RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 5 guest judges and lip sync shake-up revealed
Ricky Martin, Tessa Thompson and Bebe Rexha are set to strut down the RuPaul runway
Well hello, hello, hello, those looking for RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars tea. The drag queen competition has just Ru-vealed guest judges for its fifth season – plus an intriguing lip-sync twist.
Alongside Ricky ‘La Vida Loca’ Martin, joining head judge RuPaul on the main stage will be *deep breath* Thor star Tessa Thompson, 30 Rock’s Jane Krakowski, Nailed It!’s Nicole Byer, singer Bebe Rexha, Unreal actor Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman, Veep’s Sam Richardson, pop star Madison Beer, Modern Family’s Sarah Hyland, interior designer Martyn Lawrence Bullard, 13 Reasons Why’s Tommy Dorfman and Drag Race choreographer Todrick Hall.
Fans can expect Martin to sit on the panel next to RuPaul and regular Michelle Visage in the season premiere, which will see all-star queens from seasons past hit the runway for a Werq the World variety extravaganza.
What about that lip-sync surprise? As RuPaul will announce in the first episode, normal All Stars lip-sync rules have been suspended. Rather than two queens competing for the week’s win in a lip-sync battle, RuPaul will only pick one contestant to perform.
The chosen queen will have to battle a mysterious lip-sync assassin from Drag Race “herstory” for a $10,000 tip and power to eliminate the bottom queen of her choice. If the lip sync assassin wins? A bottom queen selected from a secret group vote will be forced to sashay away, the prize money rolled over until the next challenge win.
As previously unveiled, 10 queens are set to compete for a spot in the coveted Drag Race Hall of Fame and a grand prize of $100,000. The contestants are…
- Alexis Mateo (season 3, All Stars 1)
- Blair St. Clair (season 10)
- Derrick Barry (season eight)
- India Ferrah (season three)
- Jujubee (season 2, All Stars 1)
- Mariah Paris Balenciaga (season three)
- Mayhem Miller (season 10)
- Miz Cracker (Season 10)
- Ongina (season one)
- Shea Couleé (season nine)
UK fans can watch All Stars 5 on Netflix, with new episodes available on 6th June (the day after the US premiere).
Meanwhile, the coronavirus lockdown has interfered with the filming of the RuPaul Drag Race US season 12 two-part finale. Although the episodes will air as scheduled – a reunion episode on 22nd May 2020, followed by the final on 29th May 2020 –both were filmed in social isolation.
Sources say this year’s finale uses ‘innovative technology that highlights the creativity of the queens’, while the reunion episode has been described as a ‘virtual slumber party’ (which we’re guessing means a gigantic zoom call).
Season 12 of RuPaul’s Drag Race is available on Netflix now. You can also check out the best Netflix series and best Netflix movies to keep you entertained or visit to our TV guide for more to watch.
