The first season of ''

Canada's Drag Race ''Canada's Drag Race'' is a Canadian reality competition television series based on the American series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and is the Canadian edition of the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by Blue Ant Studios. In a similar format to th ...

'' premiered on July 2, 2020. The cast was announced on May 14, 2020. The winner of the first season of ''Canada’s Drag Race'' was

Priyanka ''Priyanka'' is a popular female given name in Hindu and Buddhist cultures. It is a name derived from the Sanskrit word 'Priyankera' or 'Priyankara', meaning someone or something that is amiable, lovable, or makes you happy and the one who has lov ...

, with

Rita Baga Rita Baga is the stage name of Jean-François Guevremont (born May 27, 1987), a Canadian drag queen from Montreal, Quebec,Hugo Dumas"La future reine québécoise du Nord?" '' La Presse'', August 19, 2020. who is most noted as a top three finalist ...

and

Scarlett BoBo Scarlett BoBo is the stage name of Matthew Cameron (born December 1, 1989), a Canadian television personality and drag queen most noted as a finalist in the first season of the reality competition series ''Canada's Drag Race'' in 2020. Career Or ...

as runners-up. Casting occurred in mid-2019 with production starting in fall 2019. On September 26, 2019, it was announced that the judges panel will include RuPaul's Drag Race season 11 runner-up

Brooke Lynn Hytes Brooke Lynn Hytes is the stage name of Brock Edward Hayhoe (born March 10, 1986), a Canadian drag queen, ballet dancer, performer, and television personality. After working as a dancer with Cape Town City Ballet and Les Ballets Trockadero de Mo ...

, actor

Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman (born October 21, 1984) is a Canadian actor, model, and television personality. He is known for appearances in films and television, most notably as Jay in the Lifetime dark comedy-drama series ''Unreal'' (2015–2018) and ...

and fashion model

Stacey McKenzie Stacey McKenzie (born March 27, 1977) is a Jamaican-born Canadian model, runway coach, motivational speaker, and television personality. McKenzie has been a judge on the reality television shows ''America's Next Top Model'', ''Canada's Next Top Mod ...

."Three fabulous judges, and one squirrel friend, are ready to preside over ‘Canada’s Drag Race’"
. '' eTalk'', September 26, 2019. Bell Media personality

Traci Melchor Traci Melchor is a Canadian television personality. She is known for her role as an entertainment reporter for CTV's series '' etalk'' and as a judge of the reality competition series ''Canada's Drag Race''. Melchor is also the former co-host o ...

also appeared as a recurring cast member, with the title "Canada's Squirrel Friend"; her role entailed participatory support in challenges, including co-judging the '' Canada Gay-M'' mini-challenge, hosting a '' sheTalk'' red carpet segment prior to Snatch Game, and serving as one of the judges of the Miss Loose Jaw pageant. Melchor also appeared as the special guest host for the season finale. The season consisted of ten one-hour episodes. The Season 1 queens participated in a ''Canada's Drag Race Anniversary Extravaganza'' reunion special, airing on Crave September 6, 2021, in advance of the second season launch. In January 2022, it was announced that

Jimbo Jimbo is a diminutive form of the given name James. It is also a Japanese surname, and it means state or province in Swahili. It may refer to: Given name or nickname * Jimbo (drag queen), Canadian drag queen * Jimbo Aquino (born 1985), Filipin ...

and

Lemon The lemon (''Citrus limon'') is a species of small evergreen trees in the flowering plant family Rutaceae, native to Asia, primarily Northeast India (Assam), Northern Myanmar or China. The tree's ellipsoidal yellow fruit is used for culin ...

would appear as contestants on '' RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs the World''. Lemon finished in ninth place, while Jimbo placed seventh overall. On July 21, 2023, Jimbo was declared the winner of the eighth season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars ''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' is an American reality competition spin off edition of the original ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', which is produced by World of Wonder, for Logo TV and later VH1. The show premiered on October 22, 2012, on Logo TV, b ...

''.

Contestants

''(Ages, names, and cities stated are at time of filming.)'' Notes:

Contestant progress

Lip syncs

Legend: Notes:

Guests

Guest hosts

The guest host of a ''Canada's Drag Race'' episode performs much of RuPaul's role in a regular Ru-hosted season, including the introductions to the runway and Lip Sync for Your Life segments, and delivers commentary as a judge, but does not have a direct say in determining the winners or losers of the challenges and lipsyncs. Except for

Michelle Visage Michelle Lynn Case (nee Shupack), better known as Michelle Visage (born September 20, 1968), is an American singer, television host, actress, radio DJ and producer. She first gained recognition as a member of the musical group Seduction which ...

, who appeared because of her role as a regular judge on the original ''RuPaul's Drag Race'', all other guest hosts were Canadian actors, musicians or media personalities. Season 1 guest hosts included: *

Elisha Cuthbert Elisha Ann Cuthbert Phaneuf (; born 30 November 1982) is a Canadian actress and model. As a Child actor, child actress, she made her first televised appearance as an extra in the Canadian horror-themed series for children ''Are You Afraid of the ...

Jade Hassouné Jade Hassouné (born 18 February 1991) is a Lebanese-Canadian actor, dancer and singer. He is known for his roles as Meliorn in the US television series ''Shadowhunters'' and as Prince Ahmed Al Saeed in the Canadian series ''Heartland''. Under t ...

