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To say that VH1's break hit RuPaul's Drag Race has taken the world by means of hurricane can be an entire understatement. With its nineteen Primetime Emmy awards - together with 4 consecutive wins for Outstanding Competition Program - and it's seven international spin off shows, RuPaul Charles has cultivated a new mould of entertainment with this cultural phenomenon. But at what value?
The Price
Well, in case you'd ask some of the queens that have sashayed their manner onto the "werkroom" themselves, the extremely sought after alternative to compete on Drag Race is somewhat the beautiful penny. With wigs, extravagant costumes, and mountain piles of make-up, the price to go on the show could be as costly as 4 to five figures!
Back in the olden days of Drag Race - when very first, 9 contemporary confronted queens walked into the scarcely embellished World of Wonder set in February 2009 - the scale of the show was once totally different. The queens got here with costumes they'd made themselves and rarely breached the costly pricey of contestants these days.
"When Drag Race first started," Tom Fitzgerlad, author of Legendary Children:
The First Decade of RuPaul's Drag Race and the Last Century of Queer Life tells Vice, "they were literally coming in off the street to do this TV show. And now it's 13 years later, it's won all of these Emmys, it's HD, it's got superstar guest stars. The stakes are just higher."
The Prize
This remark rings true as viewership of the show continues to abruptly make bigger along side the program's prize money for lucky contestants. The first season of Drag Race had a grand prize of $25,000. While this was met with exuberant expressions when it used to be introduced to the queens on the first episode, enthusiasts and Drag Race alumi can't help however glance back the eminence growth. The grand prize for the 3rd season amounted to $75,000 after which eventually plateaued at handsomely beneficiant $100,000 the season following.
All of this makes the competition steeper each yr. As the onslaught of detrimental opinions from the judges panel against home made or store-bought costumes grew a lot harsher, potential contestants began working to native fashion designers the 2d they got the call to be on the display.
"I think I spent about $4,000 on the costumes, out of pocket," says season 8 winner Sasha Valor in an interview with In Style, "That’s why on TV, I’m not wearing anything custom, whereas that’s a huge part of what I do now because I have money from the gigs I can invest back in it."
Back in 2016, when the display used to be in reality coming into the country's consideration, Drag Race royalty Alyssa Edwards informed Mic that she spends around "$450 for a wig — a custom wig that's fitted to your head, and for your face." After a coarse calculation, Mic estimated that she spends someplace round '$45,000 alone on wigs'.
Recently, store-bought costumes have transform the greatest type pretend pas for the judging panel and fanatics alike. Upon her much expected entrance into All Stars 5, fan favorite Mayhem Miller were given smacked with backlash on social media for wearing a $23 bodysuit from Amazon. Similarly, RuPaul herself brazenly chastised competitor, Joe Black on the second season of the show's UK spin-off.
Her words: "That outfit off the rack was a huge disappointment to me. We’re looking for Great Britain’s next superstar. Don’t waste my time. I don’t want to see any (f'n) H&M!"
The Pressure
Though the power of taking a look like 1,000,000 bucks weighs on each and every queen that walks into the competition, the once-in-a-lifetime alternative cajoles competitors to readily dig into their financial savings. The value of the display became a captivating talking level in season 10, as queen Miz Cracker and Kameron Michael speak about just how much they gave up to get onto the show. The two candidly bantered about how the expense for the display had been higher than that of going to college or a down fee on a space.
Though, with drag just recently changing into a viable vocation for stable source of revenue, no longer every queen has the funds to take on those hefty investments. A shining instance of a queen who got here into the festival with little monetary sources is season Eight and All Stars Three fan favorite, the late Chi Chi Devayne.
She got here into the "werkroom" with a get dressed made of trash bags and a comforting, Southern charm. The weight of her financial setbacks became a key detour of her self assurance as she looked around in any respect the thousand greenback robes of her competition. Though her bubbly, humble character and ample talent hoisted her into the Top Four of the festival, this is not the case for queens which are in a similar fashion unlucky. The mechanisms of Drag Race make it nearly unattainable to no longer spend a fortune.
Bob the Drag Queen, winner of Chi's season, informed Vice, "If I went back on Drag Race now, I’d probably be spending $20–40,000." That's an astounding amount seeing as how she handiest spent around $4,000 her first time around.
The greatest pitfall of Drag Race to its queens- amongst the long hours of filming and drawing close hateful tweets from the fandom - turns out to overwhelmingly be the bills of competing. And, as the show is lately auditioning for it is 14th cycle, it may be inferred that the price tag for contestants will proceed to upward push.
Source: Mic, In Style, Vice, Showbiz Cheatsheet
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