
The Pit Crew is the ensemble of scantily clad male models who appear on camera for various segments of the American television series ''
RuPaul's Drag Race
''RuPaul's Drag Race'' is an American reality competition television series, the first in the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by World of Wonder for Logo TV (season 1–8), WOW Presents Plus, VH1 (season 9–14) and, beginning with the f ...
'' and its derivatives, utilizing the
motif
Motif may refer to:
General concepts
* Motif (chess composition), an element of a move in the consideration of its purpose
* Motif (folkloristics), a recurring element that creates recognizable patterns in folklore and folk-art traditions
* Moti ...
of
car drag racing.
During
season 6
A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and ...
of ''Drag Race'', and on ''
Drag Race Thailand,'' the group are known as the Scruff Pit Crew. The group are called the Brit Crew on ''
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. ...
''.
A behind-the-scenes weekly
web series
A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single in ...
''Oh Pit Crew'' launched in 2014 with season six and airs on
WOW Presents Plus
WOW Presents Plus (also called World of Wonder Presents Plus or WOWPresents+) is a subscription-based streaming service owned by production company, World of Wonder. The subscription service is founded in November 2017, by Randy Barbato and F ...
, and its related
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most ...
channel.
Function
Crew members often appear dressed only in designer underwear, and features as human props, and in sketches, mini-, and maxi-challenges to aid the
drag queen
A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...
contestants.
In one mini-challenge called "Pants Down Bottoms Up", the competing drag queens picked Pit Crew men by two to drop their pants until they found matching underwear.
Members
''RuPaul's Drag Race'' (2009–present)

Pit Crew members of the first season of ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' included Kenyon Glover, Keon Hunt, and Preston Taylor.
Max "The Body" Philisaire participated during the second season.
Television host and men's lifestyle expert Jason J. Carter joined for seasons 3–10.
Shawn Morales
Shawn Morales (born July 21, 1978) is an American model, actor, and nightlife personality based in Los Angeles, California.
RuPaul's Drag Race
In 2011 while working as a gogo dancer at local gay bars, Shawn auditioned for the ''RuPaul's Drag R ...
was a member for seasons 3–6.
According to Morales, he and Carter got the job through their being
go-go dancers
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was take ...
in gay clubs; a friend "knew someone in the casting department" and secured an audition.
Ronnie Kroell
Ronnie may refer to:
*Ronnie (name), a unisex pet name and given name
* "Ronnie" (Four Seasons song), a song by Bob Gaudio and Bob Crewe
*"Ronnie," a song from the Metallica album '' Load''
*Ronnie Brunswijkstadion, an association football stadium ...
was a Pit Crew member for the fifth season. Miles Davis Moody, an actor and model, was a member for seasons 6–8.
Simon Sherry-Wood
Simon Sherry-Wood (born November 7, 1984) is an Irish-born American television personality and model. He is best known for his appearances on '' The Real World'' and ''RuPaul's Drag Race''.
Career
Sherry-Wood started his career on a reality tele ...
was a member for the sixth season, and previously starred on ''
The Real World: Paris'' (2003).
Bryce Eilenberg, a
straight ally
An ally is a person who is associated with another as a helper; a person or group that provides assistance and support in an ongoing effort, activity or struggle. In recent years, the term has been adopted specifically to a person supporting one ...
, was a member since season 7.
Jared North and Yadier Despaigne joined the crew for season 9.
Laith Ashley appeared as the Pit Crew's first openly
trans man
A trans man is a man who was assigned female at birth. The label of transgender man is not always interchangeable with that of transsexual man, although the two labels are often used in this way. ''Transgender'' is an umbrella term that in ...
during the series' tenth season.
''RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars'' (2012–present)
Wilson Lai was a member during the
fourth 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, be ...
''.
''Drag Race Thailand'' (2018–present)
''
Drag Race Thailand'' started in 2018 with an eight-member crew branded as the
Scruff Pit Crew, after the queer men's dating
mobile app
A mobile application or app is a computer program or software application designed to run on a mobile device such as a phone, tablet, or watch. Mobile applications often stand in contrast to desktop applications which are designed to run on ...
.
Up to three members appeared in each episode.
