'Drag Rage' Isn't Your Grandpa's Drag Show

Television viewers can get an eye-full of fake hair, fake breasts, barely-there outfits, and pounds of makeup on any number of shows, but something makes them a little different on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.” Perhaps the fact that all the contestants are male.

The fourth season of the show premiered with a bang to more than a million viewers on Jan. 30.

Thirteen new contestants set themselves up to compete to become America’s next drag superstar.

The fourth season boasts more plus-sized contestants than ever before, so it will be interesting to see which body type emerges triumphant.

Winning this contest will be no easy feat, because contestants have to be multi-skilled in applying makeup, creating costumes, walking on the runway, and performing.

But with the prize of headlining a tour sponsored by Absolut Vodka and $100,000 cash, these contestants may find the challenge well worth the effort.

The opening episode was everything lovers of drag could ever want.

From the beginning, “Drag Race” has given viewers plenty of sharp insults and emerging cat fights between the shows contestants, and the fourth season is thus far no exception.

With contestant names ranging from “Jiggly Caliente” to “Sharon Needles” to “Phi Phi O’ Hara,” this group will certainly be a diverse and interesting cast of drag queens.
As a judge and host of the show, RuPaul is certainly not absent from the dramatics of the show making the contestants’ first makeup and costume challenge apocalypse-themed.

The winner of the runway task, Sharon Needles, came out dressed as a zombie with dark blood spewing from her mouth and eerie grey contacts.

While everyone else’s costumes were not quite as theatrical as this one, they all looked pretty apocalyptic, which made a truly horrific sight.

Sharon Needles performance was not the only startling thing in the episode. Former drama queen contestant Shangela made a quick appearance, to the displeasure of this season’s contestants.

To the relief of the cast and my own personal disappointment, her appearance was short lived.

But there do seem to be a few queens willing to take the number one spot of head diva.

Contestant Kenya Michaels is striking in his beauty, to the point that one would have to look hard to know that he was in fact a man.

Another surprise for the week was the identity of the guest judge.

The show usually hosts a guest judge each week to join the usual panel and this week’s judge was the infamous Elvira. Predictably, she loved the creative horror of the costumes on all except one.

Alisa Summers was the first casualty of the show and sadly had to “sashay away.” But I feel confident in saying that each and every week viewers will, in the words of RuPaul, “shante stay.”

“RuPaul’s Drag Show” is on Mondays at 9 p.m. on LOGO.

Image courtesy of thebplot.com