The Top 10 ‘Drag Race’ episodes of all time

Which season of Drag Race is the best is a matter of frequent debate on the internet. While there are differences of opinion based on personal taste—a preference for the strong casts of Seasons 2 and 6 versus the strong, character-based storytelling of Season 5 and All Stars 2—there are enough common threads among the majority of best-of lists to get a good sense of what the fandom thinks. A great cast, interesting challenges and just enough drama without the mood turning toxic are all high on fans’ wish lists. All Stars 1, on the other hand, is not losing its worst-of-all-time crown any time soon, thanks to squandering perhaps the show’s best cast ever on a team format that no one thrived in.

But what about the best Drag Race episodes? We’ve had over 200 if you include spinoffs, international variants and so on, making it hard to pare down which installments of RuPaul’s global franchise stand out from the pack. Again, it often comes down to personal taste: What are you looking for in a Drag Race episode?

For me, a great hour of Drag Race should include a strong cast excelling at the challenge in front of them, one or two “wow factor” moments—a legendary runway, an all-time great lip sync—and even a notable low moment or two. (Charlie Hides refusing to lip sync isn’t a good moment, but it’s undoubtedly interesting!) Most of all, though, the episode should be fun, and ideally rewatchable so you can experience that fun all over again. Be it dramatic or celebratory, a tight race or a clean sweep by one queen, the episode should aim—and, ideally, succeed—to entertain.

With that in mind, I submit my (inherently subjective) list of the top 10 Drag Race episodes of all time. I included only one episode from each season, and only one of any of the show’s signature installments: One premiere, one Snatch Game and so on. This rule means that certain terrific episodes didn’t make the list: both Canada’s Drag Race and All Stars 5’s Snatch Games have been left out, for instance. And the same goes for “Dancing Queens,” the fourth episode of Drag Race Holland, which overcomes a weak maxi-challenge with incredible runways, great personal drama and a gaggy judging result. (I can easily see it being on the best-of-all-time list later on, but it’s a bit too fresh right now.)

10. “Drag Queens of Comedy,” Season 6

This stand-up challenge episode is good for many reasons: Bianca Del Rio’s dominant performance, a great breakout moment from Trinity K. Bonet and a killer final lip sync (featuring simultaneous splits!) by Joslyn Fox and Laganja Estranja. But unlike every other episode on this list, it’s actually most notable for its Untucked. This is the infamous installment in which Laganja has a tremendous meltdown after being pushed by Bianca, yelling that she feels “VERY attacked” and breaking a nail while she storms off—all while wearing a giant hot pink wig.

Drag Race often features mess, but rarely is it this messy. Laganja’s meltdown remains meme fodder for good reason: It’s high-stakes and ridiculous, yet truly, purely emotional. Fake drama can be fun, but there’s something special about real, unvarnished hysterics. A terrific episode.

9. “Snatch Game,” Season 7

I almost listed Season 6’s Snatch Game because, like the ones on Canada’s Drag Race and All Stars 2, it’s very good. All three of the top performances (by Bianca Del Rio, Adore Delano and Ben DeLaCreme) are strong, and no one’s an egregious flop. But there are a lot of queens who turn in safe performances and get very little screen time during the challenge. It’s the top three’s show, and everyone else is just vibing. 

Season 7’s Snatch Game, on the other hand, is arguably the strongest of them all, with at least one truly memorably bad performance to boot. Kennedy Davenport and Ginger Minj win this one with their Little Richard and Adele, respectively. The former is a bold choice—at the time, no one had done a male character on Snatch Game. That it works so well is one of the many delights of this episode. Pearl turns in her season-best performance as Big Ang, which should be in contention for the win, while both Katya and Violet Chachki get laughs as Suze Orman and Alyssa Edwards. 

Even Jaidynn Diore Fierce’s Raven-Symoné gets in a few laughs, and she winds up in the bottom two! The only real disaster is Max’s Sharon Needles, which is iconically bad (“A haunted house!”) and definitely memorable. Season 7 wasn’t the best season of Drag Race, but it absolutely had one of the best Snatch Games—if not the best.

