These 13 ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked’ Moments Are Must-See TV
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This article about the best Drag Race: Untucked episodes also contains reporting by Devin Randall.
What is it about RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked episodes that keeps us on the edge of our seats? Is it the tension, the drama, the squeals, the heels?
You know what RuPaul says: “If you aren’t watching Untucked, you’re only getting half the story!”
This “after show” of sorts for RuPaul’s Drag Race is really a behind-the-scenes dive into each episode’s main stage drama, focused more on the contestants’ interpersonal relationships than the actual competition. And it has for 14 seasons now showcased some of the series’ most heartfelt exchanges, biggest catfights and WTF?! moments.
As a series, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked has had more than a couple permutations. It began as a companion series to RuPaul’s Drag Race back in 2010 for Season 2. In 2015, it left TV and became a web series, before returning to television in 2018 alongside Drag Race Season 10. And did you know that Drag Race: Untucked has itself been nominated for seven Emmy Awards?
But which Drag Race: Untucked episodes are the best? And which contain some of the show’s most iconic moments?
Here are 13 RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked episodes we feel are must-see TV, in chronological order:
1. Season 2 / Episode 1: It All Started Here
Drag Race: Untucked didn’t exist for the first Drag Race season (instead there was a web series titled Under the Hood of RuPaul’s Drag Race with the same concept), making the debut episode of Drag Race Season 2 our first glimpse of what we could expect from seasons to come. Needless to say, these Untucked episodes started with a bang (and dramatic voiceover from none other than RuPaul!)
It was in this Untucked episode that Mystique “I’m From Chicago” Summers and Morgan “Go Fix Your Mug” McMichaels nearly came to blows, almost transforming the show into RuPaul’s Bad Girls Club.
Watch the drama that unfolded in this ep of Drag Race: Untucked here:
Just keep in mind that in the tradition of true Drag Race sisterhood, any beef these two stellar queens once had has since been quashed. In fact, back in 2015, when Morgan broke her ankle while on tour in Australia, it was Mystique who organized a GoFundMe to help pay for medical expenses.
2. Season 3 / Episode 3: Shangela Does NOT Have a Sugar Daddy
As a record, Shangela is one of two queens with the most appearances on different seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Drag Race: Untucked (four seasons, with the other queen being Latrice Royale), and it’s iconic moments like her exchange with Mimi Imfurst back in Season 3 that explain why: Simply put, she makes for great TV!
While the queens were “untucked” and discussing who served the latest challenge’s best looks, a spark was lit between Shangela and Mimi. What resulted is a monologue that can still be quoted by Drag Race aficionados all these years later:
I don’t have a sugar daddy. I’ve never had a sugar daddy. If I wanted a sugar daddy, yes I probably could go out and get one. ‘Cause I’m what? Sickening. You could never have a sugar daddy cause you are not that kind of girl. *Insert water effect*
Watch it this iconic Drag Race: Untucked moment for yourself:
3. All Stars Season 1 / Episode 1: Wait, What?
There never has been and never will be a queen quite like Tammie Brown. She made for great TV soundbytes in her original season, Drag Race Season 1, during that reunion special when she seemingly faced off against RuPaul herself (Who can forget “I don’t see you walking children in nature”?) and, yet again, when she returned for Drag Race All Stars.
In this episode, we were treated to the ‘WTF?!’ line “Well come on, Teletubby! Teleport us to Mars!” The read (?) was aimed at Manila Luzon, who, in Tammie’s defense, was sporting a beautiful purple Teletubbies getup. But still … huh?
Watch it here:
4. Season 4 / Episode 11: Remember When Cruises Were a Thing?
On Drag Race Season 4, Sharon Needles and Phi Phi O’Hara gave us a feud for the ages! And their disdain for each other eventually culminated in a few specific moments — who can forget that “Tired-ass showgirl” vs. “Go back to Part City where you belong!” tête-à-tête? — including this Drag Race: Untucked episode that saw the two queens go at it, and all because Phi Phi was tired of hearing Sharon complain about not winning a cruise prize.
Personally, we’re an even bigger fan of this fan-made edit, featuring awkward silence across the board, including a special cameo from guest judge Dita Von Teese.
5. Season 4 / Episode 8: Willam Gets Deadpan
Another Drag Race: Untucked explosive moment involving Phi Phi O’Hara, this one gave us a deadpan line from Willam that remains, to this day, one of the all-time perfect clapbacks. Enough said. Watch it here:
6. Season 5 / Episode 2: Serena Against the … World?
For the few episodes she was on the show, Serena ChaCha was public enemy number one, mostly because her fellow competitors found her to be insufferably elitist. And by the season’s second ep, all the queens wanted to let her know she was not welcome.
Honey, everyone played a part in this Drag Race: Untucked iconic moment — a true pile-on — that was only fed gasoline when Serena condemned the other queens’ use of “ghetto lexicon language.” Seriously. Yeah. She said that. After which the hashtag #NoSheBettaDont appeared on-screen.
Roxxxy Andrews condemned Serena’s very existence in the competition; Coco Montrese (pissed that Serena had called her “old”) told the “little boy” to “exit stage left”; Alyssa Edwards: “Bitch, shut the hell up and sit your ass down!”; and Detox rang in with what is commonly regarded as her finest contribution to RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, the still-quoted “I’ve had it … officially!”
Watch the entire incident here:
7. Season 6 / Episode 5: On a Very Special Episode …
Only the second contestant to do so, the first being Ongina way back in Season 1, this episode of Drag Race: Untucked saw Atlanta queen Trinity K. Bonet come out as HIV-positive.
