RuPaul’s Drag Race: 10 Queens Who Made It To The Finale With No Chance Of Winning
When it comes to RuPaul’s Drag Race, there are two main types of finales. First, there’s the finale that everybody watches knowing full well who’s taking home the crown. Sure, Raja (season 3), Bianca Del Rio (season 6), and Bob The Drag Queen (season 8) had some tough competition, but it was pretty clear they were taking home the crown.
Then, there are Drag Race finales where things feel less clear. Usually, these finales have two or three serious contenders for the crown, and a clear ‘odd queen out’ that, unfortunately, has no realistic chance of winning. Of course, this does not mean that these queens did not deserve the crown – it simply means that their journey and/or performance during their season was not one that justified snatching the crown.
10 REBECCA GLASSCOCK – SEASON 1
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 1 may be considered the “lost season” of the series, but fans who watched it will surely remember the curious case of Rebecca Glasscock getting all the way to the finale.
On season 1, Rebecca Glasscock landed in the Bottom Two twice (tying with Akashia for most times in the bottom during that season) and was constantly criticized by the other queens as someone who didn’t deserve to be there. And yet, she managed beat out queens like Ongina and Shannel.
Standing alongside BeBe Zahara Benet and Nina Flowers during the season 1 finale, there is no doubt that Rebecca looked like the odd queen out who didn’t have any real shot at winning.
9 JUJUBEE – SEASON 2
Let’s be real: Jujubee invented the Lip Sync Assassin category for RuPaul’s Drag Race contestants, being the first-ever queen on the show to be considered virtually unbeatable during a lip sync.
Despite landing in the Bottom Two three times on season 2, Jujubee sent all of those queens packing and made her way to the finale alongside Raven and Tyra Sanchez. While her underdog story was certainly a very compelling one for the judges and the fans, there was a real sense in the air that Jujubee had no chance of taking home the crown over Tyra and Raven.
8 PHI PHI O’HARA – SEASON 4
Drag Race fans have been very mean to Phi Phi O’Hara over the years, but fans should acknowledge the fact that Phi Phi created great television and played a key role in the success of season 4.
In many ways, Phi Phi O’Hara was the first-ever clear villain on RuPaul’s Drag Race. The progression of season 4 kept pinning this queen against Sharon Needles, and it was evident that the show had chosen a side.
By the time we got to the finale, our contenders were Sharon Needles, who won four challenges; Chad Michaels, the veteran who was a class act; and Phi Phi O’Hara, who was reduced to being a Sharon denier. Let’s just say that the odds weren’t in Phi Phi’s favor.
7 SHANNEL – ALL STARS 1
The controversial Drag Race All Stars 1 had the queens competing in teams. Team Shad (Chad Michaels and Shannel) won three of the five challenges on that season, making them the clear frontrunners in the competition. However, one couldn’t help but notice that there was an emphasis on Chad’s performance throughout the whole season, somehow making Shannel look like a sidekick for the team.
When Raven won the lip sync against Jujubee and made it through to the finale, the show conveyed an energy that Chad’s real competitor was this one (not Shannel!), despite Raven’s three times in the Bottom Two and no wins all season.
6 PEARL – SEASON 7
Season 7 of RuPaul’s Drag Race was a wild ride for Pearl. The queen kept being told by the judges that she had no personality, then had an on-camera stand-off with RuPaul, and then agitated a significant number of fans for making it through to the finale instead of Kennedy Davenport.
When the season 7 finale aired on TV, it was pretty clear to everyone that the competition was actually between Violet Chachki and Ginger Minj. It was hard for fans of the show to make a case for Pearl to win over the other two, even if her performance had improved significantly during the second half of the season.
5 ROXXXY ANDREWS – ALL STARS 2
Unlike other competitors who sought a redemption storyline on All Stars 2, Roxxxy Andrews successfully redeemed her ‘mean girl’ image from season 5. With that said, All Stars was not a particularly great time for Roxxxy, who landed in the bottom five times.
Week after week, Alaska and Detox kept winning lip syncs and kept sending other queens home in order to save their Ro-Laska-Tox friend. However, that prompted Roxxxy Andrews to arrive at the All Stars 2 finale with what was arguably one of the worst track records in the history of the Drag Race franchise.
Unfortunately, there was just no way that Roxxxy would snatch the crown that year.
4 PEPPERMINT – SEASON 9
All season long, it became clear to RuPaul’s Drag Race fans that Peppermint was a real contender to earn the Miss Congeniality title. She was incredibly sweet, helpful to all the queens, a trans icon even before the show, and just a real class act all around. However, what ended up happening is that Peppermint revealed herself to be a Lip Sync Assassin who landed in the Bottom Two twice and survived both of them.
Before the Drag Race season 9 finale aired, there was a sense that the crown was going to Shea Coulee, Sasha Velour, or Trinity The Tuck. However, with the new Lip Sync For The Crown twist, Peppermint ended up going all the way to the final lip sync against Sasha and becoming the runner-up. Still, it would’ve been hard to justify Peppermint taking home the crown, given her poor track record that season.
3 BEBE ZAHARA BENET – ALL STARS 3
BeBe Zahara Benet won the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, but was picked to compete on All Stars 3 with the justification that RuPaul wanted newer fans to be familiar with her fierceness. While understandable, this decision felt so odd that it made fans speculate that BeBe was not actually competing that season, and rather serving as a “mole” for RuPaul in the workroom.
All in all, BeBe Zahara Benet did compete on All Stars 3, but it is fair to say that she arrived at the finale without any chance of winning. Instead, giving the crown to someone else made way more sense to all the other queens that season, and fans felt the same way.
2 KAMERON MICHAELS – SEASON 10
On season 10, Kameron Michaels was yet another case of a Lip Sync Assassin who arrives at a Drag Race finale because no one was able to send her home. However, like Jujubee and Peppermint in previous seasons, there was a sense that Kameron’s track record didn’t entirely qualify her to take home the crown.
Still, Kameron did make her way to the final Lip Sync For The Crown on season 10, even if it felt like the real contenders that year were Aquaria and Eureka O’Hara.
1 NAOMI SMALLS – ALL STARS 4
It is certainly odd to think of Naomi Smalls as a contestant who arrived at the RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 4 finale with no chance of winning. Week after week, the queen did very well or was at least considered ‘safe’ by the judges, landing three times in the bottom but also winning the makeover challenge just two episodes before the grand finale.
Still, there was a feeling in the air all season long that the show and the judges were not seeing Naomi Smalls as a contender for the Drag Race Hall of Fame. For some reason, by the time we got to the All Stars 4 finale, it certainly felt like the competition for the crown was only between Trinity The Tuck, Monet X Change, and Monique Heart.