Deborah Cox Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before ...

Evan Biddell ''Project Runway Canada Season 1'' is the first season of ''Project Runway Canada'', a reality competition show for fashion designers that is part of the ''Project Runway'' franchise. It aired in late 2007 on the Slice channel, which had relaunch ...

* Mary Walsh *

Tom Green Michael Thomas Green (born July 30, 1971) is a Canadian-American comedian, show host, actor, filmmaker, podcaster, and rapper. After pursuing stand-up comedy and music as a young adult, Green created and hosted ''The Tom Green Show'', which a ...

Allie X Alexandra Ashley Hughes (born 31 July 1985), known by her stage name Allie X, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and visual artist. She began her career as an indie pop artist in Toronto in the mid-2000s, playing with local bands and writing and ...

Amanda Brugel Amanda Brugel (born March 24, 1978) is a Canadian actress. Born and raised in Pointe-Claire (a suburb of Montreal), Quebec, she made her acting debut in the drama film ''Vendetta'' (1999). This was followed by roles in the comedy film '' A Diva's ...

Special guests

Several guests appeared in episodes, but did not judge on the main stage. Photographer Matt Barnes appeared in Episode 1. Singer

Ralph Ralph (pronounced ; or ,) is a male given name of English, Scottish and Irish origin, derived from the Old English ''Rædwulf'' and Radulf, cognate with the Old Norse ''Raðulfr'' (''rað'' "counsel" and ''ulfr'' "wolf"). The most common forms ...

and choreographer Hollywood Jade appeared in Episodes 3 and 10. Episode 5 featured

Colin McAllister and Justin Ryan Colin Lewis McAllister and Justin Patrick Ryan are Scottish interior decorators and television presenters, often billed as Colin and Justin. As well as being co-hosts, McAllister and Ryan have also been a couple since 1986 and have been credi ...

, interior decorators and television presenters.

Crystal A crystal or crystalline solid is a solid material whose constituents (such as atoms, molecules, or ions) are arranged in a highly ordered microscopic structure, forming a crystal lattice that extends in all directions. In addition, macros ...

, a contestant from the first series of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

'' appeared in Episode 6. The seventh episode featured actor and producer

Stefan Brogren Stefan Brogren (born 21 April 1972) is a Canadian actor, director, and producer. He is best known as Archie "Snake" Simpson in the ''Degrassi'' franchise of television shows. Early life Stefan Brogren was born on 21 April 1972, in Toronto, O ...

as well as drag queen Michelle DuBarry. Comedian

Sabrina Jalees Sabrina Jalees (born April 19, 1985) is a Canadian comedian, actress, and writer. She has written for various series, and starred as a main cast member alongside Patricia Heaton in the 2019 TV comedy series ''Carol's Second Act.'' Early life and ...

appeared in Episode 9.

Pit Crew

The show's

Pit Crew In motorsports, a pit stop is a pause for refuelling, new tyres, repairs, mechanical adjustments, a driver change, as a penalty, or any combination of the above. These stops occur in an area called the pits, most commonly accessed via a pit lan ...

attracted media attention for including Mina Gerges, who was the first plus-size man to be featured in the Pit Crew on any edition of the series, and Travis L'Henaff, an

HIV-positive The human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV) are two species of ''Lentivirus'' (a subgroup of retrovirus) that infect humans. Over time, they cause AIDS, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the ...

model and activist who has been featured in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in Canada. Other members included Ming Yao, Seth Falk and Evan Boutsov.

Episodes

Post-production

Drag Ball and Drag Superstars

Separately from the production of the series, all of the queens from the season participated in

Pride Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

events for both

Pride Toronto Pride Toronto is an annual event held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in June each year. A celebration of the diversity of the LGBT community in the Greater Toronto Area, it is one of the largest organized gay pride festivals in the world, fea ...

and Fierté Montreal, presented as online streaming specials due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. The Toronto event, ''Drag Ball presented by Crave'', was streamed on June 27, and the Montreal event, ''Drag Superstars'', was streamed on August 14. The Toronto special was directly produced by Crave; the Montreal event was produced by a separate company, but received some production assistance and sponsorship from Crave and the ''Canada's Drag Race'' production team.

Canada's Drag Race Live at the Drive-In

Following the conclusion of the season, the cast announced a cross-Canada tour, to be performed at

drive-in A drive-in is a facility (such as a restaurant or movie theater) where one can drive in with an automobile for service. At a drive-in restaurant, for example, customers park their vehicles and are usually served by staff who walk or rollerskat ...

venues due to the ongoing

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious disea ...

restrictions remaining in place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Brooke Lynn Hytes hosted, and Priyanka, Scarlett Bobo and Rita Baga were scheduled to appear at every date on the tour, while other cast members would perform at selected dates based on availability; ultimately, however, both Priyanka and Brooke Lynn Hytes had to miss a couple of later dates after being forced to self-isolate due to COVID-19 exposure. Priyanka, Scarlett Bobo, Rita Baga and Jimbo also participated in an online panel as part of the 2020 Just for Laughs festival.Jenelle Riley
"For Montreal’s Just for Laughs, the Show Will Go On(line)"
. ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

'', October 2, 2020.

Awards

References

{{Canada's Drag Race 2020 Canadian television seasons 2020 in LGBT history Canada's Drag Race seasons