7 'Drag Race' queens who declined going back on 'All Stars'
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No ‘All Stars,’ thank you!
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It’s easy to assume that all contestants who have appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race would love to go back and compete in an All Stars season. For queens who have never been crowned, there are endless possibilities between regular All Stars seasons in the U.S., Versus the World formats in the UK and Canada, the dedicated Drag Race España All Stars, and even other rumored spinoffs in the pipeline.
For winners, fans used to think that only BeBe Zahara Benet — the OG winner of Drag Race season 1 — would ever be allowed to compete on All Stars 3. But that logic has since been struck down with the all-winners edition of All Stars 7, and even queens like Icesis Couture who was crowned on Canada’s Drag Race season 2 and then returned to compete again on Canada vs. the World season 1.
However, while more screentime on All Stars sounds lovely to most Drag Race alumni, a few queens have gone on record to say that they’ve declined to go back on another season of the series… for varied reasons!
Scroll through to find out which queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race have talked about declining an All Stars invitation and/or not wanting to compete on the show again.
Trixie Mattel
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When the All Stars 7 cast was announced in 2022, Trixie Mattel talked a few times about not joining the all-winner season. She acknowledged that she was invited to be on it, but declined, explaining that she doesn’t think of herself as a really strong competitor on Drag Race. Cut to Feb. 2024, when Trixie shared a new video on YouTube suggesting that she really just isn’t interested in coming back to compete on Drag Race at all… apparently ever again.
“They did ask me to do all winners… but I said, ‘Absolutely f*cking not!’” Trixie said in the video. “But you should never say ‘no’ without a number. I should have been like, ‘Yeah, I’ll do it. I want half a million dollars.’ I don’t know why I didn’t go crazy. But I just said ‘no’ because it’s just not for me. Drag Race is really hard. I don’t miss being on it.”
Alaska
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In a recent interview with PRIDE, Alaska revealed that she has also been re-thinking her desire to go back on Drag Race and compete again — despite saying multiple times in the Race Chaser podcast (as a joke?) that she’s ready and willing to compete in the second all-winners season of the show.
“Honestly, I’ve already done that. I don’t need to win again,” Alaska told PRIDE. “When I won, it was way worse than losing.”
King Tyra (F.K.A. Tyra Sanchez)
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The winner of Drag Race season 2, King Tyra (formerly known as Tyra Sanchez), has also been open about not wanting to ever go back on the show. In one particular interview, Tyra said the following when asked about coming back on All Stars:
“No, I will never go back on Drag Race, ever again. I don’t think they can afford me, and I don’t think they can afford it. But I’ll make one deal, though: I’ll go on Drag Race if I can compete against RuPaul herself. Other than that, no.”
Katya
Katya is another queen who has said multiple times that she wouldn’t go back to compete on Drag Race ever again. In fact, even during her post-All Stars 2 interviews many years ago, Katya revealed again that seeing Alaska in the cast relaxed her, noting that she didn’t have to put any pressure on herself to try to win the crown.
Similar to Trixie, Katya has a massive reach that exists independently from being a contestant in the werk room. She also doesn’t seem to miss the competitiveness of reality TV. Even though she’s come into the werk room a few times — like on Drag Race UK and All Stars 8 — to visit the queens competing and cause a little bit of chaos, Katya has repeatedly said in The Bald and the Beautiful podcast that she’d never go back on Drag Race as a contestant herself.
Violet Chachki
Violet Chachki is another winner who’s been asked about going back to compete on All Stars at some point. In this case, it appears that Violet did consider returning to Drag Race in the future, but changed her mind over the course of 2022.
“I used to say that I would love to go back, but I don’t think so anymore. It’s just not for me,” Violet told Gay Times. “I finally feel like I’m at a place where I can sort of branch out and do other things and work on other projects. And I definitely love working in TV, but the Drag Race fandom in the franchise is just so intense.”
Keiona
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Keiona, the winner of Drag Race France season 2 and the holder of one of the most impressive overall track records in Drag Race herstory, shocked the world when she replied to an X post about casting her in an all-winners season.
“I wouldn’t do another season tho,” Keiona wrote in the response. “I already won.”
Adore Delano
Longtime Drag Race fans remember that season 6 superstar Adore Delano came back to compete on All Stars 2 but decided to quit after learning about the queens-eliminating-queens lipstick twist and getting harsh critiques from the judges. She was then cast to do All Stars 6, but that last-minute decision didn’t allow her to do the Variety Show number she had planned for (which involved spitting fire and breaking things).
After producers told Adore that she couldn’t spit fire in her Variety Show number for All Stars 6, she declined their invitation to be on the show. When asked if she’d come back for a future All Stars, Adore replied with a mysterious answer: “Probably, but they have to let me do what I want to do.”