8. “Secret Celebrity Edition #102,” RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race

I’m breaking my recency bias rule a bit on this one, since this episode aired this year. I’m also a little worried I’m over-rating it based on bar-on-the-floor expectations; the first episode of Secret Celebrity Drag Race was such a slog that any kind of improvement was appreciated. But this celebrity spin-off didn’t just mildly improve from one episode to the next; it felt like an entirely different show.

Much was made of Vanessa Williams’ appearance, and she’s indeed both a tremendous get and an absolute blast. But crediting the success of this installment to her alone underrates both Loni Love and Tami Roman, as well as alumni coaches Alyssa Edwards, Trinity the Tuck and Asia O’Hara. The cast is on fire, with delightful interactions in the workroom (I think about Tami and Alyssa discussing Tami’s drag name “Miss Shenida Cocktail” a lot) and killing their 9 to 5-inspired Rusical challenge. 

It’s a terrific episode that proves the value of the Celebrity format. A shame that the other episodes of the spinoff weren’t as strong, because I’d watch a hundred more episodes like this one.

7. “Keeping It 100!” Season 8

Speaking of a hundred! The Season 8 premiere was the 100th episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race, and featured the 100th queen to compete: Derrick Barry. It functions as a celebration of Drag Race, with all the winners (save Bianca Del Rio) present for the mini-challenge photo shoot, and the maxi-challenge blends all the former design challenges together. It almost feels quaint in retrospect to see the show celebrate 100 episodes, when it now routinely turns out dozens of episodes a year.

“Keeping It 100!” works so well because it leads with love: For the show, for its alumni and for this new cast joining us. While later episodes of Season 8 would get mired in drama between Derrick and her co-stars—most notably Bob the Drag Queen and Naomi Smalls—and Thorgy Thor’s one-sided rivalry with Bob, this premiere feels like a fresh, exciting start. Anything can happen, as Drag Race closes its first chapter and prepares to open another.

6. “Frenemies,” Season 4

Also known as “the one where Willam gets disqualified.” There’s plenty of other great stuff in this one: Willam and Latrice Royale’s fun, campy musical performance, for instance. There’s a ludicrous lie detector mini-challenge that serves as a parody of lie detector scenes in TV and film. There’s Phi Phi O’Hara and Sharon Needles’ rivalry storyline coming to a head in a lip sync to “It’s Raining Men (The Sequel).” All of that already makes for a very strong episode.

But this is the one where Willam gets disqualified for a reason. At the time, it was earth-shattering for its mystique—and for its suddenness. ”What did Willam do?” became the burning question in Drag Race fandom, with all sorts of odd explanations offered. Willam herself wouldn’t finally come clean about what happened until 2018. This was the first moment the show broke out in broader pop culture, taking the series to the next level. Upon rewatch, the shock may have softened, but it’s no less of a gag.

5. “Your Pilot’s on Fire,” Season 9

This episode, like “Frenemies,” could be known just as the one where Valentina would like to keep her mask on. (Ahead of her time!) But what puts it ahead of “Frenemies” for me is that, if you took Valentina not knowing the words to Ariana Grande’s “Greedy” out of it, it would still be a top-tier episode. The challenge tasks the queens with writing and performing trailers to their own TV pilots, which gives them a lot of freedom to show off their own taste and talents. Sasha Velour and Shea Coulée were already beloved, but their work as “Teets & Asky” in this episode only elevated them as fan favourites.

This episode also includes Trinity the Tuck’s Sister Mary Koontz, an indelible performance in a group that has no shortage of drama (never forget Alexis Michelle taking credit for the “clever wordplay” on the main stage). The stellar club kid runway this episode features some of my favourite looks, including Peppermint’s Leigh Bowery-esque take on making herself an actual peppermint. And then, yes, there’s the lip sync, which is such an epic disaster that it instantly became legendary when it happened. Season 9 got a bad rap at the time, but episodes like “Your Pilot’s on Fire” are a big reason why it’s been reconsidered since.

