According to Tammie Brown (and corroborated by Kelly Mantle, Ongina, Jade, and Merle), the show originally was going to feature drag queens along with one assistant to help them. Literally two days before recording the first episode, producers contacted the queens and told them not to bring the assistants anymore. Ongina mentions how annoying this was to her since she had already paid her assistant before she got the news.
A number of Drag Queens who would appear later on were approached about being on the premier season, including Alaska and Kelly Mantle.
After the first two seasons Kelly Mantle even approached the show about being a guest judge, since she at that point had been a small yet successful drag actress in several television shows but was purportedly told by producers "we have real celebrities for that" and they declined her offer.
Season 2
A rather small one, but for the Season 2 reunion Raven actually came on set dressed as the Evil Queen from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, not just a look based on the character, but actual cosplay as the Evil Queen (since she was seen as a bitch during her season). Concerned about copyrights, the producers insisted she change clothes, and went out and bought her the simple, black party dress themselves that Raven eventually wore during filming.
Season 3
Some queens of Season 3 have said the show heavily considered disqualifying Mimi Imfurst and Shangela for the infamous "Sugar Daddy" argument in Untucked. It's been rumored that the fight actually become more violent than what we saw in the final edit, and the show went on a three week filming hiatus while the producers discussed the very real possibility of outright disqualifying Mimi and Shangela. (notice how Mimi suddenly had her boy hair bleached between the two episodes, she had it done during the hiatus)
Season 4
It is often speculated that Willam could have won Season 4, or at least made it to the top 3, if he hadn't been disqualified. That being said, Willam has stated in many interviews afterwards he was done with the show and was actively telling producers he was breaking the rules constantly to be kicked off (even leaving the state during a weekend break so he could be part of an off-broadway show).
Willam has claimed he actually asked to be in the bottom 2 and lip-synch after the wrestling challenge in episode 2; Willam felt as the leader it was only fair he take responsibility for his team's failure, plus he admits he really wanted to perform the song "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer as it was one of his favorites. According to Willam, Ru curtly told him he was 'going off-script' and to stop trying to self-produce, to which Willam decided to just play the game and dropped it without another word.
Season 8's oft-forgotten "Shade Tree" was not the show's first attempt to get extra confessionals from the queens. In Season 4 there was a bathroom set tentatively named the "Ladies Room" (based after the song "Meeting in the Ladies Room" by Klymaxx, a song used for a LSFYL during Season 3) in which producers tried to urge pairs of queens to go to argue. Pretty much no one used it in any worthwhile capacity since the very premise of the room was not even mentioned during the final edit. The only time the 'Ladies Room' gets used was as a set piece for a couple of challenges, and most notably during the penultimate challenge where the final three met with Tyra Sanchez (winner of Season 2) and Raja (winner of Season 3).
An interesting little piece of trivia; although endings were filmed for all three finalists, Phi Phi's was purportedly borderline unusable. Willam, once again, revealed that when they went to film Phi Phi's crowning her outfit started to fall apart. However, when Phi Phi asked if they should do another take Ru pretty much said they "wouldn't bother", Willam saying it was obvious from production there was no way Phi Phi was ever going to win anyway.
Season 5
Alaska auditioned for every season of Drag Race, including season 4 with her boyfriend, Sharon Needles. In Sharon's audition tape the two even say how emotional it would be to be forced to lip sync for their lives against one another. Later on Sharon even revealed Alaska had been selected as part of the top 14 finalists for Season 4, meaning Alaska was literally the last queen cut from that season's 13 queen cast.
Alaska revealed in her podcast with Willam Race Chasers that she almost was cast in the first season. She explains the show actually sought her out and invited her to a final audition to be part of the premier cast, but that the moment the cameras were turned on she froze and completely failed the interview.
Sharon also mentioned in an interview Alaska made the top 15 cut for seasons 2 and 3 as well, solidifying the old rumor that the show had always wanted Alaska, but was just waiting for the right season to cast her.
Fellow Season 5 queen, Alyssa Edwards, was also almost cast on Season 4 instead, until the producers caught wind of the bad blood between Alyssa and Coco Montrese. While Alyssa refused to admit the two had any sort of rivalry (in fact even denying she knew Coco) producers sidelined her until the next season, where they purportedly "urged" Coco to audition as well.
As he revealed later in his blog, retired vet Dave/"Fortuna Monsoon" from the Season 5 episode 'Super Troopers' was not originally supposed to be in the show at all, he had auditioned but was told he was too old for what they were looking for. At literally the last minute, however, the veteran who was supposed to participate had to quit, leading the producers to call Dave in a panic and ask him if he could fill in the last spot.
Speaking of Jinkx, she revealed that in her promo look she actually wasn't originally a redhead ... up until that point Jinkx Monsoon as a character more often was a blond and that was the wig she wanted to wear, but production convinced her to switch to red because there were already too many blond girls. After this, Jinkx realized she loved how she looked as a redhead and it lead to a monumental change in her aesthetic from that point forward (Jinkx today would likely still mostly wear blond wigs if not for that promo, by her own admission).
Adore Delano was supposed to be cast on Season 5; during Seasons 5 and 6 there was a Facebook Fan Vote on a queen to be included in the cast with Adore winning for Season 5. However, in a 2023 interview Adore admitted at the time she did not have enough clothes for a full season of Drag Race, to which the producers told her to get her stuff together and they would cast her in Season 6 and instead cast the 2nd choice for the fan vote, Penny Traiton. Come Season 6 and Adore still didn't have a wardrobe, however Season 2 alumni Kylie Sonique Love stepped in and gave Adore 'three trash bags full of drag' to bring with her.
Season 6
Averted with April Carrión. How she would have done in the challenges past her elimination is anyone's guess, but she had the surprisingly novel idea to post to her Twitter page photos of the dresses she would have worn. Since then, eliminated queens often tend to share photos of their planned but unused outfits on social media.
Whatcha' Packin' with Michelle Visage is actually meant to address this. Michelle will interview the eliminated queen and have them show her some of the looks they would have worn had they not been eliminated.
Adore has admitted that she didn't think she would make it that far in the competition and was thus ill-prepared. Kind of makes you wonder how she would have done had she really taken it seriously. As mentioned above, most of what she brought was actually hand-me-downs from Season 2 contestant Sonique, many of which were not fitted to Adore's body (Production gave her a year sidelining her from Season 5 to shore up a wardrobe, and Adore ended up flaking).
This is more conjecture than anything, but Kelly Mantle was an early darling to fans due to her legacy as a media queen on par with Willam, and expected her to easily coast to the end of the competition. However, on the interview show Hey Qween she says that production seemed to turn on her on a dime between days; on the first day they were friendly with her and the next they were ignoring her so she knew she was probably going to be eliminated. She theorizes this might be partly due to the fact she would not automatically "play the game", bringing up the time she was prompted by producers to ask Vivacious about her childhood as a queer man, at first not wanting to since she was busy trying to get ready, and then not having her own harrowing story in retort. When pressed by the producers, Kelly asked them if they wanted her to 'make something up', which seemed to just annoy them. This could also explain how Kelly and Vivacious were in the bottom instead of Adore, who in spite of her popularity most fans agree her outfit was the worst on the runway (being just a draped piece of fabric that was hot glued together).
Bianca Del Rio has confirmed in interviews that in Season 6 when they filmed each of the final three queens winning the crown, there was one ending where Bianca and Adore actually tie and win the season together. While it could have been a joke from Ru, the fact that a tie was even filmed means it was a possibility. Bianca has said she disliked the joint win ending; not because of the fact she would have to share the crown with Adore (although how the prize money would be handled did worry her), but because she thought it was disrespectful to Courtney Act. Courtney herself also has mentioned in her autobiography watching the fourth ending being filmed was one of the most personally humiliating moments of her life.
Season 8
Kimonogate was bad enough, with four queens all wearing kimonos for a Madonna-themed runway, but it gets raised to insane levels you learn that four more queens that season had brought kimonos to wear for that runway. Three of them (Leila, Dax!, and Naysha) were eliminated before that point in the competition, and the other (Chi Chi) threw together a rendition of Madonna's famous "cone bra" outfit in six hours when she realized there were already four queens doing kimonos. The reaction on social media when half of the queens came out in kimonos was bad enough, but if things had played out differently and all eight queens ended up wearing kimonos entirely by coincidence? Thing would have been apocalyptic.
Turns out things were a little forced, as Thorgy had said later that she did, in fact, bring a back-up Madonna look and wanted to change into it, but the producers refused to let her. Whether it was due to time constraints or them wanting to build drama, though, is unclear.
Season 9
Peppermint has said the final 4 queens were given 8-10 songs to learn for the Lip Sync for the Crown tournament. Her “Stronger” reveal was originally planned to be used for Christina’s Aguilera’s “Fighter”, one of the alternate songs they had been given.
Peppermint also revealed that she never expected to be in the finale at all; they had filmed each of the queens being eliminated including one bonus ending where all four of them get to stay, however due to the fact Peppermint only had one win the entire season she just assumed she would have been eliminated. It wasn't until just a couple weeks before the finale was to be filmed production decided to go with the four-queen finale, giving Peppermint very little time to prepare.
Sasha Velour also says she prepared to receive "Stronger" for her initial lip sync. Had that happened, she would have used a pair of scissors to cut open her wig, triggering a different kind of rose petal reveal.
Season 10
The Vixen was eliminated long before Season 10's Evil Twin challenge, even though it would have been...interesting to see her take on it, to say the least. Miz Cracker brings this up during her recap series. When the queens were describing each other's flaws since it always helps to get an outside opinion, Cracker thought they were all being way too nice whereas The Vixen would have minced no words.
Behind the scenes details from Raven and Delta on Season 10 revealed that the Last Ball on Earth was supposed to be the final challenge of Season 10, under a time-travel theme with the categories of Past, Present, and Future. A producer pitched the global warming angle, and Ru liked it, and so the challenge was remixed, keeping only the Future look as "Martian Eleganza" and adding two new looks based on the list of runways the girls were given ("Ice Queen" was originally supposed to be a separate runway, and swimsuit is always included as a backup runway).
Later, the idea of a Good Twin/Evil Twin challenge was pitched to Ru, and he fell in love with the idea despite Raven/Delta attempting to talk him out of it. This led to Evil Twins becoming the final challenge of Season 10, the Last Ball on Earth getting bumped up to Episode 4, and a stand-up comedy challenge getting cut due to the producers not believing in the comedy strength of the queens.
One of the runway categories for season 10 was planned to have been "Orange Alert". It's unknown why this runway was changed or cancelled, though Miz Cracker did post an image of the look she had been planning to wear. It's been speculated that Asia O'Hara's orange Good Twin look was originally for this runway, though this is not confirmed. The Orange Alert runway was brought back, appropriately enough, for Season 11's Donald Trump musical challenge.
Another unused theme was a prehistoric/cavewoman runway, possibly being the "Past" portion of the above-mentioned "time-travel ball". Speculation has it that Aquaria, Kameron and Miz Cracker recycled their unused prehistoric looks for the Evil Twin runway. This theme was brought back as well, and in another continent, in Drag Race UK Series 2.
Season 10 also started the first episodes gearing up for a big rivalry between Miz Cracker and Aquaria, after discovering the two had reported bad blood over Aquaria claiming Cracker was intentionally copying her in the New York drag scene. This got nipped in the bud off-screen, however, when Aquaria and Cracker figured out what production was doing (not that it was in any way subtle) and decided between themselves they did not want that to be their character arc, simply telling producers they resolved their issues and they will not be discussing it any further.
Season 12
As she tells during the Season 13 premiere, Tamisha Iman was originally cast on Season 12 but she had to bow down shortly after she got the call to undergo radiation treatment against her cancer. Nicky Doll later confirmed that it was she who was brought on as a replacement for Tamisha.
The disqualification of Sherry Pie hangs a cloud over the season, as it is extremely obvious from the remaining footage of her that she was a producer's favorite being positioned as a plausible winner. From pre-disqualification speculation and leaks, the original key narrative of the season was to be the rivalry between Sherry Pie and Gigi Goode, going for an Intergenerational Rivalry dynamic where both queens begin the season strong before faltering in the middle. This pairing also would've cast Sherry as the hero and Gigi as the villain, a massive contrast to the final edit where Gigi gets a very positive babyface edit. Ditching this critical storyline also had the effect of causing many of the season's sub-plots to be pushed to the center to fill that void, most notably the Aiden vs. Brita feud, as well as Jan's underdog character arc.
Season 13
After Tamisha finally becomes a contestant in Season 13, she and Ru discuss Tamisha's late drag daughter Tandi Iman Dupree, whose performance of "Holding Out For a Hero" is legendary. Tamisha states with confidence that if Tandi hadn't passed away in 2005, she would have certainly made it on the show.
