RuPaul's Drag Race season 15


The fifteenth season of RuPaul's Drag Race premiered January 6, 2023. The reality competition series moved to MTV for broadcast, instead of VH1 in the United States.
This season features the largest cast in the show's history, with sixteen queens competing for an amount of $200,000, the largest cash prize in the show's history. It is also the first season to feature biological twins, Spice (drag queens)|Sugar and Spice]. Series judges Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, and Ross Mathews returned, and Ts Madison, who had previously appeared as a recurring guest judge, joined the judges panel.
The season was won by Sasha Colby, the third trans person to win the main series of RuPaul's Drag Race and first winner of the main series to be openly trans throughout their entire season, with Anetra as the runner-up. Malaysia Babydoll Foxx was named Miss Congeniality.

Production

In November 2021, RuPaul announced a casting call for season fifteen of RuPaul's Drag Race on social media. The casting call was open until January 7, 2022, the day season fourteen premiered. In August 2022, VH1 officially announced the show's renewal, as well for its companion series, RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked. This season also included the milestone for its 200th episode of the series.
In December 2022, it was announced that season 15 would begin with a special two-part premiere on January 6, 2023, on MTV instead of VH1. Later that month, season 14 winner Willow Pill revealed the season's cast, with a record-breaking sixteen queens competing. The drag racing themed promotional images accompanying the cast announcement drew comparisons to the promotion for the show's debut season.

Post-production

Following the two-part season premiere, subsequent episodes were sixty minutes long, including commercials. This was a reversion to the previous format for seasons one through nine before the show expanded to ninety minutes in season 10. Further, instead of airing Untucked immediately after each main episode, MTV aired the new reality program The [Real Friends of WeHo] between the main episode and Untucked. The shortened format and programming lineup change elicited backlash from the show's fan base.
On February 9, it was announced that beginning with the March 10 episode, episodes for the remainder of the season would be returning to the ninety-minute format. On August 9, ninety minute edits of the entire season were released on Paramount+ in the United States and WOW Presents Plus worldwide.

Contestants

Ages, names, and cities stated are at time of filming.
ContestantAgeCityOutcome
Sasha Colby38Los Angeles, California
Anetra25Las Vegas, Nevada
Luxx Noir London22East Orange, New Jersey3rd place
Mistress Isabelle Brooks24Houston, Texas3rd place
Loosey LaDuca32Ansonia, Connecticut5th place
Salina EsTitties31Los Angeles, California6th place
Marcia Marcia Marcia25New York City, New York7th place
Malaysia Babydoll Foxx32Miami, Florida8th place
Spice23Los Angeles, California9th place
Jax25New York City, New York10th place
Aura Mayari30Nashville, Tennessee11th place
Robin Fierce26Hartford, Connecticut12th place
Amethyst27West Hartford, Connecticut13th place
Sugar23Los Angeles, California14th place
Princess Poppy26San Francisco, California15th place
Irene Dubois29Seattle, Washington16th place

;Notes

Contestant progress

Lip syncs

Legend:

Guest judges

Guests who appeared in episodes, but did not judge on the main stage.
;Episode 1
;Episode 6
;Episode 7
;Episode 10
;Episode 12
  • Miguel Zarate, choreographer
;Episode 13
;Episode 14
  • Miguel Zarate, choreographer
;Episode 15
;Episode 16

Ratings