‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Celebrates First FYC Event With Queens, Shade And Shablams

Last year, RuPaul’s Drag Race made herstory when it became the first reality series to win an Emmy for Outstanding Reality-Competition Program and  Outstanding Reality Host in the same year.  To step their game up, the VH1 series hosted their first FYC event on Thursday night — and it snatched everyone’s wig.

With season 11 contestants Nina West and Plastique Tiarra at the helm as emcees, the show started with a video introduction by RuPaul who was unable to attend (don’t worry, she apologized), followed by a performance from the top five queens of the season: Vanessa Vanjie Mateo, Silky Nutmeg Ganache, A’Keria C. Davenport, Brooke Lynn Hytes, and the winner Yvie Oddly.

After the queens shablammed and sashayed, Judges Michelle Visage and Carson Kressley took the stage with Emmy-winning costume designer Zaldy Goco and Executive Producers Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell, Mandy Salangsang, Steven Corfe and Tim Palazzola. Judge Ross Mathews was, unfortunately, unable to attend last minute due to being sick. They celebrated the show and discussed the journey of the show since season one, what goes into choosing the queens each season and how the show combines the best parts of every reality show: singing, sewing, acting, dancing and more.

“It’s a show in drag, so it sort of defines itself just like a drag queen does, it samples from everything out there – every reality show, every TV show, every sick and twisted headline,” said Barbato.

Campbell added,” It’s a pleasure to produce this show, we have fun, make jokes, and laugh – it is the most fun set, but we do work hard, and it is the queens who bring it every season.”

“This show is what it is because of one person….and that is RuPaul,” Michelle Visage praised the ‘supermodel of the world’. “I think there is a beautiful part to this show — and that is whether a child is gay, straight, trans, or whatever the situation is, they are a child that feels like they don’t have anybody that understands what they’re going through…this is a show for sweet sensitive souls, who feel like they are on the outside.”