Does RuPaul’s Drag Race have an ageism problem?

In the most recent episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17, this year’s new crop of queens began playfully referring to the cast’s oldest member, Louisville’s Lexi Love, as a “grandma”. During filming, she was 33.

As I dabbed away the tears from my wrinkled and sagging almost-30-year-old face, I began to question: is it me? Am I the grandma? I don’t think I’m the grandma. Maybe I am?

In all seriousness, the Drag Race girls aren’t serious. As one Gemma Collins might say, “It was a bit of a laugh. It’s tongue-in-cheek, Danielle. It’s funny!” That might be true, but it does open the door to a bigger, suppler, more collagen-rich question: does Drag Race have an age problem?

The most obvious evidence points to no, of course not, don’t be silly; this is a TV empire currently being helmed and hosted by RuPaul, a drag queen who will this year be 65-years-old.

Across its 17 US seasons and innumerable international franchises, there have been a number of ‘older’ queens (say, 40-plus) who have made it far in the competition. Just two months ago, Drag Race UK season six became one of the fandom’s most-loved, thanks largely to County Durham’s La Voix who, at 44 years old, won four challenges and made it to the final two.

But she didn’t win: Kyran Thrax did, aged 27.

In fact, across all 73 winners throughout the Drag Race universe, it’s fairly pitiful that only five of them – less than seven per cent – bagged their crown while they were aged 40 or above (Chad Michaels, Alyssa Edwards, Jimbo, Vanessa Van Cartier, and the oldest, Drag Race España star Sharonne). The latter was 45 when she won the competition in 2022. Even she’d be considered an unusually young grandma in the real world.

Of course, in order for older Drag Race competitors to win, they have to be cast on the show first. On average, the new season has the show’s youngest ever cast, with an average age of 26.3 years. Season 14 had the second youngest; Lady Camden and DeJa Skye, the oldest queens, were just 31. Across all 17 seasons of the original franchise, which has welcomed 224 queens, only eight were 40 or older at the time of filming. 

When seasons do cast older queens, their inclusion often becomes something to be mocked, and not in the “Lexi Love is a grandma!” way. On season seven, Tempest DuJour was at the time the oldest queen to ever compete, at 47. After entering the Werk Room, fellow queen Kandy Ho, then 27, immediately asked her: “So how old are you?” before suggesting that she “tries to be funny” with her “old fashioned drag”. Though Tempest put it best, retorting, “You don’t stop dreaming at a certain age,” RuPaul seemingly decided she should: Tempest was sent home first.

Two years later, season nine welcomed Charlie Hides, who at the age of 52 became the show’s oldest-ever contestant (and pushed the average of season nine contestants to 30.3 years old, the oldest still). She managed to survive a cheerleading challenge, which included shoulder stands and splits, but was eliminated in 12th place after opting to stand still during a Britney Spears lip-sync, while her competitor Trinity The Tuck threw herself about the stage. Another queen, Aja, described Charlie as looking like she was “telling children to get off her lawn”.

Dita Garbo, then 48, was the second eliminated from Drag Race UK season six. Tamisha Iman, then 46, was third out on Drag Race US season 13. Ginger Bitch, then 44, was fourth out on Drag Race France season two. It’s a fairly inarguable trend.

Some may question whether some Drag Race challenges lend themselves to the average older contestant (even if the term ‘older’ here still often means someone in their forties).

On the recent season of Canada’s Drag Race, one of the more interesting contestants, trans star and fan favourite Jaylene Tyme, 52, surprisingly exited in eighth place after a comparatively low-energy performance in the season’s girl group challenge. Canada’s previous season saw Kitten Kaboodle, 57, sent home during the kicking and splitting lip-sync slay-off. Both queens were awarded the title of “Miss Congeniality”, leaving a distinct air of “Aww, you tried!”

It’s unlikely that the Drag Race casting teams actively sideline older queens, rather that there’s a truckload more younger queens shooting off their applications. Queens of a certain age may forgo applying through fear of getting the Tempest or Charlie treatment. They may have done drag for years before a reality show was made about it, and simply aren’t interested in having their decades-long career judged by teens on the internet, based solely on whether they can high-kick to Doja Cat.

It’s probable too that the pool of older queens is just smaller now in general; with the AIDS pandemic in the ‘80s and ‘90s tearing through the queer community and painting queer people, and by association their art forms, as dangerous or dirty, young queer people then hardly had the platform or opportunity to dabble in drag that Gen Z have today. All that’s needed now is a wig and a TikTok account. Plus, Gen Z is the queerest generation yet: drag babies are born every day. 

So does Drag Race have an age problem? The fandom certainly doesn’t. “Grandma” Lexi Love is social media’s clear favourite for the win, as was La Voix on UK season six. Online, fans are routinely calling for more seasoned, older queens to appear.

As for the show itself, it’s impossible to dispute that older representation is lacking. Giving young, queer people a platform to come into themselves is great, but we’d love to see a season of Drag Race with three or four queens who’ve been in the game for two, three decades. Ironically, there could be no fresher shake up to the formula.

RuPaul’s Drag Race season 17 airs on Fridays on MTV in the US and WOW Presents Plus internationally.

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