WARNING: Contestants are listed in order of elimination and there are unmarked spoilers on this page.
Main (RuPaul, hosts and judges)
RuPaul's Drag Race (USA) seasons:
Drag Race around the world:
All Stars & Vs. the World
All names, ages, and locations stated are at the time of filming.
Victoria "Porkchop" Parker (9th)
Age: 39
From: Raleigh, North Carolina
"Would you fuck me? I'd fuck me."
- Big Beautiful Woman: The original big-girl of the franchise.
- Big Eater: Her first (and only) runway featured her eating from a bucket of cookie crumbs with a gardening spade.
- The Cameo: Made a small appearance during an All-Stars 2 main challenge much to the surprise of everyone and was one of the two guest stars on Season 13's Snatch Game.
- Experienced Protagonist: She is the oldest queen among the cast, and therefore has the most experience and best chance of winning the show ... ultimately though she's the first one sent home.
- Meaningful Name: Her out-of-drag name is Victor, and her drag name is Victoria. Think about it for a moment.
- Memetic Mutation: In-universe. In the foreign remakes of Drag Race, the first queen eliminated is always referred to as the "Porkchop" of that series.
- Only Known by Their Nickname: In addition to her Stage Name of Victoria Parker, she is also known as the given nickname of "Porkchop".
- Phrase Catcher: Didn't catch on until after her season, but if she's ever in the audience of a reunion or finale Ru will usually stop to give her a "Hey Porkchop!"
- We Hardly Knew Ye: The first ever queen to be eliminated on the show. Though in the long run this was subverted through
Memetic Mutation.
Tammie Brown (8th)
Age: 28
From: Long Beach, California
"I'm not a slut, I'm a lady. You look under my skirt, and it will stick you in the eye though."
- Berserk Button: Does not like being called a loser, especially if you're not walking children in nature like she is.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Don't be fooled by Tammie's natural oddball nature, because she's far from unassuming - she actually had the balls to take Ru to task in the reunion, over the critiques that herself and the other queens faced. Ru, usually so poised, got a bit heated in the resulting dispute.
- Cloudcuckoolander: The judges said they liked just having her walk around onstage since they never knew what she'd do or say next.
- Friend to All Children: The famous "walking children in nature" line refers to Tammie's past job taking underprivileged kids on nature walks.
- My Nayme Is: As she'll tell you, that's Tammie Brown with an I-E.
- Retraux: Her whole look evokes the cinematic screen-queens of the 30's and 40's, especially Bette Davis.
- Ripped from the Headlines: Her dress and hairstyle in the first episode were based on a polygamous Mormon wife, at the time a hot topic in the news due to a child abuse scandal.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Her friction with Akashia caused her to choose to leave the show (by way of not trying during her lip sync).
- This Is a Competition: Averted, even though she knew she was taking part in a competition. She did not feel the judges had any right to give her or any of the other performers negative critiques, and is one of the only queens to actually go off on Ru for, in her opinion, accentuating the negative of their drag styles.
- What the Hell Is That Accent?: Tammie flits between a standard(ish) American accent, and a sort of Hispanic/generic European accent — which all adds to her eccentric character. On some occasions, she begins to sound a lot like Mork.
Akashia (7th)
Age: 24
From: Cleveland, Ohio
"I love to show off my body. If I were a real woman, I'd be a stripper."
- Attention Whore: Describes herself as someone who loves and craves attention.
- Brutal Honesty: Came into the competition planning on being the bitch of the show, as she said "I tell it how it is and I'm fierce!"
- Can't Take Criticism: It seemed this way during the show, where she'd always argue with the judges when they said anything negative about her, but she matured a bit between her elimination and the reunion episode, where she surprisingly became the voice of reason when the other queens were taking the judges to task for criticizing them, reminding the girls that it's a competition and critiques are bound to happen.
- Freudian Excuse: The reason she doesn't work well with others and her bitchy attitude is due to her being kicked out of her home for being gay, and having to learn the hard way to depend on herself to survive.
- Informed Attribute: Is very generous and caring with her friends, even putting them up at her place rent-free ... this bit of characterization comes out of no where after it was established that she came into the competition planning on being the bitch of the cast.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Is named after the title character from Queen of the Damned.
- Names to Run Away from Really Fast: Named after the murderous and sociopathic lead villain from Queen of the Damned.
- The Pratfall: While walking in a long dress, she slips and lands butt-first on the runway... and then immediately spins on her behind and poses like she meant to do that. The judges weren't fooled, of course, but applauded her nerve.
