RuPaul's Drag Race (season 1)
The first season of RuPaul's Drag Race, later referred to as RuPaul's Drag Race: The Lost Season Ru-Vealed, premiered in the United States on February 2, 2009, on Logo. Nine contestants were selected to compete in the running of becoming "America's Next Drag Superstar." The first season was filmed during the summer of 2008. The winner of the first season won $5,000 worth of MAC Cosmetics, was featured in an LA Eyeworks campaign, joined the Logo Drag Race tour, and won a cash prize of $20,000. One of the nine contestants to compete on RuPaul's Drag Race, Nina Flowers was determined by an audience vote via the show's official website. The results were announced in early September 2008.
| RuPaul's Drag Race | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 Promotional poster for season one | |
| Hosted by | RuPaul |
| Judges |
|
| No. of contestants | 9 |
| Winner | BeBe Zahara Benet |
| Runner-up | Nina Flowers |
| Miss Congeniality | Nina Flowers |
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 9 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Logo TV |
| Original release | February 2 – March 23, 2009 |
| Season chronology | |
The theme song playing during the runway every episode was "Cover Girl" from RuPaul's album Champion. This season and season one of All-Stars are the only seasons to not feature the "Snatch Game".
The winner of the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race was BeBe Zahara Benet, with Nina Flowers being the runner-up.
In late 2013, Logo re-aired the first season, which was titled RuPaul's Drag Race: The Lost Season Ru-Vealed, and featured commentary from RuPaul.[1][2]
Contestants
(Ages and names stated are at time of contest)
| Contestant | Age | Hometown | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| BeBe Zahara Benet | 28 | Minneapolis, Minnesota[lower-alpha 1] | Winner |
| Nina Flowers | 34 | Denver, Colorado [lower-alpha 2] | Runner-up |
| Rebecca Glasscock | 26 | Fort Lauderdale, Florida | 3rd Place |
| Shannel | 29 | Las Vegas, Nevada | 4th Place |
| Ongina | 26 | Los Angeles, California | 5th Place |
| Jade Sotomayor | 25 | Chicago, Illinois | 6th Place |
| Akashia | 24 | Cleveland, Ohio | 7th Place |
| Tammie Brown | 26 | Long Beach, California | 8th Place |
| Victoria "Porkchop" Parker | 39 | Raleigh, North Carolina | 9th Place |
- Originally from Yaoundé, Cameroon
- Originally from Bayamón, Puerto Rico
Contestant progress
| Contestant[lower-alpha 1] | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 9 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BeBe Zahara Benet | SAFE | SAFE | WIN | HIGH | BTM2 | WIN | Winner | Guest |
| Nina Flowers | WIN | HIGH | HIGH | HIGH | LOW | HIGH | Runner-Up | Miss C |
| Rebecca Glasscock | LOW | HIGH | SAFE | BTM2 | WIN | BTM2 | Eliminated | Guest |
| Shannel | SAFE | HIGH | BTM2 | LOW | HIGH | ELIM | Guest | |
| Ongina | HIGH | WIN | HIGH | WIN | ELIM | Guest | ||
| Jade | SAFE | SAFE | LOW | ELIM | Guest | |||
| Akashia | BTM2 | BTM2 | ELIM | Guest | ||||
| Tammie Brown | SAFE | ELIM | Guest | |||||
| Victoria "Porkchop" Parker | ELIM | Guest | ||||||
- The contestant won RuPaul's Drag Race.
- The contestant was the runner-up.
- The contestant was eliminated without lip-syncing entirely.
- The contestant won the challenge.
- The contestant received positive critiques and was ultimately declared safe.
- The contestant received critiques but was ultimately declared safe.
- The contestant received no critiques and was safe.
- The contestant received negative critiques but was ultimately declared safe.
- The contestant was in the bottom two.
- The contestant was eliminated.
- The contestant returned as a guest for that episode.