4. “Girl Group Battle Royale,” UK Season 1

“I wanna break up! / Bye bye! / Maybe I’ll see you in the next life!” That catchy-as-hell siren song, “Break Up (Bye Bye),” is the centerpiece of this girl groups episode. The Frock Destroyers—Baga Chipz, Blu Hydrangea and Divina Del Campo—absolutely smash this challenge, and their competitors, Filth Harmony (Cheryl Hole, Crystal, The Vivienne) cannot possibly keep up. The Frock Destroyers are possibly the best girl group to come from Drag Race just on the strength of one song. It was so good, it actually charted in the U.K.!

One great performance is not all this episode has going for it, though. MNEK turns in a truly delightful stint as vocal coach for the girls, while Little Mix’s Jade Thirlwall has the time of her life as a guest judge. The “Day at the Races” runway produces some super memorable looks, too. This is the UK series’ crowning achievement; it’ll be tough for Season 2 to top this.

3. “RuPaul Roast,” Season 5

If you’ve spent enough time on Twitter, you’ve seen quite a bit of this episode already. Alyssa Edwards repeatedly clearing her throat and making herself laugh while writing jokes? That’s this episode. Alaska telling RuPaul to “Please stop immediately”? This episode. Roxxxy Andrews’ legendary wig reveal and subsequent speech about being left at a bus stop by her mother? This episode. The first-ever roast challenge episode is stacked, and I haven’t even mentioned the actual roast performances!

Alaska is very good in this episode, as is Jinkx Monsoon, but Coco Montrese takes home her challenge win for her roast of Ru. Alyssa and Roxxxy perform the worst, but their legendary “Whip My Hair” performance keeps either from going home. This is the pinnacle of Season 5 —already a very good season—and keeps its stellar top seven around for another week. 

2. “Here Comes the Bride,” Season 2

Old school Drag Race episodes have a different feeling. They’re less structured, which can make them feel rougher around the edges. But the drama is no-holds-barred, which can be much more entertaining. For my money, “Here Comes the Bride” is the best of the early season episodes—and, spoiler alert for #1, the best non-All Stars episode ever—because it forms the drama into a coherent, thrilling story. Faced with a challenge where the queens must make themselves wedding gowns, the group gets into deep discussions about the right to marry—not many years after Prop 8 passed! They bond but they also fight, as Tyra Sanchez and Tatianna repeatedly get into it.

It all comes pouring out on the main stage, as Tati tells the judges that “Tyra is a complete bitch,” and Jujubee, Pandora Boxx and Sahara Davenport co-sign her. Fascinatingly, Morgan McMichaels and Raven don’t, leading to a real split on the runway that makes Ru uncomfortable and is so compelling to watch. It all ends with Sahara beating Morgan in a beautiful lip sync to Martha Wash’s “Carry On.” This episode is incredibly rewatchable, utterly iconic and the best that garden variety Drag Race has to offer. If not for another Season 2—of All Stars, that is—it would be the #1 on this list.

1. “Revenge of the Queens,” All Stars 2

But there is literally no other choice for the top slot. “Revenge of the Queens” is RuPaul’s Drag Race’s masterpiece episode. Everything that had happened up to this point in All Stars 2 led to this episode. All the eliminated queens came back to get a chance to return. Phi Phi O’Hara and Alyssa Edwards’ season-long feud came to an explosive head (“I said I FELT!”). Alyssa and Alaska turned out one of the funniest comedy routines Drag Race has ever seen. And in a delightful twist, both Alyssa and Tatianna, two huge fan favourites, got to return.

That’s because, in one of the greatest lip syncs ever—maybe the greatest—to Rihanna’s “Shut Up and Drive,” both eliminated queens fought their way back in. They also both got the chance to eliminate a queen, with season villain Phi Phi sitting in the bottom two. Narratively, it’s such a satisfying moment, propped up with beautiful moments of cinematography. (I will think about the camera zooming in on a shocked Phi Phi for decades to come.) This episode is wildly entertaining, massively rewatchable—I’ve probably watched it 20 times—and represents Drag Race at its peak. It truly is the best of the best.