History YMMV / RupaulsDragRace

* JumpedTheShark: UK Series 3 had several moments that clearly were intended to cause controversy and go viral, thanks to some ''extremely'' questionable judging decisions. The season had already been noted for unfair judging regarding alt-queen Charity Kase, with the judges seemingly wanting her to tone down her distinct style to fit in better. Things took a dramatic turn later, when in consecutive weeks, the 'Draglexa' commercial challenge was declared to have no winner simply for having somewhat lackluster results, a first for the entire franchise, and the Snatch Game resulted in the double-elimination of two fan-favorite queens, despite the consensus among fans that one of them had been deliberately edited poorly during the challenge and had done no worse than "safe". Many fans have remarked that these two episodes made them fully lose their investment in the series, and even come Series 4, the franchise's popularity still hasn't fully recovered.

* SoOkayItsAverage: Season 9 is seen as having an overall lack of drive and drama previously seasons had, what with a lot of lackluster lip syncs, too many queens seemingly giving up, and the cast acting too nice for the cameras (with only Trinity seemingly willing to stir up drama, normally resulting in her being shot down).

* DesignatedVillain: On the flip side of DesignatedHero, some queens will get an unusual amount of negative editing to make them look more shady than they may actually be (at least compared to their competitors). An example would be Roxxxy Andrews, who although doesn't deny the things she said, seems to always have a negative cam session interjected into any scene to make her look bad, especially if said scene was with [[EnsembleDarkhorse Jinkx]].

* EnsembleDarkhorse: Also a ''lot.'' [[EnsembleDarkhorse/RuPaulsDragRace Also has its own page.]]

** Season 3 was arguably where the show really took off. Season 1 had a much lower budget and was filmed at a different location, and even though season 2 began to resemble the current ''Drag Race,'' it was still a diamond in the rough, and a lot of the iconic, EnsembleDarkhorse queens started appearing in season 3, marking how the show would start becoming known for the larger-than-life personalities. One could convincingly argue that the season's winner, Raja, helped kickstart the show's uptick in quality of the contestants' runway looks, as well.

* IronWoobie: What made Jinkx Monsoon such an endearing EnsembleDarkhorse was the fact that no matter how much the queens tried to read her or throw shade her way ([[AllOfTheOtherReindeer which happened]] ''[[AllOfTheOtherReindeer a lot]]''), she always let it roll off her like [[SurvivalMantra water off a duck's back]].

** Gia Gunn was TheScrappy of Season 6 (one of them at least), but due to her [[UnusualEuphemism odd choice of words]] being turned into a MemeticMutation thanks in part to [[EnsembleDarkhorse Alaska]], a lot of fans have started to warm up to her. Similarly, Kimora Blac became beloved after her appearance outside of the show, such as Wait What, where she got to shine with Gia for instance.
** Violet Chachki quickly spiralled to scrappydom with fans ''and'' the other queens after just the first episode due to her arrogance and the fact she's always giving, as the other queens put it, "stink face". However as the season progressed she was called out on her bitchiness and she noticeably worked to improve herself. In the end she was still a bitch, but more of a [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold Bitch With A Heart Of Gold]], and ultimately became the EnsembleDarkhorse of the final three, winning Season 7's crown.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: Season 2 really seemed to attempt to paint Tyra Sanchez in a sympathetic light, bringing up the struggles she faced being kicked out of her home and having no money, and struggling for legal custody of her infant son. In addition, any highlight of her poor attitude seemed to be twisted around to instead be made out that she was "too real" for her competition, that she worked differently than they did and had a drive to win that forgave her questionable behavior. The audience quite loudly proclaimed the opposite, calling Tyra rude and unprofessional, that her talent does not make up for her bad attitude, and that same drive that got praised by the show (including ripping Raven's wig off twice and nearly gouging out Jujubee's eye with a stiletto heel) as borderline sociopathic behavior. She is quite infamous now for being the most despised winner of Drag Race in all seasons, and Ru in spite of shilling Tyra constantly on the show, even acknowledged the fan's outrage for the Season 2 winner during the reunion.

** Season 8's Acid Betty appeared on an episode of Series/ProjectRunway, along with queens ironically named [[NamesTheSame Sharon Needles and Farrah Moan]].

* Main/{{Padding}}: While many people enjoy Season 13, the main complaint directed against it is how long-winded it feels. The first three episodes were all non elimination, combined with a double save coming after only four people had been eliminated, and then an airing of a coronavirus special the week after left many feeling like the season had overstayed its welcome before it even reached the halfway point (for comparison, Season 13 had 9 people left going into episode 9, while Season 8 was on its Top 4 by episode 9).