Lip-syncs
| Episode | Contestants | Song | Eliminated | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Akashia | vs. | Victoria "Porkchop" Parker | "Supermodel (You Better Work)" (RuPaul) |
Victoria "Porkchop" Parker |
| 2 | Akashia | vs. | Tammie Brown | "We Break the Dawn" (Michelle Williams) |
Tammie Brown |
| 3 | Akashia | vs. | Shannel | "The Greatest Love of All" (Whitney Houston) |
Akashia |
| 4 | Jade | vs. | Rebecca Glasscock | "Would I Lie To You?" (Eurythmics) |
Jade |
| 5 | BeBe Zahara Benet | vs. | Ongina | "Stronger" (Britney Spears) |
Ongina |
| 6 | Rebecca Glasscock | vs. | Shannel | "Shackles (Praise You)" (Mary Mary) |
Shannel |
| 8 | Bebe Zahara Benet | vs. | Nina Flowers | "Cover Girl (Put the Bass in Your Walk)" (RuPaul) |
Nina Flowers |
- The contestant was eliminated after their first time in the bottom two.
- The contestant was eliminated after their second time in the bottom two.
- The contestant was eliminated after their third time in the bottom two.
- The contestant was eliminated after the final lip-sync.
Guest judges
Listed in chronological order:
- Bob Mackie, fashion designer
- Mike Ruiz, photographer
- Frank Gatson, director and choreographer
- Michelle Williams, singer and actress
- Howard Bragman, writer and lecturer
- Debra Wilson, actress and comedian
- Gordon Espinet, make-up artist
- Jenny Shimizu, model and actress
- Lucy Lawless, actress and singer
- Robin Antin, dancer, choreographer, and actress
- Jeffrey Moran, Absolut Vodka marketing/branding executive
- María Conchita Alonso, singer-songwriter and actress
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | "Drag on a Dime" | February 2, 2009 | |
|
The nine contestants arrived in full drag and size up the competition. They were then immediately thrust into a car wash photo shoot, portraying sex appeal, while posing with two men, with Mike Ruiz as their photographer. The first challenge was for them to make an outfit out of thrift store clothes and accessories from the 99 cent store. At the judging session, which included Bob Mackie, Santino Rice, Mike Ruiz, Merle Ginsberg, and RuPaul herself as judges, the contestants were judged on their outfits and photos.
| ||||
| 2 | 2 | "Girl Group Challenge" | February 9, 2009 | |
|
The eight remaining contestants were given a mini-challenge in which they acted out certain emotions and took pictures of themselves with a digital camera. RuPaul then deemed Akashia and Ongina the winners and made them the group leaders in the next challenge, a girl group battle. The groups were each responsible for their own hair, makeup, costumes, and choreography and they each had to perform to a Destiny's Child song.
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| 3 | 3 | "Queens of All Media" | February 16, 2009 | |
|
This week's challenge was to channel Oprah Winfrey. Each contestant was allowed to pick a costume from a bin supplied for them, choose a costume they brought, or make their own on the spot. The challenge was in three parts, representing three stages of Oprah's career. The first task was a newscaster challenge where they had to read mock news stories from a teleprompter. The next task was to try to sell products, reminiscent of Oprah on her "My Favorite Things" specials. The third task was to interview Tori Spelling and Dean McDermott.
| ||||
| 4 | 4 | "Mac Viva-Glam Challenge" | February 23, 2009 | |
|
For the mini-challenge, RuPaul paired everyone up and gave each person 30 minutes to do their partner's makeup, with Jade being declared the winner. The main challenge involved the girls putting together a commercial for Mac's Viva Glam makeup, a cosmetics line which Ru has once modeled for. The winner of the challenge would become the new face of Viva Glam. The girls were told that they must use the commercial to explain who they are as queens, to explain why they are beautiful, and to inform people of Viva Glam's help for those living with HIV.
