RuPaul's Drag Race Trivia
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This RuPaul's Drag Race trivia quiz has 98 free questions with answers covering the show that brought drag into the mainstream. It runs from the 2009 Logo premiere through the MTV era, taking in the winners from BeBe Zahara Benet to the most recent crownings, the judges (RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Santino Rice, Carson Kressley, Ross Mathews, Ts Madison), and the rituals fans quote by heart, from 'shantay, you stay' to the C.U.N.T. acronym and 'if you can't love yourself'. There are rounds on the signature challenges, above all Snatch Game and its most-impersonated celebrities, plus the Reading challenge, Rusicals and the Lip Sync for Your Life. The queens get their own questions: Sharon Needles, Jinkx Monsoon's two crowns, Bianca Del Rio at Wembley, Trixie and Katya, Sasha Velour's rose-petal reveal, Chad Michaels as Cher and many more. It also covers All Stars, the Untucked aftershow and the global spread of the format to the UK, Canada, Australia and beyond. Questions run from easy for anyone who has watched a season to hard for the fans who have seen every Untucked. Every answer has been checked against Wikipedia and each question shows its source once you have answered, so it is ready for a viewing-party quiz or a solo test of your herstory.
30 of 98 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01On which network did RuPaul's Drag Race first premiere in February 2009?
Logo
Logo, Viacom's LGBT-focused cable channel, premiered the show on 2 February 2009; it moved to VH1 for season 9 in 2017 and to MTV from season 15 in 2023.
Q 02What title is the winner of each regular season of the show crowned with?
America's Next Drag Superstar
Each season's winner is crowned 'America's Next Drag Superstar'; All Stars winners instead enter the Drag Race Hall of Fame, and the all-winners All Stars 7 crowned a 'Queen of All Queens'.
Q 03The acronym C.U.N.T. the judges look for stands for charisma, uniqueness, nerve and what?
Talent
Talent completes RuPaul's 'charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talent'; on All Stars 1 a fifth quality, 'synergy', was added to the list.
Q 04Which recurring maxi challenge tests celebrity impersonation and parodies a 1970s panel show?
Snatch Game
Snatch Game, a parody of the 1970s game show Match Game, has queens impersonate celebrities on a panel; it debuted in season 2 and became the show's signature challenge.
Q 05Which 1990 documentary popularised the Reading challenge, where queens trade playful insults?
Paris Is Burning
Paris Is Burning, Jennie Livingston's 1990 film about New York's ball culture, brought 'reading' and 'shade' to wide audiences; RuPaul opens the challenge with 'reading is fundamental'.
Q 06'Rusical', the name for the show's musical-theatre challenge, is a portmanteau of 'musical' and what?
RuPaul
The name blends RuPaul's 'Ru' with 'musical'; the first, 'Shade: The Rusical', aired in season 6 in 2014 and the format became a staple.
Q 07The two lowest-placing queens each week must perform which final act to stay in the competition?
Lip Sync for Your Life
In the Lip Sync for Your Life, the bottom two perform the same song; the winner is told 'shantay, you stay' and the loser to 'sashay away'.
Q 08Who was crowned the winner of the very first season of RuPaul's Drag Race?
BeBe Zahara Benet
BeBe Zahara Benet, born in Cameroon, won season 1 in 2009 over runner-up Nina Flowers and later returned to compete on All Stars 3.
Q 09Which season 2 queen, eliminated first, started the tradition of leaving a lipstick message on the mirror?
Shangela
Shangela, the first queen sent home in season 2, wrote the first lipstick farewell on the mirror; she returned in season 3 and reached the All Stars 3 finale.
Q 10Which season 4 winner is a horror-themed queen whose real name is Aaron Coady?
Sharon Needles
She was crowned in April 2012 and released the album PG-13 the next year. Her final featured the show's first three-way lip sync.
Q 11Which season 4 contestant became the first queen ever disqualified from the competition?
Willam
In the reunion, Willam said the disqualification followed conjugal visits from her husband in the hotel. She had won two challenges that season.
Q 12Chad Michaels, a season 4 runner-up and winner of All Stars 1, is famous for impersonating which singer?
Cher
Chad Michaels built a career as a Cher impersonator in Las Vegas revues and played Cher on season 4's Snatch Game, winning that challenge.
Q 13Which season 5 winner became the first queen to win two crowns by later taking All Stars 7?
Jinkx Monsoon
Jinkx Monsoon won season 5 in 2013 and the all-winners All Stars 7 in 2022, the franchise's first double crown; her Snatch Game turns included Little Edie and Natasha Lyonne.
