Every Queen Who Was Undeniably Robbed on ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’

With 13 season’s of RuPaul’s Drag Race, another five of All Stars, a very unnecessary celebrity spin-off and multiple international versions of the beloved show, we have met a LOT of queens.

And while most of the time the right winners are crowned, sometimes the judges can get it so painfully wrong. Whether it’s the wrong queen getting declared the lip sync winner resulting in an unjust elimination or the winner’s title just going to someone with a worse track record, some queens have been done absolutely dirty over the 12 years Drag Race has been on air.

Sometimes Drag Race have managed to correct their mistakes, as we saw with Shea Couleé finally getting her deserved win with All Stars 5, but a lot of the time many queens who are robbed on their original seasons never get the justice they deserve.

So let’s look at the most iconic robbed queens from RuPaul’s Drag Race who just deserved so much better:

Bimini Bon Boulash, Drag Race UK (Season 2)

Release the beast, BIMINI!

During the finale of Drag Race UK, fans of the show were rocked when Bimini wasn’t crowned the Season 2 winner. While there is no doubt that Lawrence Cheney is a talented queen, she didn’t have the best second-half of the season and even admitted that she thought Bimini would take the crown.

And it makes sense: Before the finale, Bimini had won four out of the five final challenges. Over the season, Bimini proved not only could they turn a stunning (and unbelievably smart) look with a flawless face, but that they could hold their own in comedy challenges too by winning Snatch Game and the roast episode — two major episodes of the show.

While Drag Race isn’t an online popularity contest, Bimini was both the people’s choice and what appeared to be the judges pick, so claiming they were robbed is a very valid thought.

Denali Foxx, Drag Race (Season 13)

A week before the Bimini upset, people online were already furious because Denali was undeservedly sent home on Season 13 of Drag Race. 

Denali was likely never actually going to win Season 13 with powerhouse Symone blowing the competition out of the water each week, but Denali didn’t deserve to leave the show when she did.

As much as I love Olivia Lux, she performed the worst in the “family resemblance” challenge and was the weaker lip sync performer. Despite what the judges thought, Denali did manage to get her signature look across in Olivia’s transformation, while Denali left the show looking nothing like Olivia.

Plus, if we’re being honest, Denali should have never been in the bottom. Kandy Muse’s transformation of Gottmik was mediocre at best in a bodysuit, and the face that Tina Burner gave Rosé should’ve been a crime.

Jan Sport, Drag Race (Season 12)

Just like Denali, Jan never really stood a chance at actually winning Season 12 of Drag Race, but she was sent home prematurely which affected her possibilities of advancing forward.

Jan never winning a challenge and always been placed “safe” when she deserved way better has even become somewhat of a meme — there’s no way you’ve not seen her face of disappointment. But as funny as her face of pain is, Jan was done very dirty on Season 12.

Even though she absolutely killed the Madonna Rusical, not only did Jan not win the episode but she was only deemed safe — something that became a running theme throughout the season. Today, Jan is thought to be one of the most unappreciated queens from the entire series and it’s easy to see why.

Shangela Laquifa Wadley, Drag Race All Stars (Season 3)

There is no denying that Season 3 of All Stars belonged to Shangela.

After three separate runs on the series, Shangela had only gotten better and better with each appearance. By the time All Stars 3 came around, Shangela had perfected her drag and her only real competition was BenDeLaCreme — and when Ben did her iconic self-elimination, the crown was almost certainly Shangela’s for the taking.

But the horrific twist, where the top queens were the ones who decided the fate of the other contestants, absolutely ruined the series. Trixie Mattel, while an iconic queen in her own right, did not deserve that All Stars win and Kennedy Davenport would have never made the final two without the elimination twist.

Sadly, you could see just how pained Shangela was by her premature elimination in her face after hearing she hadn’t made the final lip sync.

Jimbo, Canada’s Drag Race (Season 1)

There’s no doubt that quirky queen Jimbo from Canada’s Drag Race was treated poorly during her season on the show.