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| 5 | 5 | "Drag School of Charm" | March 2, 2009 | |
|
For the episode's mini-challenge, Ru brought in five female fighters to put the contestants through an exercise and endurance challenge. The last person standing would win the challenge; Rebecca won. Ru then told the contestants that their main challenge would be for each of them to make over one of the fighters in their own image and teach them the secrets of drag. Rebecca got to select her partner as well as whom the others had to work with. They also had to coach the fighters on how to give a lip sync performance, which they had to do to Beyoncé's, "Freakum Dress".
| ||||
| 6 | 6 | "Absolut Drag Ball" | March 9, 2009 | |
|
The contestants met Ru on the runway for a vogue battle mini-challenge, which Nina won. For their main challenge, each contestant had to come up with three looks: Swimsuit, Executive Realness, and Evening Wear. Ru also informed the girls that Absolut was sponsoring the event and thus, they had to each portray one of four pre-selected flavors: citron, mandarin, mango, and raspberry. As the winner of the mini-challenge, Nina selected her flavor and paired everyone else up. Ru later revealed that they had to use their assigned fruits as part of their runway presentation.
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| 7 | 7 | "Extra Special Edition" | March 16, 2009 | |
| In this episode, RuPaul took a look back through the first season. Clips included unaired audition videos from the contestants who made it and some who didn't, backstage antics, and an inside look at the final three. Among those who didn't make it, Raven, Pandora Boxx, Sahara Davenport, Nicole Paige Brooks, Detox, Naysha Lopez, and Alaska were featured. Merle Ginsberg and Santino Rice were also on hand to deliver their Top 10 picks for the most memorable fashions of the season. | ||||
| 8 | 8 | "Grand Finale" | March 23, 2009 | |
|
Merle and Santino came in to inform the final three that their last challenge would be to appear in RuPaul's latest video for her song, "Cover Girl (Put The Bass In Your Walk)." They would do a group dance, record a verse with rapper Cazwell, and film a solo for Ru's video. To get them prepared, choreographer Ryan Heffington took the final three through the planned dance routine. None of them adapted easily, but Rebecca in particular struggled with the dancing required. Afterward, each queen got an impromptu sit-down with Ru.
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| 9 | 9 | "Re-United!" | March 23, 2009 | |
|
The nine contestants gathered once again to chat about the season behind them and their current lives with RuPaul, Merle, and Santino with questions from the viewers.
| ||||
Future appearances
Nina Flowers, Shannel, and Tammie Brown competed on the first season of All Stars. Nina and Tammie placed 9/10th overall together, while Shannel placed 3rd/4th with season 2 contestant Jujubee.
In the premiere episode of the third season of All Stars, Benet was announced as the surprise tenth contestant. This made Benet the first winner of a regular Drag Race season to compete again. Benet placed 3rd/4th overall along with season 2 and season 3 contestant Shangela.[4]
Ongina competed on the fifth season of All Stars. She finished in 9th place.[5]
References
- Contestant progress is referenced throughout the episodes from LogoTV, alongside the episodes published on iTunes Store.[3]
- Shumaker, Jason; Jake Slane (August 18, 2013). "Gentlemen, Re-Start Your Engines...and May the Best Woman Win...Again!". Logo Press Room. Logo. Retrieved August 20, 2013.
- "&"set=a.156472877827.118955.31772462827&type=1&comment_id=9992661&reply_comment_id=9992723&total_comments=15 "Callie, dear..." RuPaul's Drag Race Facebook page. September 23, 2013. Retrieved September 29, 2013.
Callie, dear...
- "RuPaul's Drag Race, Season 1". iTunes Store (United States). February 2, 2002. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
- "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season 3 queens announced: See an exclusive cast photo". Entertainment Weekly. 2017-10-21. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
- Nolfi, Joey (May 8, 2020). "RuPaul's Drag Race All-Stars 5 cast announced, series moves back to VH1". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved May 8, 2020.
External links
- Official website (U.S.)
- RuPaul's Drag Race on IMDb
