RuPaul’s Drag Race | Blog

The Winners of Drag Race are the finalists crowned at the finale after surviving elimination throughout the competition. Typically, they are granted a crown and scepter alongside the prize from winning the show. Since BeBe Zahara Benet‘s crowning on the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, 78 different drag performers in total have been crowned winners, with the most recent being Brigiding on the first season of Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale, crowned on October 15, 2025.

Since the first season of the original American series, the format in which winners are crowned has varied greatly across the show’s lifespan. The first three seasons featured the finalists competing in a Music Video Challenge where a finalist would get eliminated, leaving a top two to Lip Sync for the Crown. Starting from the fourth season onwards, a live finale would take place with no Maxi Challenge would take place until the seventh season where the contestants had to choreograph individual live performances. Seasons 9 to 13 (except Season 12), would continue to introduce the Lip Sync for the Crown tournament, where the top four would compete in a lip sync bracket to determine the winner. Eventually, individual live performances returned starting from the fourteenth season where finalists would get eliminated, leaving once again a top two to Lip Sync for the Crown.