When it comes to passionate fanbases, few modern reality shows have as many diehard audience members asRuPaul’s Drag Race.ThisLGBTQ+competition series hosted byRuPaul Charleshas astounded viewers for years with the immense glamour and enticing personalities it brings to TV screens. What began as a small series onLogohas become one of the most successful franchises in the entire world, with its supporters constantly showing just how much they care about the program - for better, and for worse. While a passionate fanbase is usually welcomed, the way that manyDrag Racefans treat the queens online has long been called out for its needless cruelty,
This often applies when spiteful opinions come out from people who believethe queen that should’ve won their season didn’t.“She was robbed!” has become an ongoing mantra for these bitter viewers, with the latest season ofRuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars’winner receiving an influx of peoplebelieving that someone should have won over her…but, in this case, you can’t really blame them. Not becauseAngeria Paris VanMichealsdidn’t deserve the All-Stars 9 crown, in fact a simple glance at how successful she was this season easily explains why she won that title so handily. But, unfortunately, the show didn’t take the time to really spotlight all of her successes and, because of its overreliance on other queens' narratives and random twists that didn’t really work, never really showed the audience just how much Miss VanMicheals deserved the ultimate win.
RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars
In a fierce competition, past contestants from a renowned drag queen reality show return to the runway for another chance at glory and the coveted title. Each episode showcases their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent through a series of challenges designed to test their fashion, performance, and impersonation skills, all under the watchful eyes of celebrity guest judges.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars’ Gives Queens Another Chance to Shine
RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars 9was always going to be divisive. This spin-off of the main series has been a fan-favorite since it’s premiere more than a decade ago, with audiences loving the chance to see those queens who thrived but didn’t win in their original seasons come back for another shot at the crown. It’s a thrilling twist on the classicDrag Racepremise that has yielded countless iconic moments over the yearswith these experienced Queens battling it out once again, and whileAll-Stars 9promised to bring back another group of great queens, the fact that there’d be no eliminations this season left many fans confused. This was in response to the rampant anti-Drag sentiment that’s been spreading across the U.S. in recent years with this installment giving the contestants a chance to show off their talents and win money for charity (without the fear of faltering and getting sent home). It’s a wonderful mission that helps out some great causes, but from a pure storytelling standpoint, it completely changed the season in an important way:this wasn’t a competition, it was a 12-episode talent show.
So much ofRuPaul’s Drag Race’sediting is focused on drama that fills the werkroom as these queens' fierce personalities clash. By taking away the queens’ chance at being eliminated, the show took away one of its core aspects, losing out on the ongoing storylines and jaw-dropping moments that usually make each season so intriguing. Luckily,these queens had more than enough talent for the cameras to focus on; whether it bePlastique Tiara’sflawless runway package orNina West’sbroadway-level comedy, the show made a point to highlight each person’s skills outside their potential for drama. Nobody received a rosier spotlight thanRoxxxy Andrews, though, the legendary queen from season 5 whose third return - after she had a disappointing tenure onAll-Stars Season 2- saw the producers use her ongoing narrative and immense talent to carry much of this season’s plot. It was great to see such a historic performer finally receive her flowers - though it sadly came at the expense of the current winner’s main story.
Angeria Paris VanMicheals Deserved a Brighter Spotlight
Angeria Paris VanMicheals is one of the most talented queens thatRuPaul’s Drag Racehas ever seen. Originally from season 14, this queen awed fans (and annoyed her fellow competitors)with how she excelled at every single challenge thrown at her. Her return toAll-Stars 9saw more of the same, the queen showing off a somehow even more elevated performance package that was capped off with her endlessly endearing personality. Yet while Angeria excelled at so many things, the show rarely focused its spotlight solely on her, typically only granting her extensive coverageif she was causing drama with her strategic competitive styleor to further show the greatness of performers like Roxxxy. The season didn’t seem to realize that this was their winner, never giving her the sole focus that she deserved and inadvertently giving fans reason to think she didn’t deserve that final win.
Most of this outcry has been said in defense of Roxxxy, fans wondering how the show could have brought the queen back only to once again snatch the crown away from her at the very last moment. It wasn’t just her, though, as many are wondering how Plastique could have been in the top 2 four times and not made the finals, or why the judges seemed to have forgottenaboutGottmik’sgreatness halfway through the season.Add onto this the confusing implementation of twists and unfair rules - mainly people wondering why it matters if a queen does well all season, if one challenge at the very endcan suddenly give someone more badges than anyone else- and the series didn’t seem to have space left to really spotlight Angeria. It’s amazing that it wanted to show off all the other queens and its new twists, but when it came to its eventual winner, it’s sad that Season 9 didn’t give Angeria Paris VanMicheals the focus it gave to everyone else.
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars 9’ Lost It’s Winner Plot
Just because RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars 9didn’t give Angeria Paris VanMicheals as much of a focus as it should have, that definitely doesn’t mean there wasn’t enough there to justify her eventual win - and there certainly is no reason at all for fans to try and discredit her win online. Her multiple successes throughout the season gave her some great moments to shine and the extra spotlight on her personality and interactions with others really gave viewers a good grasp on who the queen is as a person. Yet even though all of those things were helpful to explain her win, they didn’t grant VanMichealsthe true focus on her excellence that this eventual winner deserved.This was worsened by the fact that Roxxxy Andrews (the season’s eventual runner-up) was granted the exact edit that would’ve befitted a winner, the show crafting a nuanced narrative for her in a way it never did for the season’s true winner. Angeria Paris VanMicheals is one of today’s most entertaining queens. The way that she competes with others and shows her excellence creates great moments of TV that the show clearly loves. Yet by focusing on how she interacted with othersand never really on just how amazing she was in this competition,RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Starsseemed to have gotten mixed up and gave the winning narrative this competitor deserved to someone else.
RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Starsis Available to Stream onParamount Plusin the U.S.
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