The special explores how the show kept it's contestants and guests safe during these unprecedented times.
Mey RudeRuPaul's Drag Race fans, start your engines!
VH1 has announced a special documentary event, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Corona Can’t Keep A Good Queen Down, which follows the iconic show as they taped their historic 13th season during the ongoing global pandemic.
The special is a stand-alone episode, and “captures the raw emotions surrounding the extraordinary experience; from the combination of hope and anxiety of the early days, to creative challenges prepping and executing the show, and an ultimate sense of celebration and gratitude,” reads a statement from Viacom.
“In the face of a global pandemic that shutdown film and television production around the world, the resilience and ingenuity of this season’s queens made herstory as one of the very first productions to be shot in the age of [the pandemic},” the statement continues.
The documentary features new interviews with the queens, footage from behind the scenes, casting reels, and a look at the precautions the team had to take to keep everyone on set safe in this unprecedented age. It shows how Drag Race introduced new safety and health protocols to keep guests like Cynthia Erivo, choreographer Jamal Sims, comedian Nicole Byer, and Loni Love safe while they joined the show.
“You thought Drag Race was gonna go away? No darling,” Symone says in the preview for the special. “I’ve been tested, my hands are washed, I’ve been quarantined,” Kandy Muse muses. It’s going to be an exciting ride!
This season of Drag Race has been a historic one, featuring Gottmik, the first trans masculine performer to be on the show. Legendary house mother Tamisha Iman, mother of the Iman dynasty, was also competing this year.
The documentary follows a quarantine special of RuPaul's Drag Race U.K. That show took a seven month break midseason as a result of the pandemic. For their special, queens sent in self-filmed footage from their time off. The difference between the two is that while the U.K.'s quarantine special was in addition to a weekly episode, the U.S. version is in place.
This week, queens have to record lyrics and learn choreography for “Social Media; The Unverified Rusical.” The episode features Jamal Sims as a guest judge and even includes a remote appearance from Anne Hathaway. Then, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Corona Can’t Keep A Good Queen Down airs Friday, February 26 at 8pm ET/PT.
After the special documentary, look forward to the remaining queens impersonating their favorite celebs in the iconic "Snatch Game" with special guest judge TS Madison on Friday, March 5 at 8pm.
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