Next week, NBC will launch a one-night only reboot of RuPaul’s Drag Race. The reboot, aptly called 1 Queen 5 Queens, will feature a six queens competing for the title of “America’s next drag superstar.” During an interview with Variety in August, Tori Lux expressed her enthusiasm for the reboot, saying she was so excited for fans to get a new season of Drag Race, which went on a hiatus in 2016, that she wanted it to come out before she was too old.
Asked whether there are any complaints that they couldn’t release the show before this time, Candyman Stacey, the leader of the queen search who was on season three, disagreed.
I would have never held them back. We had the only first-season all-female finals in RuPaul’s Drag Race history. Only two queens, but a historic round! After so many seasons, it felt like it was time to do it again, but this time, only queens.
The original Drag Race was hosted by RuPaul, and featured several drag queens in competition for the title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” One of the original season three queens was trans actress and drag queen Brooke Lynn Hytes, who said she was “pretty bummed” that she won’t be a part of the new iteration. Hytes is receiving a little more airtime this season on VH1, where she is the host of “All Stars 3,” the second-season revival of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
On a recent episode of SiriusXM’s Radio Andy, Hytes teased that more than one queen was going to drop out of the revival, and suggested that it was not just her. She also revealed that the majority of the queens were “shopping season” of the show, meaning that they had rehearsed their routines and found things that worked.
Still, since it is “shopping season,” Hytes has not been able to participate in the show, which is all she wanted. “My portion of the show was when things are all sh-t — it’s so extreme for us,” she said. “It was a lot of crazy mess. I just can’t do it. I can’t do it.”
Hyles’ favorite contestant on the new RuPaul’s Drag Race was the only one she was able to vote for. “The contestant that had me won was Shangela,” she said. “She just kills it, every time.”