‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Triumphed Over Scandal and Coronavirus with a Miraculous Season

RuPaul’s Drag Race had big plans for 2020. The reigning Emmy queen of the reality competition category expected to turn out another epic season of the show culminating in an on-stage extravaganza that would surely delight the children. All that would go down in conjunction with another RuPaul’s DragCon in Los Angeles and the live show in Las Vegas, and then the Season 12 queens would embark on a tour to meet and greet the fans (and also enjoy the bank that comes along with a worldwide profile). Everything was going to go as planned, but as the ubiquitous meme has made very clear, 2020 did not care about your plans.

First, the biggest scandal in Drag Race herstory happened when Season 12 contestant Joey Gugliemelli, a.k.a. Sherry Pie, was accused of catfishing, coercing, and manipulating at least a half dozen individuals into sexually compromising, at times humiliating, acts via email. She was disqualified from the competition on March 6, literally hours before her Drag Race debut. That was enough to potentially tank the season, as it meant that the show would have to undergo a massive re-edit in a fraction of the time—and if Gugliemelli made it to the top 4, which we now know he did, how would they possibly be able to chop what was presumably a major, season-long storyline? They couldn’t just say “look over there!”

A disqualified queen was enough to shock the season, but 2020 wasn’t done with Drag Race yet. Eleven states had already declared states of emergency due to COVID-19 by the time Gugliemelli was disqualified. By the time Episode 4 of Season 12 aired, all 50 states had declared a state of emergency and stay-at-home orders were being issued at a rapid pace. Not only was the season being re-edited with a moment’s notice, but now the Season 12 queens and the active Drag Race community were cut off from each other. No Friday night viewing parties, no meet and greets, no Drag Race Live, no DragCon LA, no in-person reunion, no season finale stage show, and no Season 12 tour. The queens of Season 12 needed more than the usual charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent—they needed a miracle.

And honey, a miracle happened. Despite the frankly ridiculous amount of adversity piled on top of Season 12 and its divas, this season of RuPaul’s Drag Race has been a true miracle, a 90-minute oasis of therapeutic viewing and bright positivity in weeks of otherwise constant dread. Somehow a season wherein a finalist was disqualified for sexual abuse right up top became a downright joy to behold. How?!

The editing, for one thing. Drag Race’s Season 12 editing team more than deserves the Emmy for this job, for not only salvaging a season that could’ve been absolutely wrecked by the erasure of a finalist with next to no notice, but for making the transformation seamless and virtually flawless. They started by scrubbing every episode of Gugliemelli’s talking heads (note that he was very much a part of Episode 2, his debut episode that aired right after the disqualification) and removing him from all social media posts for the season. And after that… Gugliemelli practically disappeared, to the point where I consistently forgot he was even on the show until he’d wind up in the top (inexplicably, TBH).

The disqualification edit seemed tight at first, but there were justified worries early on about how long they could keep the gig going. As the season progressed and queens were sent packing, they’d have to show more of Gugliemelli, especially when he became a fifth of the show’s cast. That worry was, shockingly, unwarranted, because of the true miracle of Season 12: the queens themselves.

Drag Race girls have often said in interviews that a queen doesn’t get on the show until the time is right. There’s always a reason why a particular group are chosen when they are chosen, even after years of auditioning. With that in mind, I cannot think of a better batch of divas to endure and ultimately vanquish the despair of 2020 than the Season 12 girls. This stacked cast was—every week, without fail!—an thoroughly thrilling delight. Just look at them! Aiden Zhane’s scrappiness, Widow Von’Du’s moves, Jan’s relentless spirit, Jackie Cox’s heart, Gigi Goode’s looks, Jaida Essence Hall’s shade—this cured what ailed me every week.

And then there’s Heidi N Closet and Crystal Methyd—pardon me, I’m getting choked up here. These two feisty queens made me feel a certain type of way about Drag Race again. They made me feel a full, open-hearted love for this show that I realized I have not felt in years.

A queen as effortlessly watchable and charming like Heidi is Alyssa-Edwards-level rare. To watch her saunter through the competition, with her mispronunciations and completely un-produced wonder, was Drag Race magic. After seeing Heidi’s talking head narration all season long, it became clear that the editors had no shortage of Heidi magic to sprinkle throughout every episode. From calling herself the trade of the season to her telling the editors to leave her bad puns in the episode (hey, they listened!), Heidi was a hepiphany.

And Crystal? I’ve called out Drag Race in the past for feeling overly produced, as if every queen’s fate is sealed the moment they enter the Werk Room. Crystal’s journey, from literal clown to a fully-realized magical creature, made me believe in this show again. Absolutely no one clocked Crystal, a complete weirdo from the Midwest who was totally hiding behind kooky humor, as having a shot—certainly not up against NYC headliners like Jan and Brita!

And, by miracle or by magic, Crystal upped her game, took the notes, filtered them through her bizarre brain, and played the game better than any other queen. RuPaul can’t stop talking about that El DeBarge mullet? Then Crystal made it the center of her commercial, political character, and even highlighted it in her winning one-woman show. That journey—y’all, Crystal Methyd is what Drag Race is all about to me.

All this, the editing and these specific stars, came together at the exact right time to turn out a season unlike the last few, and exactly the one we needed to watch at home on Friday nights. True, these girls deserved a normal season, one without headline-grabbing controversy and a worldwide pandemic.

But.

Heidi N Closet, Crystal Methyd, Jackie Cox, Jaida Essence Hall, Gigi Goode, 12 of the 13 queens—they were the exact right queens for this dire moment. They were, every worsening week, able to provide the utterly heartwarming levity that we all desperately needed right here, right now. Since the start of the season, people have been low key pitying the Season 12 girls for getting stuck in the Sherry Pie season and then being stuck at home. But after seeing Season 12, I don’t think that’s the case at all. I really—and I’m sure I speak for legions of Drag Race fans—do not know what I would’ve done without the bright spot of getting a Jackie read, some Jaida shade, a Heidi hepiphany, or some Scientific Methyd at the end of my week. The cast of course had no idea the service they would be providing in 2020 when they filmed the season in summer 2019, but the dolls… it’s like they still somehow knew what we needed. And they  delivered. Thank you.

There is no reason to pity the Season 12 queens. This group of girls triumphed, and they are all queens (except that one). Long may they reign… and I hope they get that tour next year.

Where to watch RuPaul's Drag Race