** All-Stars 1: Jujubee placing third and Shannel placing fourth is taken as canon gospel among fans, so much so that even Wiki/TheOtherWiki noted it as fact for a long time, despite the fact that both queens were eliminated at the same time with neither one ranked above the other. Interestingly, if these placements are the case, it means that Raven, Jujubee and Shannel all finished the season in the same position they did in their original seasons.

** How black queens are treated both on the show and in the world of drag in general has been a hotly discussed topic for years. The Vixen in Season 10 laid out many of the most common complaints out during episodes of ''Untucked''; clubs don't hire too many black queens because they don't want to advertise being "too black", and all too often if a black queen doesn't immediately back down to a white queen, the black queen will be attacked and called an AngryBlackMan. Even black queens who have objectively done well on the show have been called out for 'playing the game', either being too nice such as with Latrice (the moment she was not "nice" on All Stars the fans quickly turned on her) or by playing too much to white audiences, which has been a critique received by Monet X Change and Bob the Drag Queen.

* ValuesDissonance: In general, given how quickly and unevenly values tend to change in the queer community, the show goes through this constantly. By 2021, while the seasons before 7 are of course largely considered to be the "classic" seasons, much of the fanbase (and the participants themselves in retrospect) acknowledges that they were also rife with casual transphobia, racism and misogyny.
** [=RuPaul=] still considers sewing and dressmaking to be a pivotal skill for the 'Next Drag Superstar', which is moreso derived from her own generation when drag was much more underground, and queens ''had'' to make or tailor their own dresses, or find rare hole-in-the-wall shops that catered to drag queens. Nowadays, between internet shopping and drag becoming much more mainstream, it is a lot easier for queens to build a wardrobe without needing to learn sewing skills, leading to a lot of otherwise capable queens being eliminated just because they can't get past the first challenge on the show (which is usually an unconventional materials sewing challenge, consisting of anything from thrift store goods to holiday decorations).
*** It seems more from annoyance that you would even tryout if you know you won't be able to get past the first challenge. For some of the alumni queens and fans, not knowing how to sew when you ''know'' that the show would include a sewing challenge is just plain poor judgment.
*** Inverted in Season 7, many fans were unhappy with the relative lack of sewing challenges relative to the previous seasons.
** In the online commentary "Fashion Photo [=RuView=]", Raja criticizes the height of Monet X Change's shoe choice in the Glitteriffic challenge, calling it a "comfortable" heel that you'd wear only if you weren't familiar with walking in stilettos. The shoes in question had a skinny four- or five-inch heel and pointed toe, which most people outside of drag or the fashion industry wouldn't really think of as comfy, walkable footwear.
** As noted above in AcceptableTargets, the show is notorious in this period for its cavalier (and sometimes outright hostile) use of the t-slur, especially in Seasons 2 and 3.
** Alaska and Willam discuss the Telenovela episode from Season 5 in their Race Chaser "Classique" series, in particular how the runway for it tended toward some shallowly appropriative looks. Whether or not this qualifies as a ''retroactive'' values dissonance is debatable, given that Jinkx commented that she had concerns about not veering into racist caricature while the show was filming.
** Season 7's premiere has Michelle critiquing Violet for having "boy body" in her nude illusion, whereas by 2021, a queen walking the runway barechested without a breastplate or chest contour isn't even remarked upon.
* VindicatedByHistory:
** Interestingly, individual looks have sometimes gotten this:
*** During the Season 4 Zombie Apocalypse challenge Phi Phi O'Hara was upset when her outfit, a costume modeled after a sort of road warrior drag queen complete with battle scars, went ignored by the judges and was only deemed "safe". Later that season during the look-back, Phi Phi's battle queen outfit was actually one of the top looks according to [=RuPaul=], and even better, during a series of top lists regarding all of the past 5 seasons, Phi Phi's look again makes it onto the list.
*** Season 6 sees a similar situation involving Darienne Lake's Tony Awards inspired dress, in which the judges don't give it much positive feedback. During the top 10 outfits of the seasons, Darienne's "pond-scum green" outfit makes an appearance.
** A BlackComedy case with Valentina's infamous mask incident in Season 9. Her plea to "keep it on please" suddenly became relevant again when the UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic hit the world in 2020. Acknowledged InUniverse during Season 13.
** Around the time of season 3, Raja was a BaseBreakingCharacter. She had a bit of an AlphaBitch vibe thanks to being more or less the leader of the "Heathers" (who referred to everyone else competing that season as a "booger"), plus it came out that Ru himself had known Raja prior to the season, so it was easy for some fans to cry CreatorsPet when Raja practically dominated, and won, the season. With time, this image of Raja faded, as she is now considered an important figure in the show's early years and a big part of the show GrowingTheBeard. Her artsy supermodel style, accompanied by her impeccable runway walk, was ''way'' ahead of its time, and many of her looks way back in season 3 are still pretty impressive today (her famous Marie Antoinette outfit in particular is still an all-time classic). It's easy to make the case that later [[TheFashionista fashion queens]] in the franchise (including many winners) are following the trail blazed by Raja - and no less than Shea Coulée has personally acknowledged Raja as the one who inspired her to start drag. This trope was really enforced at the All Stars 7 panel at Dragcon 2022 - [[https://www.reddit.com/r/rupaulsdragrace/comments/usmhzl/raja_got_a_standing_ovation_friday_when_the/ when Raja was introduced to the crowd,]] despite being the earliest winner in the cast, [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments she got a standing ovation.]]

