the drag queens were going to be more famous than the contestants.”
The first episode of RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race has polarised fans.
The sickening new series follows 12 celebrity contestants as they vie for the title of America’s Next Celebrity Drag Superstar, as well as a cash prize of $30,000 doollahz, which will be donated to the charity of their choice.
In the premiere, the first three celebrity contestants paired up with legendary Drag Race winners, Bob the Drag Queen, Monét X Change and Trixie Mattel, and played a special edition of Snatch Game on the main stage.
It was a highly entertainting episode, but fans had some issues with the stars involved. In the weeks leading up to the premiere, speculation was rife as to which celebs would sashay and shantay down that iconic runway.
Harry Styles expressed interest, so maybe him? Miley Cyrus is a Drag Race superfan and donned male drag in season 11, so why not? After all, Trixie even said in an interview that the series would consist of “A-List” talent.
Instead of Harry and Miley, the three celebrities that embraced their charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent for the first time were – SPOILER ALERT! – Younger star Nico Tortorella, Riverdale’s Jordan Connor and comedian Jermaine Fowler.
“When it said ‘celebrity’ drag race I didn’t realise the drag queens were going to be more famous than the contestants,” tweeted one fan, while another wrote: “I’m trying to figure out who any of these “celebrities” are on Celebrity Drag Race.
Nico, Jordan and Jermaine might not be the stars we anticipated, but – controversial opinion alert! – we absolutely loved the premiere. We howled with laughter as loud as Mama Ru and cried as dramatically as Farrah Moan.
Nico represented the gender non-conforming community, revealing the series gave them the courage to come out as non-binary, while Jermaine left us in tears as he paid tribute to his Drag Race superfan mother, who is sadly no longer with us.
Oh, and thanks to the latter, we’re going to have update our ranking of greatest Snatch Game characters in HERstory.
Jordan, who – ANOTHER SPOILER ALERT, TURN AWAY NOW – ultimately won the title of America’s Next Celebrity Drag Superstar, also gagged fans with his fierce lip-sync and surprisingly emotional winner’s speech.
So while the episode was, overall, well-received, the talent involved failed to impress fans. But would you rather have A-List talent that leave us wanting more or C-List talent that can turn the mothertucking party? Well?
Like this season of Untucked, RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race is unavailable to stream in the UK (for now). If we have any updates, we’ll keep you posted. For US viewers, the first episode can be viewed now on VH1.
Related: Here’s who fans think will be on RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race.