![]() "When we think of RuPaul the media mogul, we think of all of the editions of drag race, his podcast, the production company World of Wonder, his music," Dr Feldman says. ![]() Today's drag superstars are using the show as a springboard for careers in television, comedy, acting, modelling, podcasting and music. RuPaul once wrote "a cheap queen can still be a beauty queen", but his expectations as a judge are now definitively polished - just ask UK queen Joe Black, who was blasted for bringing an off-the-rack H&M look to the runway.īut thousands still send in their audition tapes each season in the hopes their time in the spotlight will deliver them exposure to a fanbase beyond their wildest dreams. Past competitors have revealed the extreme lengths many queens go to - spending the equivalent of their college tuition or house deposits - for a shot at becoming the next drag superstar. ![]() The network isn't the only one investing big. The victor of this season's All Stars, All Winners (cast entirely with winners of previous seasons) will go home with a $200,000 cash prize. While the first Drag Race winner walked away with $20,000 and a crown from Fierce Drag Jewels, within a few years the stakes were raised to $100,000, a lifetime supply of cosmetics and an all-expenses-paid holiday. "I really cannot think of another figure who's done what RuPaul has done to a particular form of otherwise fringe art," says Zeena Feldman, senior lecturer in Digital Culture at Kings College London.ĭr Feldman puts that shift down to the ubiquity of social media encouraging a glossier, face-tuned image, and the rise in "rainbow capitalism" heralded by a general expansion in LGBTQIA+ rights.ĭrag Race has also had a sizeable cash injection. His now internationally acclaimed reality competition has helped to bring what was once seen as a niche art form firmly into the spotlight, and changed the game for drag queens of the future. Loadingīy 1996, he landed his very own self-titled talk show, interviewing celebrities and musicians with his co-host Michelle Visage by his side.Īlmost three decades later, the "little gay boy with nothing more than a pussycat wig and a dream" has built a global media empire and amassed an estimated net worth of $65 million. The single launched RuPaul's career into hyper-drive, kicking off a world tour of his first studio album and opening the door to a bevy of offers.Ī lucrative modelling contract with MAC Cosmetics saw RuPaul's face plastered over billboards from Sunset Boulevard to Times Square, and his schedule was filled with appearances on Saturday Night Live, music videos with the likes of Elton John and Diana Ross, and movie roles alongside Patrick Swayze and The Brady Bunch. So it was perhaps fitting that his big break came in the form of a dance club banger titled Supermodel (You Better Work). ![]() If there was an entertainment job that paid the bills, RuPaul tried it. ![]()
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