Season 14
Maddy Morphosis revealed on Instagram that her first choice for the "Night of A Thousand J. Lo's" runway was one of the dreamworld outfits from The Cell. However, producers made her change it. Queens can only homage public appearances for "Night of a Thousand ____s," because during Season 8's Madonna-themed runway where several queens wore outfits from her music videos and films, the show had to pay licensing fees for the reference photos. But for her appearances at award shows and whatnot, they could just buy high-res photos from Getty Images for much cheaper.
DeJa revealed on social media that she originally planned on wearing a bridal-themed outfit for the “Chaps” runway, but decided to change it as there had been a wedding gown design challenge earlier in the season. She made the blue leopard print outfit she wore in her hotel room the night before the runway.
Miscellaneous
Dragula contestants Disasterina, Evah Destruction, and Landon Cider have all publicly acknowledged they had previously auditioned for Drag Race before trying out for Dragula, with Evah and Landon having tried multiple times. Evah auditioned for 6 years and was shortlisted for seasons 8 and 9, while Landon tried out for seasons 6, 7, and 9 but never heard back despite being one of the top drag kings in the US. Disasterina's season 10 audition reel is up on her YouTube channel, though it's unknown how far she went in the casting process.
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars
All Stars 1
Several queens have been asked to return for All Stars at one point or another, but ultimately did not appear for various reasons.
Sharon Needles was voted by the fans to take part in All Stars 1, but had to turn down the invitation due to previous obligations that would have made taking part in the competition impossible, and gave her spot to another fan favorite, Pandora Boxx.
Ongina was also asked to participate in All Stars 1, but was unable to get out of work commitments. It's been heavily implied by several queens that Mimi was brought on to fill in for her. She would finally return on All Stars 5 instead.
All-Stars 1 was odd in that it only featured 2 queens from Season 4 (Latrice and Chad) in spite of it being one of the most popular seasons at the time of filming. Willam has said she was contacted to be a part of the first All Stars, and had even signed a contract only for something to change last minute and she was told she would not be participating. Phi Phi O'Hara was also purportedly supposed to be part of the first season of All Stars, but due to legal issues which saw Phi Phi in jail and on probation, it was impossible for her to be involved (she was, however, promised by producers they would use her the next chance they had, which was how Phi Phi ended up on All Stars Season 2). Willam has claimed the two cuts are actually linked, when Phi Phi couldn't join the cast the producers cut Willam because they didn't see her "having stakes" with the remaining queens (they were hoping Willam and Phi Phi would fight again). If this is true, then it's possible at the end of the day Season 4 would have been the season with 4 queens instead of Season 3, since it's difficult to think they would not have also automatically included Latrice and Chad due to their popularity.
All Stars 1 was originally intended to be a full season (12 episodes or so) with each queen competing as an individual. However, Logo was only willing to buy 6 episodes, which led to the producers creating the "teams" twist to keep the 12 All Stars they wanted.
All Stars 2
The producers wanted BenDeLaCreme to appear on All Stars 2, but she turned down the invitation due to her negative experience with the producers attempting to manufacture drama during Season 6. She ultimately did end up returning for All Stars 3, although she reportedly only agreed to do it for a larger per-episode paycheck.
Adore Delano admits she really didn't want to be on All-Stars in the first place (as revealed during a Roscoe's viewing party for Season 14), and had turned them down twice, only to finally agree to be on the show after they asked her for a third time.
Ginger Minj has also been vocal over the fact she did not want to immediately go from filming Season 7 to All-Stars 2, however she says her obligations to World of Wonder made her feel like she couldn't refuse the offer.
The main challenge for All Stars 2 episode 3, "The Baddest Bitches in HERstory", actually has a full track that reveals that there were three more historical woman in the original song for the three then eliminated contestants. There was Cleopatra VII presumably going to be played by Coco Montrese, Joan of Arc possibly to be played by Tatianna, and Frida Kahlo de Rivera who might have been played by Adore Delano.
In addition, afterwards Katya revealed that the production team had told her before the show she would be need to bring a costume to play Marie-Antoinette, as opposed to Princess Diana. This means based on which queens made it to the challenge, the entire cast could have been cast differently.
