Drag Race ‘producer’ spills behind-the-scenes tea – from Bosco’s chocolate bar to All Winners 2
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A self-proclaimed Drag Race producer, who claims to have been fired from production company World of Wonder (WoW), is spilling tea on everything from All Stars 9 and All Winners 2 to season 15’s scouted cast members and which queens are banned – plus much more.
A long-time-understood factor of Drag Race is that what fans see on screen is a very small portion of what actually transpires in the confines of the Werk Room walls. Beyond the episodes, claims of everything – from production picking their winners from the outset of a season to chopping certain queens in secret – abound.
There’s never really been much insight from World of Wonder’s court, the mega production company behind the hit shows, on the various allegations levelled about lipstick choices (eliminations picked by other queens on All Stars season) or contestants who are banned from the competition.
Until now… perhaps.
Taking to Reddit, user Calm-Tart-5517 claimed they used to work for WoW and, having been been fired, were taking the opportunity to spill all available tea.
“I was just fired from World of Wonder after 10 + loyal years,” the anonymous user wrote, before promising to answer all the questions they could about Drag Race and beyond, despite having signed a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) – and a few choice words for WoW.
“World of Wonder is so ungrateful for all the work I’ve done for them,” they said. “Ask me anything and I’ll try to answer it the best I can. Be mindful that even production has to sign an NDA, but I will answer your questions to the best of my ability.”
As the headline says: everything that follows in this article is very much alleged – take these claims with as many pinches of salt as you need.
Season 15 tea – including a different top two and cast scouting
Although we know that multiple eliminations are filmed – as already revealed by Willam on Race Chaser – the claimed “whistle-blower” revealed that “Anetra was supposed to be eliminated during the Rumix and the top two was going to be Mistress and Sasha, but Ru stepped in early on during the talks for it”.
Answering the question of “Is it solely Ru’s decision who goes home/wins, or production’s?” the Reddit account user added: “Funny you mention this but Ru is a producer on the show. Sometimes other producers will tell her who should go home for plot but overall Ru gets the final say.”
The “former show insider” also claimed that twins Sugar and Spice – and eventual winner Sasha Colby, along with top four finalist Luxx Noir London – were scouted. They clarified that this did not mean “invited to submit or audition” but rather an “outright invitation”.
Season 14’s chocolate bar twist and Snatch Game
Season 14 featured a controversial twist in which all competitors were given a chocolate bar at the beginning of the competition, to be opened upon their elimination. Anyone who found a golden wrapper would be saved from going home. Claiming to confirm what fans have long suspected, the informer alleged that the twist was “rigged from the start” to “use when they needed to save a production favourite”.
The twist saved Bosco after a poor performance in the season’s Rusical challenge.
Fans had questions over the season’s Snatch Game episode, which resulted in every queen except DeJa Skye having to participate in a lip-sync LalaPaRuza in the following episode because of poor performances. At least, that’s what production wanted us to think, according to Calm-Tart.
Aside from answering whether that particular twist was planned from the start of the season (“Yup!”), the producer also responded to whether “season 14’s Snatch Game was really that bad”.
The answer: “No, lol. Willow had us all dying. Bosco had us laughing too.”
All Stars: 3, 9 – and All Winners 2
One fan asked whether on All Stars 3 anyone picked a surprising lipstick for elimination, to which the account answered “Lol, Trixie’s”. That wasn’t the only time the makeup mogul Mattel was brought up, with someone else asking whether the season’s jury twist was rigged for her win. “Yes,” claims the Reddit account user.
While All Stars 8 hasn’t even aired yet, Calm-Tart also said: “Prepare to be gagged” about the upcoming All Stars 9, and “confirmed” that Alyssa Edwards will be reappearing on Global All Stars.
According to the account, the names of “Bianca” and “Bob” are two being “thrown around for next winners season” – a follow-up to the first non-elimination outing of Drag Race featuring all past winners.
Drag Race UK‘s future
Despite series two of Drag Race‘s UK being widely regarded as one of the best seasons of all time, there is allegedly some concern over the franchise’s future.
After being asked “How is WoW+ perceiving Drag Race UK right now”, the account had some bad news for fans: “Oh, it might not exist past series six. If series five does bad, it’s over,” came the answer.
Ru’s role in eliminations and progression of contestants
A kiss of death to every competitor for at least a few seasons is the hallowed: “You were born to do drag,” from Ru. Jorgeous, Krystal Versace and Anetra are all recent recipients.
On that subject, one Reddit user asked: “Is RuPaul just making choices based on how she feels or does producing sometimes overrule legitimate performances for creating drama or story line? (Example: the Shuga Cain or Rock M Sakura eliminations and placements, or Jorgeous’ design challenge win.)”
The account then commented: “Jorgeous was Ru’s doing,” talking about the queen’s controversial victory in season 14’s ball challenge.
“Story line is more so production. Ru often wants the ‘right people’ to win,” Calm-Tart alleged.
Queens going before their time – or after it – from Widow von Du and Valentina to Jaida Essence Hall
“Were there ever any queens that production planned to go far in the competition who ended up being eliminated earlier for reasons behind the scenes?” asked one user, to which the self-proclaimed insider answered: “I’ll just say this. Widow in season 12,” referring to the fan favourite who was eliminated in seventh place.
Elsewhere, in season nine and All Stars 4, Valentina was allegedly “‘planned’ to go farther”, too. She was sensationally eliminated in season nine for not knowing her lip-sync words, then chopped in All Stars 4.
They also claimed that “Thorgy, Coco [and] Jiggly”, were “set up to fail in their seasons”.
It was also alleged that staff knew “Jinkx during season five” and “Violet in season seven” were examples of a queen “pushed to be the winner” by production.
On the flip side, season 12 victor Jaida Essence Hall was revealed as the “most unexpected winner… [who] defied production’s plans and riggory”.
Which queens are banned from returning to Drag Race – and how did production react to the Sherry Pie scandal?
“As of this moment only Tyra, Sharon Needles and Sherry Pie” are “100 per cent banned” from returning to the Drag Race arena, according to the Reddit user.
Tyra Sanchez has been a controversial figure ever since her victory in the show’s second season, Sharon Needles, according to the producer, is “a racist” and never publically commented on 2021 allegations of abusing a 15-year-old fan, and Sherry Pie was disqualified from season 12 after being accused of catfishing multiple men for “degrading” and explicit videos.
According to the account, production “really didn’t know until everyone spoke up” and “were s**tting bricks” about the Sherry scandal.
The “whistle-blower” signed off by writing: “One last thing. I have no reason to lie. Everything I’ve spilled is 100 per cent true to my knowledge.” But even Calm-Tart admitted they were spilling “rumours”: Of course, I don’t work in every department so most is just rumours from my own department.”
So while this may all sound juicy, right now it amounts to nothing more than anonymous allegations mostly based on rumours. PinkNews have contacted World of Wonder for comment.