Jimbo never got her deserved challenge wins, and the judges were always unbelievably mean to her. For example, no other contestant on Canada’s Drag Race did as good as Jimbo did during the Demin Challenge, yet Rita Baga, who barely had any denim on, won. Scam of the century and even Jimbo agrees that she was robbed.

Worst of all, during the same challenge Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman rudely said “welcome to competition, hunny” to Jimbo, a queen who literally won a challenge the week prior and had basically landed near the top almost every week prior. Absolutely zero respect. Justice for Jimbo.

Manila Luzon, Drag Race All Stars (Season 1 & 4)

It’s safe to say that literally any queen on the first season of All Stars was robbed out of a fair chance when Ru made the terrible decision to pair up the queens.

But in All Stars Season 4, Manila was robbed again when the producers continued with the terrible concept of the queens eliminating each other instead of the judges. Famously in AS4, Naomi Smalls pulled the lipstick that sent Manila home in sixth place when she was a serious contender for the crown — especially when there was (a very unnecessary) double crowning by the end of the season.

Sadly, Naomi savagely and unexpectedly decided that it wasn’t RuPaul’s Best Friends Race and booted Manila, who had already won an impressive three out of five challenges during the season. And it’s safe to say Manila feels she was shifted too, you know, having released a song with Latrice Royale called ‘ROBBED‘ and all.

Baga Chipz, Drag Race UK (Season 1)

If we’re being honest with ourselves, Baga Chipz was the rightful winner of the first season of Drag Race UK. 

Her “MUCH BETTER” legacy has lived on far more than anything The Vivienne (or literally any other Season 1 contestant) has done, and her sayings have even featured throughout Season 2 challenges. While both iconic, I’d even argue that Baga’s Margaret Thatcher was better than The Vivienne’s Donald Trump impression on Snatch Game despite the challenge result.

But it’s not really all that surprising as it was very clear that The Vivienne was the series favourite from the start of the season all because she had previously been named the UK Drag Ambassador in 2016. Justice for Baga Chipz.

Katya Zamolodchikova, Drag Race All Stars (Season 2)

Katya is one of the smartest, wittiest and most entertaining queens to come out of the entire Drag Race franchise. And All Stars Season 2 is easily the greatest season of the franchise, too.

However, despite being an iconic season with so many potential winners, I would argue that Katya was the most deserving. In ‘Read U Wrote U’, Katya had the not only the best verse, but also the best performance. Similarly in all her lip sync’s against Alaska, Katya had the better performances so she would’ve had more wins coming into the finale.

And this is all without even mentioning Alaska’s attempts to bribe the girls into keeping her around, and the horrific trio that was Ro-Laska-Tox.

Nina West, Drag Race (Season 11)

Was Nina West ever going to win Season 11? No. But did Miss Nina leave way too early? Most definitely.

One of the sweetest contestants to date, Nina West didn’t always have the best outfits or performances. But she 100 percent beat Silky Nutmeg Ganache in the “meh” lip sync that sent her home. Honestly, Nina should never have even been in the bottom two considering all the queens named either Evie Oddly or Silky as the worst performers of the night.

Yet Nina and Silky battled it out, and blatant favouritism for the season’s Loud Contestant™️ meant that RuPaul totally overlooked that Silky was barely lip syncing, her hair was all over the shop, her undergarments were all on display, and she was literally just flopping about on the floor.

Utica, Drag Race (Season 13)

Now look, Utica definitely deserved to go home when she did. Her attempt at roasting will go down in Drag Race history as the worst attempt — and that says a lot.

However, the judges were unnecessarily harsh on Utica throughout Season 13 for constantly being “quirky” when Kandy Muse was praised for her loud persona every episode. Realistically, a perfect Top 4 would have been Symone, Gottmik, Rosé and Utica, but favouritism affected what could’ve been when Ru decided to use a Double Shantay on Kandy.