After All Stars 2, Logo released "Queen to Queen" videos featuring duos from the season who, had the season featured teams like All Stars 1, would likely have been paired together. The teams were Katianna (Katya & Tatianna), Rotox (Roxxxy & Detox), The A-Team (Alaska & Alyssa, the latter of whom rejects "Alyska" as sounding too close to Rolaskatox) and Coalminger's Daughter (Coco & Ginger, who couldn't find an organic combination of their names). Phi Phi & Adore, presumably the fifth hypothetical pair, did not make a video because Phi Phi had cut ties with the show by the time they were filmed.
In All Stars 2 Tatianna reveals the look she ultimately wore for "Pants on the Runway" was not her original pants look, but instead a look she brought for a "90's Runway" theme that never got used (it just so happened her 90's T-Boz look also wore pants). Katya also says based on the list of runway themes they were told to bring, she was unable to bring polished looks for all of them, so some of her looks suffered as a result (ironically, the runways she mentioned this happening for was for the "Future of Drag" and "Two-In-One" looks, the two runways that landed her in the bottom).
When a season features a "finale track" where the queens have to write verses, said verses are typically written weeks in advance and may include queens who have yet to be eliminated before that episode is filmed. Tatianna was one of these queens (and therefore, likely Alyssa Edwards was as well), but since her track was cut from the final product she went on and repurposed her verse for her own song "Shut It Down" (feat. Cazwell).
All Stars 3
The same thing that happened with "The Baddest Bitches in HERstory" happened again in All Stars 3 for the "Divas Live" challenge. Christina Bianco, the singer and impressionist who provided the vocals for some of the queens, has said that she had also recorded a segment as Lana Del Rey intended for Morgan McMichaels, were she not eliminated in the previous episode. Morgan later posted her Lana Del Rey costume on Instagram, confirming this.
Had Ben not been allowed to eliminate herself from the competition, she admits she would have most likely sent home Kennedy Davenport, instead.
As for Bebe's infamous unrevealed lipsticks had she won the lip-synch, Aja revealed much later that BeBe would have eliminated Trixie and brought back Morgan and not Aja like fans assumed (likely BeBe wanted to keep this fact a secret to avoid drama with the other queens, not to mention with fans).
Season 8 queen Laila McQueen created all the All Stars 3 runway looks had she been casted on the show and posted them on her instagram. She plans to do the same for the All Stars 4 runway looks.
Trixie has confirmed that as far as the "Redemption Runway" goes, where a queen gets to redeem a failed look from their original season, that they do not get to pick which outfit they redo. Had Trixie been given the choice, she admits she would have greatly preferred redeeming her "Green Runway" look (which she admits was racially insensitive), but instead was told by production she had to redo her "Ugliest Dress" look instead.
When the final four queens were told that the final song for the crown would be "Wrecking Ball", they were purportedly given $50 to buy any supplies they may need for the lip-synch. Shangela apparently bought a pinata and a small helium tank with balloons that she would have used during the number, had she made it to the final two. She has since performed on-stage outside of the Drag Race to the song with said props to illustrate what she would have done.
All Stars 4
Manila Luzon's "Curves & Swerves" runway look in All Stars 4 was originally a menstrual pad-themed gown, but production told her to wear her backup (the pink quilted Rococo dress seen in the episode) as Ru thought it was in poor taste.
A notable runway that went (partially) unused was a clown runway. They are the outfits the queens are wearing for a small segment of the Sex and the Kitty, Girl acting challenge. The one exception to this is the outfit worn by Monique Hart, who's actual clown runway look was extremely dark and political, being a statement piece for black rights.
While it may be obvious to the suspect editing, there was never any initial intention of there being a tie between Monet and Trinity. Both endings were filmed separately, and then sometime well afterwards it was decided to just Frankenstein the two endings together for the "Twinner" crowning.
All Stars 5
At a live Q&A event, Roxxxy revealed that the lip sync song for her episode was originally supposed to be "Why'd You Come in Here Lookin' Like That" by Dolly Parton (keeping with the episode's backyard barbecue theme). By this point Roxxxy had already made her "Thick & Juicy" outfit for the lip sync, and stated she threatened to pull out if they made her lip sync to Dolly Parton, so the song was changed to Ariana Grande. The song would later be used for All Stars 7 (keeping with the Dolly Parton-themed runway).
