''RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race'' (often abbreviated as RSCDR) is an American

reality competition Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

series that premiered April 24, 2020 on

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

. A

spin-off Spin-off, Spin Off, Spin-Off, or Spinoff may refer to: Entertainment and media *Spinoff (media), a media work derived from an existing work *''The Spinoff'', a New Zealand current affairs magazine * ''Spin Off'' (Canadian game show), a 2013 Canad ...

of the television series, celebrities competing for their chosen charity, mentored by fan favourite alumni of the ''Drag Race'' franchise. The first season consisted of self-contained episodes based on the format of the main series, each featuring three celebrity contestants competing in challenges to win money for their chosen charity. For its second season, the format was changed to a season-length competition focused on

lip sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , like the word ''sink'', despite the Hard and soft C, spelling of the participial forms ''synced'' and ''syncing''), short for lip synchronization, is a technical term for matching a Speech, speaking or singin ...

performances. The field of celebrities was concealed via drag personas, with their identity revealed upon elimination.

Format

Both seasons of the series have featured celebrity contestants competing for charity, becoming drag performers mentored by alumni ("Queen Supremes") from past seasons of the ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' franchise. In its first season, each episode was a self-contained competition between three contestants, who competed in "fan favorite" ''Drag Race'' challenges. Similarly to the main series, each episode featured mini and maxi challenges, followed by a final

round to determine the winner. The second season was retooled as a season-length competition focusing exclusively on lip sync performances, with some similarities to the music competition series ''

The Masked Singer ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

''; the season began with a cast of nine contestants, identified only by drag personas. In each episode, the contestants give a solo lip sync performance for the judges and a studio audience. The bottom two contestants compete in a "Lip Sync for Your Life" round to determine who is safe, with the losing contestant eliminated and required to reveal their true identity. The last remaining celebrity at the end of the season would win $100,000 for their chosen charity. The series maintains the same judging panel as the main series, consisting of RuPaul,

Michelle Visage Michelle Visage (born Michelle Lynn Shupack, September 20, 1968) is an American television personality, singer, broadcaster, producer, and actress. She gained recognition as a member of the dance-pop group Seduction (group), Seduction, who char ...

Carson Kressley Carson Kressley (born November 11, 1969) is an American television personality, actor, and designer. Beginning in 2003, he appeared in the Bravo series '' Queer Eye for the Straight Guy''. He was also the motivational host of the TV show '' How ...

, and

Ross Mathews Ross Mathews (born September 24, 1979) is an American television host and personality. He rose to fame as an intern and a correspondent for ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno''; he was known as "Ross the Intern" on air. Mathews has appeared on '' ...

Series overview

Broadcast

The series was initially announced in October 2019 under the working title ''RuPaul's Celebrity Drag Race'', with the title changed prior to launch. The first season premiered on April 24, 2020, on VH1, as a four-part miniseries. In August 2021, VH1 renewed the series for a second season, which premiered on August 12, 2022.

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official site
(in English) {{Portal bar, LGBTQ, Television, United States 2020 American television series debuts 2020s American LGBTQ-related reality television series 2022 American television series endings American television spinoffs Celebrity reality television series Drag Race (franchise) spinoffs RuPaul's Drag Race Television series by World of Wonder (company) VH1 original programming