Q 21Season 16 winner Nymphia Wind made history as the franchise's first winner of what heritage?
East Asian
Nymphia Wind, born in Los Angeles and raised in Taiwan, became the first East Asian winner in the franchise when she took season 16 in 2024; her signature colour is yellow and she performed for Taiwan's president.
Q 22Season 15 winner Sasha Colby had already won which major drag pageant back in 2012?
Miss Continental
Sasha Colby, born in Waimānalo, Hawaii, won the Miss Continental pageant in Chicago in 2012, a decade before her season 15 crown; she was raised in a Jehovah's Witness family.
Q 23In which city was RuPaul born in 1960?
San Diego
Q 14Which comedian and costume designer won season 6 and later headlined Wembley Arena?
Bianca Del Rio
Roy Haylock's stand-up tour 'It's Jester Joke' brought Bianca to Wembley. He began as a New Orleans costume designer.
Q 15Season 7 winner Violet Chachki is especially known for which performance skill?
Burlesque and aerial
Violet Chachki is a burlesque and aerial performer, known for corsetry, tight-lacing and aerial hoop acts; she toured with Dita Von Teese's burlesque revue after her win.
Q 16Which season 8 winner co-hosted HBO's We're Here and released the single 'Purse First'?
Bob the Drag Queen
Bob the Drag Queen, born Caldwell Tidicue, won season 8 in 2016, released 'Purse First' the same year, and co-hosted HBO's We're Here with Shangela and Eureka O'Hara.
Q 17Drag Race season 9 winner Sasha Velour's finale lip sync released a shower of what from under her wig?
Rose petals
Rose petals poured from under Sasha Velour's wig as she lip-synced Whitney Houston's 'So Emotional' against Shea Couleé, one of the show's most replayed moments.
Q 18Who won season 11 of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2019?
Yvie Oddly
Yvie Oddly, a Denver queen known for contortion and avant-garde looks, won season 11 in 2019 over runner-up Brooke Lynn Hytes, who went on to host Canada's Drag Race.
Q 19Season 12's finale was recorded in an unusual way because of what?
The COVID-19 pandemic
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season 12 finale in May 2020 was assembled remotely, with the top three lip-syncing from their homes; Jaida Essence Hall was crowned.
Q 20Season 12 winner Jaida Essence Hall hails from which US city, also home to Trixie Mattel?
Milwaukee
Jaida Essence Hall grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and performed at the city's Hamburger Mary's; Trixie Mattel also came up through Milwaukee's drag scene before season 7.
RuPaul was born in San Diego on 17 November 1960 and moved to Atlanta at 15; his Louisiana-born mother named him 'Ru' after roux, the base of gumbo.
Q 24RuPaul achieved international fame in 1993 with which debut single?
Supermodel (You Better Work)
'Supermodel (You Better Work)' was the lead single from RuPaul's 1993 album Supermodel of the World on Tommy Boy Records; its video became an MTV hit and made him a household name.
Q 25Which longtime friend of RuPaul became a permanent judge from season 3 in 2011?
Michelle Visage
Michelle Visage, who sang with the dance-pop group Seduction in the late 1980s, replaced Merle Ginsberg at the judges' table in season 3 and became RuPaul's permanent co-judge.
Q 26Which Project Runway alum served as a Drag Race judge from seasons 1 through 6?
Santino Rice
Santino Rice, a finalist on Project Runway's second season, judged the first six seasons of Drag Race; from season 7 two rotating judges shared his former seat.
Q 27Which Drag Race judge from season 15 is the first Black trans woman to executive-produce her own reality series?
Ts Madison
Ts Madison, star and executive producer of WE tv's The Ts Madison Experience in 2021, became a regular rotating judge from season 15 after earlier guest appearances.
Q 28Which former Queer Eye for the Straight Guy star joined Drag Race's rotating judges in season 7?
Carson Kressley
Carson Kressley, the fashion expert on Bravo's original Queer Eye, joined in season 7 in 2015, alternating with Ross Mathews in the seat Santino Rice had vacated.
Q 29What is the name of the show's main set, where queens prepare for each challenge?
The Werk Room
The Werk Room is where the queens sew, paint and read each other between challenges; RuPaul's walk-in greeting there, 'Hello, hello, hello', is a fixture of every episode.
Q 30The companion aftershow that follows backstage drama while the judges deliberate is called what?
Untucked
It began in season 2 and has aired variously on TV and as a web series; early seasons had an Absolut Vodka-sponsored lounge.