“I am HIV-positive,” Trinity K. Bonet said. “I was diagnosed in August 2012, and I have so much to live for. I have so many goals and aspirations that I want to conquer in my life, so I’m not going to let an obstacle get in the way. I wanted to come on this show, and I wanted to be that voice for people who are scared to speak out about that.”
This heartfelt revelation was then followed up by a surprise video recording from mom conveying her love and support. Immediate waterworks! Moments like this are proof that Untucked episodes offer more than catfights and really help to humanize these amazing performers we love watching each week.
8. Season 6 / Episode 8: A Laganja Intervention
Laganja Estranja’s meltdown will forever be remembered by Drag Race fans, and not only because it offered up an iconic soundbyte that will forever be used in Untucked episodes promo. What started as a presumably well-meaning, in-good-faith ‘intervention’ ended with Laganja feeling “very attacked” and wanting to leave.
Laganja has since crafted a reputation as one of the Drag Race family’s hardest working and most beloved alumnae, but her initial stint on the show will forever be defined by this Drag Race: Untucked breakdown. Watch it here:
9. Season 8 / Episode 9: This Is What Sisterhood Looks Like
No other Untucked episodes offer a better glimpse at heartfelt Drag Race sisterhood than this one, in which we see the season’s top four — eventual winner Bob the Drag Queen, Kim Chi, Naomi Smalls and Chi Chi DeVayne, may she forever rest in piece — reflect on the season a bit, genuinely compliment each other and gently rib each other like sisters do.
Sure, this moment is a bigger emotional investment than normal since Chi Chi’s untimely passing due to kidney failure. She was a true light on two seasons of Drag Race, and her legacy holds strong as proof that competition doesn’t require cruelty.
Our favorite part of this episode, without a doubt, was the pact all four queens made in advance of their upcoming lipsync — that at a certain part of the song, they’d all make the same gesture … which they eventually follow through on. These were four queens who had mutual respect for each other, and it really shone through.
Watch this entire Drag Race: Untucked episode here:
10. Season 9 / Episode 3: Did We Ever Find Out If She Stoned Those Tights?
Yet another monologue moment that will forever live in Drag Race: Untucked history, when a fiery Aja described to the queens the judges’ feedback for Valentina, we all learned how she really felt about the mask-loving Latinx beauty.
It was pettiness on display, and we ate it up gleefully. Watch it here:
For a season of Untucked episodes that were strangely short on drama, this explosive moment is definitely a standout.
11. Season 10 / Episode 3: An Important Convo That Needs to Be Had
This one made our list because of the important conversations it (re-)ignited about Drag Race, race issues, reality TV editing, and how the show’s fans treat non-white contestants.
The Vixen and Aquaria butted heads from the start of Season 10, and things often came to a head in Drag Race: Untucked episodes. In episode 3, The Vixen confronts Aquaria about drama that had been bubbling up: for a “best drag” mainstage challenge, Aquaria felt that because The Vixen had borrowed another queen’s hair, it wasn’t truly “her best drag” — a remark made in front of all the queens that The Vixen felt was antagonistic, and to which she responded to with more antagonism.
But the real point at issue here was laid out by The Vixen herself: “When you come for me, and I come for you back, and you say ‘Oh, you’re so negative’ … I was chilling. You brought it over here, I bring it back, and all of a sudden I’m a bitch.”
And when the exchange results in Aquaria ugly-crying, The Vixen practically breaks the fourth wall, acknowledging what she knows is coming, saying, “You have created a narrative that I am an angry Black woman who has scared off the little white girl.”
Watch the moment here (it’s number 2 on this countdown):
12. Season 12 / Episode 5: Heidi N Closet Speaks Up
What may have begun as a fun little game quickly became a serious fight. But what else is new when we’re talking Untucked episodes? As part of this ‘game,’ they’d take turns pressing a “shade” button and spill some tea. But eventually all the shade was squarely directed at Aiden Zhane, who was officially safe for the episode, a fact which several queens felt was unfair.
Enter Heidi N Closet, a season-favorite queen known for her kind demeanor and generally easygoing attitude. But now a demon was unleashed. She had no interest in what had become a pile-on:
“At the end of the day it doesn’t fucking matter, the bitch [Aiden] is safe. Leave her alone,” Heidi screamed over all the chatter. “I’mma worry about Heidi. Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you, and fuck you. Y’all need to leave it alone.”
It was welcomed raw emotion we hadn’t yet seen before from this Miss Congeniality, and we do love to see it. Watch it all go down here:
13. Season 13 / Episode 6: ‘Am I Arrogant to You?’
The most recent entry on our list is a Drag Race: Untucked moment after which all Drag Race fans felt the need to offer their thoughts. Season 13 fans sat back as the tension between two contestants, Kandy Muse and Tamisha Iman, officially boiled over and exploded. And while the two queens (kinda, sorta?) seemed to make up following this tense battle of words, this was the closest Untucked has come to resembling an episode of Bad Girls Club in quite a while.
Watch the explosive moment unfold here:
Also of note is the slew of real-life drama that followed this on-camera moment. Shortly after the episode’s airing, Kandy Muse went public about the hate-filled messages and death threats she’d received from the show’s fans, and World of Wonder (the production company behind RuPaul’s Drag Race and Drag Race: Untucked) initiated a social media campaign urging fans to take their hate elsewhere and support all queens.