All Stars 6
Adore Delano revealed she was contacted to be a part of the cast, but turned the offer down as they wouldn't let her do the Talent Show act she wanted to do.note She has stated in interview she wanted to perform a metal number where she would break bottles (made of sugar) over her head and spit fire. The show hold her the bottles were fine, but outright barred her from any pyrotechnics, to which Adore said it was all or nothing and declined the invite.
For the Half-Time Show challenge, queens had to call dibs on half-time celebrities on a first-come, first-serve basis prior to filming (so the impersonation audio could be recorded). Yara Sofia had not wanted Shakira as her diva but instead wanted Jennifer Lopez, however then-eliminated contestant Serena ChaCha had already claimed it. Ginger Minj has also stated Fergie was not her first choice as well (although did not mention who else she had wanted to be). On that note, Silky Nutmeg Ganache was going to be Missy Elliot and Jiggly Caliente would have played Janet Jackson, had they made it that far.
On Watcha Packin Trinity reveals that the gown she wore for the "Frills" runway was actually her finale outfit. Her original frills outfit was a much more frilly gown with a flower fascinator, however when she saw A'keria was wearing her stunning full flower showgirl number, Trinity decided to change dresses at the last minute.
Like A'keria, Pandora Boxx wanted to turn down the invitation for the "game within a game" lip-sync smack-down, however the producers pushed fairly hard for her not to drop out (likely they did not want two queens to quit and face backlash from the fans).
When Charli XCX was the guest judge, the Lip Sync was "Boom Clap," which got a lot of attention from being on the soundtrack for The Fault in Our Stars. However, Charli XCX has been vocal that she wanted "Vroom Vroom" as a Lip Sync song instead.
All Stars 7
Monet stated on Twitter that she originally wanted to do "SpongeBob the Drag Queen" for the "Before and After" runway, but wasn't allowed due to copyright. Shea also stated that she originally planned on doing "Janet Jackson Pollock", but was told by the producers that they could not use celebrities. Understandably, she was confused when almost everyone else was doing celebrities.
Alaska said on Race Chasers that had she been asked to participate, she would have accepted in a heartbeat, as she wasn't even informed that the All Winners season was happening.
Yvie Oddly has said during filming she talked extensively about her life since her season living and working as a Drag Queen with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, as well as being vocal about it whenever she struggled during filming this season. All of this ended up on the cutting room floor, however, and Yvie has derided the show for downplaying her disability in exchange for the "positive winners edit".
All Stars 8
According to Naysha Lopez, at the last minute (literally when Jimbo and Kandy were on stage to perform the final Lip-Sync for the Crown), a producer attempted to change the final song from "Do Ya Wanna Funk" by Sylvester and Patrick Cowley to "Milkshake" by Kelis, a song that Jimbo had put on her shortlist of her favorite lip-sync songs. After Kandy (who knew Jimbo had requested this song) stormed off stage and threatened to leave the show, they went with the original lip-sync song instead.
Drag Race UK
Series 3
Vanity Milan was never meant to be the only black queen in the cast; established black queens in the UK have revealed they were approached by production to submit an audition tape, only to decline the offer simply because they felt they did not have the funds nor resources to compete this season.
Canada's Drag Race
Canada's Drag Race Season 1 had pageant queen and skilled seamstress Anastarzia Anaquway eliminated right before another design challenge, a pageant-themed challenge and runway, and well before the Ball challenge. On top of that, she never got to participate in the makeover challenge which featured fellow refugees seeking asylum in Canada from violently homophobic regimes. When other eliminated queens shared their various planned looks on social media for the episode, she simply posted about her gratitude for the production to bring more light to the issue of LGBT refugees in Canada.
For Canada vs the World, Icesis Couture was never meant to be the only winner competing. Italia Season 1 winner Elektra Bionic was also in talks to appear on this season, but she decided not to. Trinity K Bonet was also supposed to compete (and was even seen in Canada right before filming started), but pulled out last minute. It's been implied that Kendall was brought on to replace her.
RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race
It's rumored that production originally planned on filming a second season of Secret Celebrity Drag Race during the summer of 2020, but had to cancel this plan due to the coronavirus pandemic. Instead, to meet the production deal World of Wonder had made with VH1, they had to add an additional four episodes on to Season 13. This would explain why the season has felt padded to some. A second season has finally been greenlit a year later, in 2021.