- Stripperiffic: What she usually brought to the competition. When she finally did wear a full-length dress the judges comment that it's the most clothes they have ever seen her in. Hilariously, this was the same dress she tripped in, as if she's not used to a hemline reaching the floor.
Jade (6th)
Age: 25
From: Chicago, Illinois
"Jade is definitely my alter-ego, basically she has more balls than I do!"
- Blackface: Just barely averted as she initially misunderstood the Oprah challenge, in that she assumed it was to impersonate Oprah, instead of just channeling her. She had just started putting on BeBe's dark foundation when the other queens correct her on her mistake.
- Gag Penis: A lot of comment is made by the judges about her...distracting problems with tucking, due to not fitting into any convincing tuck.
- The Rival: With Rebecca Glasscock, even saying at one point she considered Rebecca the fakest bitch she has ever known her life.
Ongina (5th)
Age: 26
From: Los Angeles, California
"Last week, the judges told me that I looked like a boy in a dress, and I wanted to elevate that this week. Not so much boy in a dress, but drag queen in a dress."
- Ambiguous Gender: Despite critiques of looking like a boy in a dress, Ongina strived to elevate that so that she looked like a drag queen in a dress, instead.
- Beware the Nice Ones: One of the cutest and most cheerful queens of her season, always smiling and laughing ... she also said during the Girl Group challenge that she'd "cut a bitch" if someone messed up and caused her to go home. RuPaul actually pokes fun at this when she invites the then eliminated Ongina back for an interview, asking if she planned to cut her, to which Ongina sweetly replied that she forgot her knife back in the car.
- Handicapped Badass: Is living with HIV, but that never stops her in being a fierce queen.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Was on occasion told by the judges that she looked like a boy in a dress, due to her lack of padding and penchant to hit the runway wig-less.
- The Muse: Ru admits in the reunion episode that Ongina was the inspiration for the song "Ladyboy".
- Overshadowed by Awesome: Although she was no slouch by any means, Ru herself said she kept BeBe over Ongina because BeBe had done the impossible, she had outshined Ongina in their lip-synch.
- Sadistic Choice: Ru's reaction to having to pick between Ongina or BeBe Zahara Benet during their elimination lip-sync (this was before Ru had the option to keep both queens), in which Ongina was sadly eliminated.
- Shattering the Illusion: Does not like to tuck because she says it hurts, which has led to the judges calling her out more than a few times for her lack of female illusion due to her noticeable bulge (this even led to her elimination).
- Silly Walk: Her runway walk, as she squatted across the stage with her arms flailing wildly. The judges loved her kooky walk, and it ended up saving her from an otherwise poor first runway look.
Shannel (4th)
Age: 29
From: Las Vegas, Nevada
"I am amazed at myself; In my mind... I've already won."
- Always Second Best: Despite working hard for one, she never scored a win during the competition.
- Can't Take Criticism: To the point where she leaves the competition over it.
- Jack of All Trades: Is a well-rounded Las Vegas entertainer, showing off her skills in juggling and can also walk in stilts.
- The Resenter: Harbored a deep resentment for judge Santino Rice, whom she said always made her feel like shit whenever she walked the runway. It was so bad that during the Reunion, even with Ru's encouragement, she refused to hug and forgive him.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: She is the first and only queen ever to ask RuPaul to eliminate her, feeling that her critiques were unfairly negative and that her run on the show was an overall failure.
- Second Place Is for Losers: This was part of the reason she considered her run on the show a complete failure, and asked RuPaul to eliminate her in the penultimate episode.
- Stripperiffic: Ru actually had to add an "Ass Alert!" and "Rack Alert!" caption to the first season just for Shannel.
- This Is a Competition: This actually works against her, as the judges were turned off by how she always seemed to be gunning for a win.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: When Jade misunderstands the Oprah challenge and is about to put on what is essentially Blackface, Shannel obviously hesitates to correct Jade on her horrible mistake, and then when she finally does relent, she basically calls Jade stupid and laughs in her face.
- Wounded Gazelle Gambit: During a lip-sync she lost her wig and headpiece, having to perform the entire song without her hair. In the Reunion special she admits to having done this on purpose, as the judges had just told her they wanted to see more vulnerability from her.
Rebecca Glasscock (3rd)
Age: 26
From: Fort Lauderdale, Florida
"I've learned to embrace my bitchiness."
- Beware the Quiet Ones: Very much kept the other queens at arm's length, and ended up being quite cutthroat in the competition.
- Comically Missing the Point: During the first challenge where she says that anytime you turn garbage into couture it's a recipe for disaster, the comedy comes from Ru's pop-up comments, where she points out that's exactly what makes it a challenge.
