Top 10 RuPaul's Drag Race Queens Who Were Victims of the Storyline

In reality TV, there are winners and losers, heroes and villains, and some who get lost in the sauce. Season 11’s Shuga Cain was edited like a filler queen. However, her kindness, hilarious confessionals, and genuinely good runway looks were impeded by a lack of screentime. Between Yvie and Silky’s rivalry and Brooke Lynn and Vanjie’s unexpected workroom romance, Shuga didn’t have a chance to shine. Though they made it all the way to 7th place, their edit was sorely lacking. Fans’ confusion was only compounded by the fact that Shuga went home on an episode where she was on the best team.

When Aja came back, it was clear she didn’t come to play. While she was the scrappy underdog on season 9, she arrived in the workroom with a whole new set of tricks and immediately announced herself as a force to be reckoned with. But when it came to her elimination in the Pop Art Ball, it seemed like Ru and the judges were reaching. Their harping on the fact that she pronounced France Joli’s name incorrectly and then putting her in the bottom was kind of questionable. To many fans, it seemed obvious that Aja succeeding in the competition wasn’t part of anyone’s plans.

Compared to her winning run on season 11, this “Drag Race” champion was noticeably more chill on her second appearance. In fact, she was downright goofy. After “All Stars” 7 aired, Yvie expressed her annoyance at her edit. Though she has been able to discuss her experience living with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, her role on the show was often relegated to the overly-sexualized goofball. We know that producers can’t feasibly show all the footage they capture. However, to hear that Yvie’s condition wasn’t accurately represented – and that she felt like she was reduced to a “caricature” is a tough pill to swallow. It highlights the decisions and unfairness that go into picking and choosing the storylines of a season.

For some queens, having a friend in the workroom can be a comfort during the competition. But Adore Delano and Laganja Estranja’s friendship took a hit when the pressure turned up. Once Adore emerged as a frontrunner, it became clear Laganja was not long for this season. Episodes were soon full of confessionals about how annoying she was. We know Laganja wasn’t everybody’s cup of tea. Her apparently exaggerated persona eventually led to a thrilling and devastating confrontation with her co-stars. But the stress was clearly getting to her, and her probable desire to serve up a fun character backfired on her hard. On the bright side, she’s since redeemed herself in the eyes of fans and her former castmates.

Few queens have ever fought back against their portrayal like this season 4 finalist and All Stars 2 villain. Jaremi Lee Carey, formerly known as Phi Phi O’Hara, was demoralized by the second All Stars season and made that displeasure public. Carey wanted us all to know the drag queen we saw on screen wasn’t an accurate portrayal. The narrative surrounding Jaremi on both seasons was so overwhelmingly negative that it resulted in the contestant having to deal with real-life hate being spewed. Despite trying to rehabilitate his reputation after season 4, Carey felt the producers were trying to manipulate him into being the villain once again.

Evidently, “All Stars” 3 is the season of robbed queens. Things took a turn after frontrunner BenDeLaCreme’s famous self-elimination. Given the track record, it was safe to say Shangela was the new frontrunner for the crown. While allegations have since painted things in a new light, people were rooting for the queen back then. When Shangela made it to the final four, it seemed the stars were aligning. Then, RuPaul pulled out the jury twist. The eliminated queens chose the finalists, voting Kennedy Davenport and Trixie Mattel as the top 2. This left Shangela standing there, looking mad in a lipsync look that probably held a tearaway reveal. And it was all for an ill-conceived attempt to inject a last-minute plot twist into the story.

From the jump, this Chicago queen came in ready to showcase her political drag, and she could’ve gone far. She even won the second main challenge of the season. However, her admirable insistence that she wasn’t going to let herself become an outdated and racist reality TV archetype was challenged at every turn, even by RuPaul. The Vixen might’ve ruffled some feathers, but once she ended up being branded as the season’s problem contestant, she stopped being a legitimate contender. Unfortunately, her frustration with the competition wasn’t exactly taken seriously, and was instead essentially used to craft character building moments for contestants like Asia O’Hara and Eureka.

She arrived in the workroom with a BFA and a dream. RuPaul happily shattered the latter. Jan’s repeated safe placement practically became an exercise in systematic psychological torture. Okay, we’re exaggerating, but still! The eager, bright-eyed New York queen knew that she’d get her chance to shine in the Rusical episode. When she was yet again declared safe instead of the winner, her salty expression launched a thousand memes. The fact that this was the same episode in which her best friend in the competition, Brita, was sent home, made for some particularly shady storytelling. Yes, it was funny, but there was something depressing about watching her miss the mark when she wanted it so bad. However, it must be said: the memes are everything.

So we meet again, “All Stars” 3. Most of fashion clown Thorgy Thor’s season 8 run seemed to consist of unrelenting jealousy of Bob the Drag Queen, the eventual winner, despite the two being longtime friends. But things got even worse on “All Stars” 3. Even a casual viewer could see that the material she was given for the “Divas Lip Sync Live” challenge was not up to par with the rest of the group. That would be enough, but the entire episode is such overkill, with the constant disapproving looks from the judges, unflattering shots, and footage of her questioning the role. You really have to wonder if it was just Frankensteined together to fit a preconceived storyline. But again, the memes are classic.

In the pantheon of queens done dirty by specific storyline needs, season 7’s Max stands out. The quirky and artistic queen started out strong, only to crash and burn mid-season. Her reluctance to change her wig color and dismal Snatch Game performance sealed her fate. But rather than just let her fade away, the show made her exit seem completely unhinged. After standing during deliberation, the pressure and tight corset got to her and she asked for a break. RuPaul asked her to sing something while they waited to get going. That segment of her performance was edited in without context, presumably to make her look bad. A simple “sashay away” would have gotten the point across.

Which of these queens were done dirtiest by their edits? Let us know in the comments.