Top 10 Best & Worst Edits Given to RuPaul's Drag Race Queens

5 Best and 5 Worst Edits Given to RuPaul’s Drag Race Queens

Welcome to MsMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the times when “Drag Race” editors were really heavy-handed with certain queens. We’re focused mainly on American “Drag Race” contestants. There is a spoiler alert in effect.

#5: Worst: Milk

“All Stars 3”

The first time around, this quirky queen struggled to serve up self-confidence alongside her daring runway fashions. Once “All Stars 3” came around, it was as if she had been body-snatched by a pretentious, arrogant, entitled look-alike. Who was this monster, and what had she done with Milk? It’s true that fame could change a person. However, this is such a dramatic 180 from her vibe on Season 6 that it really calls into question just how accurate a portrayal it is of her. True to life or not, Milk’s villain edit is one of the series’ biggest disappointments.

#5: Best: Katya

Season 7 & “All Stars 2”

To hear the season’s Miss Congeniality tell it, the editors were exceptionally kind to her. Katya remembers herself as a constant bundle of nerves during her first run. But her edit on the show is not just complimentary. Her hilarious confessionals are an essential part of the season. In recapping the show on her podcast with Trixie Mattel, Katya pointed out a few times when the editors had the ammunition to make her look foolish. Mistakes and jokes that landed with a thud were left on the cutting room floor. She walked away from both seasons looking pretty great, and the audience loved her for it.

#4: Worst: Thorgy Thor

Season 8 & “All Stars 3”

Thorgy’s edit on Season 8 was pretty consistent. On the one hand, she was wacky and wild. On the other, she was constantly annoyed by her fellow New York queens, Acid Betty and Bob the Drag Queen. Rarely did we see her get deeper than that. Also, did we mention she hates Bob the Drag Queen and thinks she should shut up? Her “All Stars 3” edit was somehow worse. She was made to look childish and delusional, especially during the “Divas Lip Sync Live” episode. Thorgy rightfully questioned the choice to give her Stevie Nicks.

#4: Best: Sasha Colby

Season 15

Even her competitors began calling Season 15 the “Sasha Colby Meet and Greet.” Sasha was clearly the most impressive queen coming into the season. That could have gone very right or very wrong for her. But her win was pretty much a foregone conclusion from the start. Nothing she did on the season felt like a misstep. She was too confident, too polished, too diplomatic, and too level-headed to get caught slacking for a nasty edit. The judges were living for her. The other queens were living for her. And we were living for her.

#3: Worst: The Vixen

Season 10

The treatment of this Chicago queen led to a larger conversation about the metanarratives of the “Drag Race” edit. The Vixen made plain her problems with the way black contestants had to be saintly in front of the cameras if they didn’t want to be given the dreaded “villain edit.” Whether it was accurate or not, that’s exactly what happened here. Her season-long feud with Eureka is a major example. Vixen complaints were folded into the larger narrative. One key moment between her and season finalist Asia O’Hara was used to bolster Asia’s narrative, despite the Vixen remembering that conversation very differently. She took to social media to discuss the show’s sleight of hand with editing once the season aired.

#3: Best: Sharon Needles

Season 4

Known for her spooky drag and off-the-wall sense of humor, Sharon Needles was a fan favorite on Season 4. But her fellow competitors often expressed unease or downright hostility toward her and her drag. Her dust-ups with Phi Phi O’Hara were iconic. On the show, Sharon was often portrayed as the ironically sweet, misunderstood outcast underdog. But allegations and evidence of her making several controversial statements, even using racial slurs behind the scenes of “Drag Race,” have circulated through the years. It’s become clearer since Season 4 that she was not the angel the edit made her out to be.

#2: Worst: Max

Season 7

Her prudish behavior and put-on accent earned some eye rolls from her fellow competitors, but Max was actually a frontrunner halfway through Season 7. Then the Snatch Game happened. While it’s clear she did abysmally, the episode isn’t content to just show us how poorly she did. She comes across as delusional during the mainstage segment, where she begins singing during a wardrobe malfunction. Max insists this was a case of editorial sabotage. But even if that weren’t the case, there was no sign of trouble for Max up until this episode. Her fall from grace is so rapid and brutal for a frontrunner. This lack of balance in the storytelling still doesn’t sit well with fans.

#2: Best: Jinkx Monsoon

Season 5 & “All Stars 7”

The eccentric and divinely talented two-time winner spent most of her first season being completely underestimated by her fellow contestants. She even became the target of some pretty vicious remarks from Roxxxy Andrews. But Jinkx Monsoon is clear about one thing. The show left a lot on the cutting room floor. In fact, the two insist that they were friends on set. Jinkx’s win might have made it essential to give her a squeaky-clean edit that painted her as the lovable underdog. Editing hijinks on “All Stars 7” also had fans questioning how much the show was pushing Jinkx’s win. The endgame might have gone differently if it had been purely about the lip sync itself.

#1: Worst: Phi Phi O’Hara

Season 4 & “All Stars 2”

The villain of Season 4 came away from the experience telling the fans that the edit did her dirty. Jaremi Carey, the artist behind Phi Phi, has since said that much of the iconic feud between her and Sharon Needles was played up for entertainment value. But she never came off looking anything less than cutthroat and vicious. Things turned out much the same for her on “All Stars 2.” We’re not here to say whether or not it was an accurate edit. We’re just here to say that, while other “Drag Race” villains often get their Rudemption when they come back, Phi Phi definitely did not get that. So much so that Carey no longer identifies himself as Phi Phi O’Hara.

#1: Best: Bianca Del Rio

Season 6

This comedy queen came in guns a-blazing. No queen was safe from Bianca Del Rio’s wicked jaws. If she hadn’t won, who knows what the editors would have done to give her an exit ramp off the season? What’s so incredible about it is that Bianca gave those editors enough shady comments to turn her into the biggest villain in franchise history. It’s all in how it’s spliced together. Moments of her being kind to Adore Delano and Trinity K. Bonet could have been left out of the edit completely. And in fact, if she hadn’t won, they probably wouldn’t have been included. It’s a well-rounded edit for one of the franchise’s most consistent competitors.

Do you think some of these queens were done dirty by the edit? Tell us in the comments.