* [[EnsembleDarkhorse/RupaulsDragRace Ensemble Darkhorse]]

** Pandora's elimination remains the biggest one of all the seasons when many fans expected her to at least reach the final three. The trope is called out by Ru herself during the reunion.

** Arguably Shea Coulée in All Stars 7, going from one of the highest winning queens in the franchise between Season 9 and All Stars 5 to only recieving one Legendary Legend Star [[AlwaysSecondBest despite often recieving strong critiques.]]

** Season 8's Acid Betty appeared on an episode of Series/ProjectRunway, along with queens ironically named [[Name'sTheSame Sharon Needles and Farrah Moan]].

** After several of the Season 14 queens came out as transgender and said Kerri Colby helped them come to the realization, Kerri was nicknamed "Trans Jesus" and "[[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Tranos]]" The latter became an [[AscendedMeme]] with Kerri wearing a Thanos-inspired glove at the Season 14 finale.

** After several of the Season 14 queens came out as transgender and said Kerri Colby helped them come to the realization, Kerri was nicknamed "Trans Jesus" and "[[Characters/MarvelComicsThanos Tranos]]".

** A broader example, but historically speaking, San Francisco queens did poorly on the show: Season 5's Honey Mahogany was 1/2 of the first-ever double sashay, and Season 12's Rock M. Sakura was an early-out. The lack of representation and early eliminations resulted in many local performers reluctant to audition, with some even claiming that Ru has something against the city. By getting the second-highest ranking in her season, Season 14's Lady Camden has broken the "curse" and [[https://datebook.sfchronicle.com/movies-tv/after-lady-camden-could-san-franciscos-drag-race-curse-be-finally-over inspired fellow San Franciscan performers to get on]].

** All-Stars 7's Snatch Game technically had no bottoms, since there are no eliminations, but the judges did let Jaida Essence Hall know while they enjoyed her impersonation of Prince, it was in a SoUnfunnyItsFunny sort of way, and that overall it fell short. Man fans and reviewers have defended Jaida's take on Prince, however, as although Jaida seemed lost, stifled, and awkward, that just was [[RealityIsUnrealistic how Prince really was during interviews]].

* OlderThanTheyThink: The "how's your head?" joke is copied verbatim from the 1988 ''Creator/ElviraMistressOfTheDark movie.

** All-Stars 7's Snatch Game technically had no bottoms, since there are no eliminations, but the judges did let Jaida Essence Hall know while they enjoyed her impersonation of Prince, it was in a SoUnfunnyItsFunny sort of way, and that overall it fell short. Man fans and reviewers have defended Jaida's take on Prince, however, as although Jaida seemed lost, stifled, and awkward, that just was [[RealityIsUnrealistic how Prince really was during interviews,]].

* VindicatedByHistory: During the Season 4 Zombie Apocalypse challenge Phi Phi O'Hara was upset when her outfit, a costume modeled after a sort of road warrior drag queen complete with battle scars, went ignored by the judges and was only deemed "safe". Later that season during the look-back, Phi Phi's battle queen outfit was actually one of the top looks according to [=RuPaul=], and even better, during a series of top lists regarding all of the past 5 seasons, Phi Phi's look again makes it onto the list.
** Season 6 sees a similar situation involving Darienne Lake's Tony Awards inspired dress, in which the judges don't give it much positive feedback. During the top 10 outfits of the seasons, Darienne's "pond-scum green" outfit makes an appearance.