Members include Nikkai, cosplay enthusiast Nut, and Pae.
''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' (2019–present)
The Brit Crew members were announced a few weeks prior to ''
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. ...
'' premiering in October 2019.
The casting requirements included that they were at least six feet tall, attractive, “athletic and toned physique”, no tattoos, aged 18-35, and comfortable in just underwear.
The series debuted with five members, and two more were added after the first episode.
Season 1 members include:
* AJ Bediako, an actor, model, and
gamer
A gamer is a proactive hobbyist who plays interactive games, especially video games, tabletop role-playing games, and skill-based card games, and who plays for usually long periods of time. Some gamers are competitive, meaning they routinely ...
.
* Archie Ahern, a lawyer in the music industry.
* Ashraf “Raf” Ejjbair, a
multi-sensory artist,
go-go dancer
Go-go dancers are dancers who are employed to entertain crowds at nightclubs or other venues where music is played. Go-go dancing originated in the early 1960s at the French bar Whisky a Gogo located in Juan-les-Pins. The bar's name was tak ...
, and event host.
*
Matt Lister, a multi-medal winning
slalom canoeist, model, and fitness writer, he is openly gay, an
LGBTQ
' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity.
The LGBT term is ...
ambassador for the
British Athletes Commission, and as of October 2019, engaged to his boyfriend.
* Mitch Marion, an
openly gay
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBT people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
Framed and debated as a privacy issue, coming out of ...
part-time model, and filmmaker.
*Niko Wirachman ( years old), is half German and half
Indonesian
Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to:
* Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia
** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago
** Indonesia ...
, openly gay, is a professional dancer, and actor doing musical theater, and represented Germany in the 2017
Mr. Gay Europe Mr Gay Europe is a male beauty pageant for gay Europeans. It was founded by its former President, Morten Rudå and its current President, Tore Aasheim; and was hosted for the first time in 2005. The competition was held in Oslo, Norway and the ...
contest.
*Tom Scanlon, a musical theater actor, and a drag queen in the quintet The Globe Girls.
''RuPaul's Drag Race Live!'' (2020)
''
RuPaul's Drag Race Live!
''RuPaul's Drag Race Live!'' is an American residency show in Las Vegas, Nevada featuring past competitors from the television show ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. The variety show features a mix of original music, lip syncs, comedy, and dance numbers dir ...
'' shows in Las Vegas features a rotating cast of
''RuPaul's Drag Race'' contestants in a live show akin to the
Werq the World
The Werq the World tour is an ongoing tour featuring drag queens from ''RuPaul's Drag Race''. The tour, created by Brandon Voss and some input by Shangela, is produced by Voss Events in collaboration with VH1 and World of Wonder. It is known fo ...
tour.
The shows Pit Crew all double as dancers in the queens' numbers.
Crew members include: AJ Watkins, Dallas Eli, Filip Lacina, Michael Silas, Nick Lemer, and Sebastian Gonzalez.
''Canada's Drag Race'' (2020–present)
The Pit Crew on ''
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 ...
'' 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 acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a condition in which progressive failure of the immune ...
model and activist who has been featured in HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns in Canada. Other members included Ming Yao, Seth Falk and Evan Boutsov.
''RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under'' (2021–present)
Regular members of the Pit Crew of ''
RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under
''RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under'' is a reality competition streaming television series based on the American television series of the same name produced by World of Wonder and Warner Bros. International Television Production New Zealand. The s ...
'' included
Max Currie, Sean Walters, and Rod Tian.
''Drag Race España'' (2021–present)
The twelve members of Pit Crew on the Spanish adaptation were presented a few weeks prior to ''
Drag Race España'' premiering in May 2021. New members were introduced during
season 2 Season 2 may refer to:
* ''Season 2'' (Infinite album)
* '' 2econd Season''
See also
*
{{disambig ...
, among them a trans man and a
bear
Bears are carnivoran mammals of the family Ursidae. They are classified as caniforms, or doglike carnivorans. Although only eight species of bears are extant, they are widespread, appearing in a wide variety of habitats throughout the N ...
.
Reference
External links
*
{{Portal bar, LGBT, Television, Thailand, United Kingdom, United States
Male models
Drag Race (franchise)