Drag Race Down Under
The series was originally planned as Drag Race Australia. Season one would only have featured Australian queens and would have been filmed in Sydney. However, COVID-19 safety concerns moved production to New Zealand, three Kiwi queens joined the cast, and the title was changed. This forced the show to create a new set in Auckland on a smaller budget. Aside from the three extra Australian queens in season one (instead of Anita, Elektra, and Kita), various Australian celebrities would probably have been able to appear in-person as guest judges rather than making video cameos.
Revealed in an interview from Drag Race Down Under's Art Simone, but when a season features a "finale track" where the queens have to write verses, said verses are typically written weeks in advance. She also reveals that any time you see the queens in the werkroom listening to the song and writing their lyrics, its completely performative and only for the cameras. This opens up a lot of "Lost Media" tracks from queens who had verses written and possibly even recorded, only for the original track to never be released since they wouldn't have made it to that episode (All-Stars 2's Tatianna even repurposed her cut verse for her own song "Shut it Down").
Snatch Game What Could Have Beens
It's even brought up in the reunion that Venus D-Lite could have killed the Snatch Game with her Madonna impersonation, had she made it that far.
On the same note, Season 7's Mrs. Kasha Davis's Liza Minnelli impersonation is pretty infamously hysterical according to her fans, although she sadly got eliminated before her season's Snatch Game to show it off. Later, Davis has said her Snatch Game was going to be Joan Rivers, but she felt early on that she wasn't going to make it that far thus why she did a quick impromptu impersonation during a mini-challenge (recreating famous celebrity red carpet looks).
Max is actually very good at mimicking the voice and mannerisms of Miranda Sings. While she wanted to do her for Snatch Game the producers would not let her (for copyright reasons), which is why she ended up with an unfunny Sharon Needles.
One particularly unfortunate case in season 9 with Charlie Hides, who regularly performs multiple spot-on celebrity impersonations including Cher, Madonna, and Lady Gaga. She ends up being eliminated in the fourth episode, just a couple challenges before Snatch Game, where she reveals had she made it that far she would have played Joan Rivers (a celeb fans have been dying to see done for the Snatch Game).note Viewers finally got Joan Rivers via Jimbo in Canada's Drag Race. On a related note, Jaymes Mansfield, who does a great Rebel Wilson impersonation on YouTube, also is eliminated before making it to Snatch Game.
In relation to the above and brought up during the show itself, there are a number of queens who get talked out of doing their first choice in Snatch Game either by Ru during her walkthrough or by the other queens for whatever reason. This includes Stacy Layne Matthews who was going to do Anna Nicole Smith, Lineysha Sparx who was going to do Michelle Obama, Gia Gunn who was going to do Selena in Season 6 and Caitlyn Jenner in All Stars 4, Violet Chachki who was going to do Donatella Versace (and Miss Fame who was going to let Violet do it and do Theresa Caputo instead), Naomi Smalls who was going to do Whoopi Goldberg, Roxxxy Andrews who was going to do Sofía Vergara, Shangela who was going to do Miss Cleo, Asia O'Hara who was going to do a (coked-out) Whitney Houston, and from Drag Race UK Divina De Campo who was going to do Margaret Thatcher. Stacy's alternate pick of Mo'nique and Shangela's alternate of Jenifer Lewis actually won their seasons' Snatch Game, Violet's Alyssa Edwards alt landed her safe, and all the other last second celeb swaps landed the queen in the bottom 2 or 3, with Lineysha and Gia being eliminated.
Olivia Lux was going to do Rachel Dolezal, but production said no off-screen.
Sharon Needles has revealed in interview that Michelle Visage was not her first nor her second choice for the Snatch Game. Her first choice was Cher, which she said she threw into the box with Shangela once she saw Chad Michaels was going to be on her season. Her second choice was Lady Gaga, which was snatched up (and played poorly) by her rival, Phi Phi O'Hara, instead.
In All Stars 6 Pandora Boxx revealed in an interview she had three other options for Snatch Game; she insinuates one of her strongest options was actually Dolly Parton, but once Kylie Sonique Love said that was who she was going to play, Pandora decided against it immediately. Aside from that, Pandora had also prepared Tilda Swinton and Betty White as alternates.
photos of the dresses she would have worn. Since then, eliminated queens often tend to share photos of their planned but unused outfits on social media.