The day NBC removes the cast for the new season traitor Feels like Christmas morning for those of us who worship at the throne of reality TV. And while we don’t want to look bad, there is a small pile of coal under this tree. it is RuPaul’s Drag Race Representation, or the lack thereof.
Every season, the casting team includes a handful of housewives, CBS reality stars, and a few random actors that no one expected. But every season, there is exactly one person from RuPaul’s Drag Race. Just one!
It feels like The Traitors casting team is allergic to having more than one Drag Race queen in the palace at a time, and at this point, it feels less like a mistake and more like an intentional way of tokenizing that one and only drag queen. And every time, it spoils that queen’s chances of winning.
Bianca Del Rio joins The Traitors Season 5 as the newest Drag Race queen
For The Traitors Season 5, the casting team has delved into the same array of reality shows they always do: The Real Housewives, Love Island, Survivor, and Big Brother.
Whitney Levitt has joined The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives as the first representative, which is new, but what’s not new is that RuPaul’s Drag Race only has one representative. This time, it’s Bianca Del Rio.
And let’s be clear: Bianca is a fantastic choice for this show. She is hilarious, sweet, competitive and extremely mean all at the same time. Still, wouldn’t it have been more fitting if there had been another drag queen in the cast who could fully appreciate everything she brought?
Of course, we can’t expect much from the same casting team that once decided Michael Rapaport was must-see on TV, but at the very least, can’t we get more than one Ru girl in at least one season? Is that asking too much?
Traitors’ lone drag race queen rarely gets the chance to go far
Historically speaking, Bianca is coming into Season 5 facing an uphill battle. The casting choice of having a drag queen in the room and defending her never worked. It all started with peppermint.
Peppermint was the first Ru girl to appear on The Traitors in Season 2, and she was the first person to be exiled that season. Like many early relegations in the season, there was not much strategy behind this decision. To many of us watching at home, it felt as if she was being “othered” by her cishet classmates, which she explained in detail at that year’s reunion.
In the next season, Bob the Drag Queen moves into the palace and is kicked out shortly after. The following year, it was Monet x Change’s turn to be the sole representative from Drag Race. He is murdered in episode 5 after inadvertently getting too close to a traitor, Candiace Dillard Bassett. This was the longest distance a Drag Race queen had ever gone on the show. Episode 5 – The season isn’t even half over yet.
Of course, each Ru Girl’s game failed for different reasons, but they all had one thing in common: They went into the game alone. They were the only Drag Race stars, which meant they didn’t come into the game with a built-in alliance like most of their co-stars.
Most of the time, housemates live together. This loyalty extends to anyone else coming from the Bravoverse. CBS reality stars stay together. Olympians remain united. Drag Race queens don’t have that inherent camaraderie that forces them to form their own alliances on the spot. This isn’t always easy to do when you’re “different” from everyone else.
Adding another drag queen to the mix would at least give the Ru Girls a built-in ally like the rest of their competitors. Not to mention the drama and looks! This is four missed opportunities in a row.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Has a Huge Talent Pool That Traitors Can Take Advantage of
We’ve been on RuPaul’s Drag Race for 18 seasons, and its impact on the culture is undeniable. Before The Traitors swept all the Emmys, there was Drag Race. With over 230 drag queens appearing on the show, it would make no sense for The Traitors’ casting team not to take advantage of the glamour, theatrics and finesse that is right in front of them.
And it’s not that the girls of Drag Race don’t want to compete in this arena. Season 11 winner Yvie Audley made it clear she wanted a shot. And after failing in the House of Villains, Candy Muse said she also wanted her chance in the palace. Why isn’t NBC calling him?
Courtney Act was runner-up to Bianca on Season 6 of Drag Race and later won Celebrity Big Brother. Why wasn’t he invited to go to the palace with Bianca? Alyssa Edwards and Willam have both competed in Traitors-inspired shows. Let them take a look at the real thing.
The latest season of Drag Race has delivered MTV’s biggest live ratings in years. They’ve practically got the lights on out there, so incorporating more of the franchise into The Traitors seems like a no-brainer. Still, it seems The Traitors casting team sees enough value in drag queens to only include one at a time.
Over the years, they have seen plenty of LGBTQ+ representation on the show. Look at the host! They’re clearly not afraid to feature gay people. But perhaps they feel that too many references to RuPaul’s Drag Race will cause a kind of moral panic among their conservative audience. Or maybe they’re afraid one of the queens will outwit Allen in the breakfast scene?
We’re not sure, but luckily, The Traitors has been renewed for three more seasons. This means he has got at least three more chances to get this right.
traitor Streaming on Peacock.