‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 18 is Almost Here

It’s the most wonderful time of the year for drag fans around the world.

RuPaul’s Drag Race, the iconic, Emmy-winning reality TV competition that has shattered glass ceilings for drag artists across the world, is entering its 18th incarnation in less than a week. Last year, we got to sit down with Lydia B. Kollins, a fan-favorite from last year’s Season 17, where she spilled the tea about her journey going from being a teen bedroom queen to becoming a glamorous queen on everyone’s TV screens. This year, 14 new drag artists will enter the fray in an all-out war for the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar and a RuPaul-signed check for $200,000, now sponsored by RuPaul’s new app, Match Queen. The crowned winner will also, in a series first, win a chance to collaborate with the luxury makeup brand Anastasia Beverly Hills. 

The bronzy, gold-plated promo pics just dropped on the official Drag Race Instagram page, along with the announcement that Season 18 will commence with its first episode, “Reclaim! Renew! Rejoice!” airing on Friday, January 2. This first episode will see the series return to its former standard first episode format, where each of the contestants must construct their own runway outfit from scratch with the materials provided, said materials being “leftover treasures from the Drag Race vault.” RuPaul sure loves to be self-referential, especially with these season-debuting design challenges. This isn’t the first time queens have been tasked with conjuring up some haute couture from their predecessors’ scraps, and it probably won’t be the last.

Among the 14 cast members is a Denver queen Nini Coco, who used to be a mechanical engineer and is now a passionate, theatrical performer with a knack for creating her own costumes. Coco will be the fourth queen overall hailing from the Mile High City, and, should she take the crown home in the end, she’ll be the third Denver queen in a row to snatch the trophy. Yvie Oddly and Willow Pill, who were both cast representing Denver, won their respective seasons in 2019 and 2022.

This year, we’ve also got another Seattle queen (Jane Don’t,) another Indianapolis queen (Ciara Myst,) and five Floridian queens (Athena Dion, Discord Addams, Juicy Love Dion, Mia Starr, and Myki Meeks.) The Dions, Athena, and Juicy Love, will also be making Drag Race herstory by being the first drag-mother-and-drag-daughter pair to compete alongside each other. 

From the looks of it, Season 18 is bound to be a ruthless, cutthroat melee between each of these dazzling, stunning queens. Everyone is sure to be vying for the spotlight, but it remains to be seen who will be ripping off her pearl necklace and throwing it on the floor for the other girls to trip on. For now, you can watch the trailer for Season 18 here. 

Photo courtesy of social media