‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ season 16 first impressions: ‘Meet the Queens’ and ‘Rate-A-Queen’ twist
The all new cast for “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 16 was announced via the official RPDR YouTube channel Wednesday morning. The hour-long “Meet the Queens of Season 16” special featured the Werk Room entrance looks and promo pics of the 14 all new queens followed by an introductory interview with each competitor. The premiere episode will air on January 5 at 8 pm ET on MTV. Watch the “Meet the Queens” in full then read below for key details and first impressions on the queens and a competitive twist added for the new season.
Let all Ru-joice in a return to 90 minute episodes for season 16, ending the widely unpopular decision to trim them down to 60 minutes at the start of season 15. Each episode will once again be followed by a 30 minute episode of “Untucked” for a glimpse of the queens reflecting on the latest challenge while the judges deliberate on the elimination.
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New this season is a “Rate-A-Queen” twist that will require the competitors to rank the other queens’ performances to determine the top and bottom performers of the week. The twist is a continuation in a growing trend among the franchises to take power away from the judges and redistribute it to the queens themselves. In “Canada’s Drag Race” season 4 currently airing, the queen chosen as the top performer of the week has a “Golden Beaver” power to save one of the bottom three of the week, essentially deciding single-handedly which two queens will compete in the Lip Sync for Your Life. One twist in “All Stars 7” featuring all winners was the “Platinum Plunger” that the week’s winner bestowed upon a competitor to block them from winning the following week. Most “All Stars” seasons involve a lipstick ballot box that potentially sends a queen home based on majority vote.
As is playing out currently in “Canada’s Drag Race,” the ability to self-determine how and when other queens face the chopping block creates an environment for alliances and double-dealing to flourish. Because the 14 queens competing on season 16 are all new, the factor of pre-filming alliances that played out among Kandy Muse, Jimbo and Heidi N Closet on “All Stars 8” won’t come into play, but there are a handful of other ways that the group of queens could quickly divide themselves.
Based on the “Meet the Queens” interviews, a number of queens self-identify as theater queens, for instance. Amanda Tori Meating took acting classes at a young age before she “started Meryl Streepin’ it for the girls” as a drag queen and Plasma earned her BFA in musical theater and then “tumbled into the New York drag scene.” Though she only moved to New York recently (in 2021), Plasma is one of five queens that calls the city their current hometown, setting up a potential 5-strong New York alliance that could control the “Rate-A-Queen” ranking if they wanted. In two other seasons was NYC represented by five queens: season 10 when Aquaria was crowned and season 12 when none of the five advanced as far as the finale. Plasma is joined on season 16 by Dawn, Megami, Nymphia Wind, and Xunami Muse.
Xunami’s name would be recognizable as she is the daughter of Kandy, two-time runner-up on season 13 and “All Stars 8.” That gives her something in common with Hershii LiqCour-Jeté, the drag sister of season 14 Miss Congeniality Kornbread “The Snack” Jeté. Hershii joins Amanda as the only two queens to hail from Los Angeles, hometown of the reigning champ Sasha Colby, but also identifies with her original home state of Missouri. That could connect her to Q, the girl representing Kansas City proper.
Two other girls are directly tied to one another by the place they come from. Mhi’ya Iman LePaige and Morphine Love Dion are the second and third queens representing the Miami drag scene on the series after Malaysia Babydoll Foxx became the first on season 15. Mhi’ya is a regular performer at South Beach’s The Palace, a venue that is often shown in viral videos where queens like Mhi’ya make a name for themselves doing stunts and tricks for a lively brunch crowd. They could both bond over feather and rhinestones with Mirage, the only queen this season to come from Las Vegas though many alum before her reside there now as members of the “RuPaul’s Drag Race Live” show.
The Northeast is rounded out by Sapphira Cristál from Philadelphia, who says she has auditioned for the show 11 times, and Plane Jane from Boston, who sarcastically takes digs at alum and fellow Bostonian Katya‘s “appropriation” of Russian culture compared to herself, a first generation American from a Russian family. Though she never mentions them by name, Geneva Karr from Brownsville, Texas gives shades of both Mistress Isabelle Brooks and Salina EsTitties from season 15 because of her Texas and Latina pride and the way both identities have influenced her drag.
Who are you most excited about and do you think alliances will come into play for the season 16 competition? Sound off now in the comments below then make your voice heard in our reality TV forums before the new season kicks off in 2024.
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