With everyone anxiously awaiting for 2020 to mercifully end, many are looking to 2021, hoping that next year will be better. Lucky for them, RuPaul’s Drag Race is making sure it gets off to a good start.
On Wednesday (Dec. 9), RuPaul’s Drag Race announced that the long-awaited 13th season of the reality competition show will be making its debut on VH1 this New Year’s Day (Jan. 1, 2021) at 8 p.m. ET. The show’s premiere will immediately be followed by the premiere of its after show, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, at 9:30 p.m. ET.
Alongside the announcement of the new season, Drag Race also gave fans an introduction into each of the new queens sashaying into the workroom this season. The 13 new queens include Denali (Chicago), Elliott with 2 Ts (Las Vegas), Gottmik (Los Angeles), Joey Jay (Phoenix), Kahmora Hall (Chicago), Kandy Muse (New York), LaLa Ri (Atlanta), Olivia Lux (New York), Rosé (New York), Symone (Los Angeles), Tamisha Iman (Atlanta), Tina Burner (New York) and Utica Queen (Minneapolis).
The show also unveiled their official promo for the new season, showing each of the new queens celebrating the end of 2020 — with some appropriate champagne, confetti and much more — and doing their very best to “ring in the Ru-year.” “In a world full of shade, we all shine through,” Ru said, punctuated with her signature laugh.
The show was filmed and wrapped during the pandemic, as reported by Variety, with all members of the crew wearing masks; each of the queens, judges, staff and crew being regularly tested for COVID-19; and the production team making changes to the runway and judges panel to allow for social distancing.
“Competing safely and fiercely, our 13 queens proved that it takes more than a global pandemic to keep a good queen down,” RuPaul said of the new season in a statement released with the news.
To learn more about each of the new queens, check out the show’s official “Meet the Queens” livestream at 1 p.m. ET today (Dec. 9). In the meantime, check out the official teaser for RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 below: