‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: The Elaborate Way Producers Prevent Audience Spoilers While Filming the Season Finale
Well, pop the corn and feed the children, it’s almost time for the grand finale of VH1’s RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 11. Fans will anxiously wait for another Sasha Velour rose petal moment and for RuPaul to finally crown “America’s Next Drag Superstar.” But how does RuPaul keep the winning queen a surprise from internet sleuths? From production secrets to filming multiple endings, here’s the tea for how RuPaul’s Drag Race avoids spoilers.
RuPaul’s Drag Race films multiple endings to their seasons
The finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race is filmed in front of a live audience and edited for a more cohesive television viewing. So, how do the producers ensure that none of the audience members spoil the ending?
According to Popbuzz, “multiple endings of the finale episode are filmed where each Queen will walk as the winner to make sure spoilers from the audience don’t leak.”
That means each queen reacts to winning the crown, even though they don’t know if they won. RuPaul later decides the winner of that season of Drag Race. The version of the finale where RuPaul’s chosen queen wins is what airs on television.
They started doing this with season four
One source says this finale-filming method began with Season Four of Drag Race. It was during this season that the show filmed the finale with a live audience.
“They had downright tricked their live crowd into thinking that Chad Michaels had won for a moment, only to later inform them that they’d be filming all three finalists winning,” said Sydney Yaeko Rodriguera. “It would be during the episode that everyone, including the contestants and winner herself, would find out who won Season 4. So they wrapped up filming Sharon’s crowning, and then Phi Phi’s crowning, which according to members of the audience, was met with boos.”
Now seven regular seasons and four All-Stars seasons later, the producers still film the finale in this way. It ensures spoilers won’t leak information after attending the live recording.
Has it leaked before?
If you search around Reddit long enough, you’re sure to find spoilers regarding RuPaul’s Drag Race. From who will reappear on RuPaul’s Drag Race: All-Stars, to Sasha Velour’s rose pedal “
Some queens host their own viewing parties
The queens find out who wins the season at the same time as the viewers, so some queens host viewing parties to celebrate with fans and family.
Some queens share videos of the moment they discovered the winner. Logo’s Youtube channel shared a clip of Peppermint and Sasha Velour together as RuPaul chose the winner of season nine. The top four of RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 10 also watched the finale together.
It will most likely be the same procedure for ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: Season 11’
Although it is unclear what the format of the finale will be, (last season we had a three-way lip sync between Eureka, Aquaria, and Kameron Michaels,) the end of this season’s finale will most likely be filmed multiple times.
The season finale for RuPaul’s Drag Race will allegedly premiere on May 30, 2019, on VH1.
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