- Flat Character: One of the criticisms launched her way, especially by Jade who claimed that she lacked any real talent or personality, and that the only thing going for her was her pretty face.
- Heroic BSoD: She broke down in tears and couldn't finish her Viva Glam commercial since it reminded her of her friend back home who was dying of AIDS.
- I'm Not Here to Make Friends: Most evident during the season finale, whereas BeBe and Nina both talk about how they have become friends and hope they work together again, Rebecca bluntly states she has no desire to work with either one of them again.
- Manipulative Bastard: The other queens refused to believe anything except this was in play when Rebecca paired them up with their masculine woman for the drag make-overs. Rebecca, on the other hand, claimed she was just trying to rile the other girls up a bit.
- Meaningful Name: A "glasscock" is another word for a dildo.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Of the final three she was the mean.
- The Rival: With Jade, which culminated in their lip synch where they mimed Jade being forced to her knees and grabbed by the neck.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: When asked if she's had any work done on her face, she replies quite specifically that her "lips are real" and her "nose is real". Despite this, the other queens (and judges) were sure she'd at least had her nose done.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Rebecca initially cut all ties with RuPaul and Logo, and didn't appear at any official events until the 10 year anniversary Season 10 live finale years after her appearance in Season 1. This, however, does not mean the show has not mentioned her. During All-Stars she is brought up as yet another candidate to whom would have been a better choice than Mimi Imfurst ... before the queens discussing it quickly decide that Rebecca would actually be a worse option. Rebecca was also referenced twice in season 15, particularly in regards to her infamous blue jeans entrance look.
- In 2021, Javier stated that he no longer does drag.
- Vocal Dissonance: Very convincing as a woman minus the baritone voice, which she did little to disguise.
Nina Flowers (2nd + Miss Congeniality)
Age: 34
From: Bayamón, Puerto Rico
"I don't consider myself as a female impersonator; I like to be more androgynous. It's an extravaganza."
- The Ace: With one win, four high placements and no times on the bottom, she is the best performing queen of the season and one of the top across the entire series.
- Ambiguous Gender: Nina favours a 'gender-fuck' cyber punk aesthetic that goes beyond traditional masc/femme norms.
- Catchphrase: "Loca!"
- Cyberpunk: Her makeup and hairstyles often evoke this, and her very first runway for the Drag from Junk challenge in the series' debut episode is pure punk.
- Fee Fi Faux Pas: In a challenge where she was interviewing Tori Spelling, when the cue cards prompted her to ask Tori about her hit TV show, she instead reads it wrong and asks about Tori's H-I-V!
- Graceful Loser: Before the final lip sync, Nina assured Bebe she would be happy whatever the result. After her loss, she agreed Bebe deserved the crown and would carry it with dignity.
- Lady Looks Like a Dude: Her drag style purposely skates the line of Ambiguous Gender, and as a result, some of her runway looks come across as being too masculine as far as the judges were concerned.
- Named After Somebody Famous: Took her drag name based after German singer and actress Nina Hagen.
- Nice Girl: Season one's Miss Congeniality.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Of the final three she was naturally the 'nice'.
- Split Personality: Has talked about her putting on drag as changing into a completely different persona."My favorite part of doing drag is the transformation. Nina takes over more and more and when she's done... the different persona comes out. That's really where the art is."
BeBe Zahara Benet (winner)
Age: 28
From: Minneapolis, Minnesota
"I want to win this because there is pride and dignity in what we do. Dressing up for a living, does not make us less of a man."
- Fan Community Nickname: "Bebe Babes".
- Foreign People Are Sexy: A large part of her charm seemed to stem from her traditional African features and her Cameroon accent.
- A Hero to His Hometown: Unlike the hostile reaction she received from male Cameroonians, she actually has a substantial fanbase within the female population of her birth nation.
- Never Accepted in His Hometown: Since appearing on the show, she has received death threats against her ever returning to Cameroon, at least from the male population.
- Nice Mean And In Between: Of the final three she was the in-between. Although not shady by any means in comparison to Rebecca, she is a bit aloof in contrast to Nice Girl Nina.
- Phrase Catcher: "Miss Bebe Zahara Benet. Camerooooon!"
- The Smart Girl: She was perhaps the most academically-intelligent of the contestants. For starters, during the Oprah challenge, she was the only one to successfully pronounce "Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" (though being from Africa, she would be more familiar with Arabic names than the others).
- Wild Hair: Her signature look is a wild mane of kinky hair. But unlike the usual connotations of this trope, she's very poised and elegant.