But the true robbery occurred during the Bag Ball, when Utica literally made a GOWN out of sleeping bags — famously one of the hardest materials to work with. Despite doing the most, and helping everyone in the workroom with their looks, she got nothing as Gottmik took out the challenge win for wearing a couple straps of fabric.

A’Whora, Drag Race UK (Season 2)

I think it’s universally agreed upon that Ellie Diamond shouldn’t have been in the Top 4.

A’Whora brought the looks, the performance and the unexpected humour while Ellie Diamond coasted through the competition and only really made it through because of A’Whora allegedly “bombing” the roast.

But if A’Whora was bad in the roast, Ellie was worse with her demon voice shtick and no real jokes. However the producers were just so determined to have a A’Whora VS Tayce “best friends lip sync” storyline, and a two Scottish queen finale, that they they ruined the entire season. If the season wasn’t so overproduced, A’Whora and Ellie would’ve battled it out, and our fashion queen would’ve easily made it to the finals.

Thorgy Thor, Drag Race All Stars (Season 3)

Once frontrunner BenDeLaCreme decided to eliminate herself, the third season of All Stars fell to shit.

But before BenDeLa left, she did give us her iconic Julie Andrews performance in the Divas Lip Sync Live challenge. In fact a lot of the famous divas chosen gave the queens ample opportunity to shine, like we saw with Shangela’s Mariah Carey and Chi Chi DeVayne’s Patti LaBelle.

But one queen who got shifted by the diva she was given was Thorgy Thor. Getting cast as Stevie Nicks, Thorgy was very vocal about how the role just simply wasn’t as funny as the other ones, which was actually very true. Despite her complaints, Thorgy still stuck got with Stevie and ended up going home way too early because of it.

Aja, Drag Race All Stars (Season 3)

Aja is one of the best examples of a queen bombing on their original season only to come back 20 times better for All Stars. 

Aja’s talent show performance was iconic (“Is she gonna jump from there?!“), her makeup skills improved tenfold, her looks were on-point and she was a real competitor before being eliminated by BeBe Zahara Benet. It was tough because with a choice between Shangela and Aja, audiences would’ve been crushed with whoever left.

However, the issue is that in the following episode the eliminated girls were presented with the opportunity to return to the competition with a ‘Sitting On A Secret’ Kitty Girl Ru-mix. And not only did the eliminated team have a better group performance than ‘Drag Up Your Life’ by the other queens, but Aja was easily the most deserving of a returning place but Morgan McMichaels disappointingly got the spot instead. In the words of Thorgy Thor, “ugh, Jesus, gross”.

Tatianna, Drag Race All Stars (Season 2)

The dreaded Ro-Laska-Tox alliance, which resulted in Tatianna’s untimely elimination, is probably the only bad thing about All Stars Season 2.

Tati’s ‘Same Parts‘ talent show skit was one of the best comedy bits that has ever aired in the franchise, and being eliminated twice simply because an alliance existed between three of the queens was so disappointing to see.

And Alaska choosing to save Roxxxy Andrews, the weaker queen, was just such a wet blanket over such a good season.

Alyssa Edwards, Drag Race All Stars (Season 2)

Sadly, Tatianna wasn’t the only victim of the Ro-Laska-Tox curse with Detox sending the dancing queen home in favour of Roxxxy. Once again. Almost as if Roxxxy wasn’t actually deserving of her Top 4 spot.

It still hurts that Alyssa Edwards is one of the most iconic queens to ever come out of the Drag Race franchise, and the competition could’ve easily been hers if producers didn’t introduce the terrible drama-focused queen eliminations.

While Alyssa obviously doesn’t need a Drag Race title to be successful, as demonstrated by how many times the show has brought her back to help out, it still would’ve been nice to see her get a fair go during All Stars. 

Nina Bo’Nina Brown, Drag Race (Season 9)

Nina Bo’Nina Brown should’ve been Blac Chyna. Enough said.

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Michelle Rennex is a senior writer at Junkee. She wants justice for Shangela and tweets at @michellerennex.