RuPaul's Drag Race UK season 2 is airing concurrently with US season 13, and many fans have decided that they much prefer watching the queens from across the pond. Many fans found the season 13 premiere to be unnecessarily cruel to the queens, purposefully making it so they were not able to enjoy themselves as much as the UK queens did. The fans have also loved all of the drag personas shown on Drag Race UK, not wanting any one of them to leave each week. They have not felt that same type of attachment to the season 13 girls because of the stale drama that the producers keep unnecessarily prompting.
In the recent seasons, some fans have felt that Drag Race has become overproduced, where the drama started to feel very forced and inauthentic. Because the series has also hit the mainstream, fans think a lot of the US queens feel the added pressure of appealing to the fans and trying to be perfect. Since Drag Race UK is only in its second season, fans feel that it is more reminiscent of the earlier seasons of the American Drag Race, when the queens were free to be their hilarious selves. There is an earnestness to the UK queens, maybe because they are not competing for any prize money so the stakes are not quite as high and there is nothing to lose by being themselves.
The fans have absolutely fallen in love with the fabulous UK queens, as those Drag Race UK girls take themselves less seriously than their American counterparts. Overall, the UK queens seem to be having a lot more fun, whereas many of the talking heads in the US season have had more serious and uptight attitudes. Fans have been loving a lot of the season 13 girls, but blame the producing and editing on creating storylines out of nowhere for the girls. In turn, the BBC is letting the girls showcase their personalities without relying on unnecessary drama to keep the viewers interested.
One major problem that turned fans off to RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 was the first twist of the season. Many fans compared the Pork Chop Lounge to the Stanford Prison Experiment, because it pushed the storylines of the winners and losers circle, and psyched the queens out from the very beginning. Not only was it repetitive to watch, but it was also heartbreaking to watch half of the cast sit in the loading dock looking defeated before they even got to compete, even if fans knew they would not cut half the cast. Drag Race has also gotten formulaic in the past few seasons, to a point where most fans could predict exactly who was going home based on the "tragedy mirror" and edits before the challenge even started.
Overall, the fans are calling Drag Race UK a breath of fresh air because it is always more fun to watch queens who are able to be themselves and who look like they are genuinely having a good time. The US and the UK editions both have amazingly talented queens who all deserve some love and praise for bringing us entertainment during these tough times. Let's hope that the queens on both sides of the Atlantic can bring us more fabulous looks and drama during their seasons!
RuPaul's Drag Race season 13 airs Fridays at 8pm EST on VH1.
Source: Reddit