The Drag Makeover Challenge is a recurring main challenge featured on RuPaul's Drag Race where the contestants are tasked with giving a "drag makeover" to another person who's brought into the episode as a guest. Many vastly different types of groups of people were made over throughout the seasons, mostly including "masculine" men and women in early seasons (S1-S6), and famous people, "conventionally feminine" women, eliminated queens and contestants' family members in later seasons (S7-). It is often considered to be one of the most difficult challenges since contestants have to teach "regular" people to act and look like drag queens, as well as to emulate the queens' energy and brand on the main stage. The judges are usually looking for "drag family resemblance" meaning that the contestant and their pair have to look alike.
Challenge's Timeline
| Show | Season | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | |
| US | ||||||||||||||
| AS | ||||||||||||||
| DRT | ||||||||||||||
| UK | ||||||||||||||
| CDR | ||||||||||||||
| DRH | ||||||||||||||
| DRDU | ||||||||||||||
| DRES | ||||||||||||||
| DRIT | ||||||||||||||
- █ The challenge never appeared in the season.
- █ The challenge appeared in the season once.
- █ The challenge appeared in the season twice.
Drag Race Franchise
RuPaul's Drag Race
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars
The Switch
Drag Race
Drag Race
Drag Race
Thailand
Thailand
RuPaul's Drag Race UK
Canada's
Drag Race
Drag Race
Drag Race
Holland
Holland
RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under
Drag Race
España
España
Drag Race
Italia
Italia
Other Series
House of Drag
La Más Draga
Love For The Arts
Overview
| Season | Makeover Challenge Type | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| RuPaul's Drag Race | |||
| 1 | Give drag makeover to masculine women[1] | ||
| 2 | Turn elderly gay men into drag mothers. | ||
| 3 | Give drag makeover to athletic manly jocks. | ||
| 4 | Give drag makeover to manly fathers. | ||
| AS1 | Give drag makeover to celebrities to form drag girl groups. | ||
| 5 | Give drag makeover to military gay men. | ||
| 6 | Turn a male pair of a heterosexual couple into a bride to attend their wedding as their drag mother. | ||
| 7 | Give drag makeover to eliminated queens and bring the winning team's eliminated queen back into the competition. | ||
| 8 | Give drag makeover to the stars of Little Women: LA in a "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" theme. | ||
| AS2 | Give drag makeover to contestants' family members. | ||
| 9 | Turn members of the show's filming crew into drag sisters. | ||
| 10 | Give drag makeover to male social media influencers. | ||
| AS4 | Give drag makeover to contestants' best 'Judys' whether that be their best friend, partner or husband. | ||
| 11 | Give drag makeover to eliminated queens[2] | ||
| 12 | Give drag makeover to Drag Race super-fans. | ||
| 13 | Pair up and make over your fellow contestant in your mirror image. | ||
| Drag Race Thailand | |||
| S1 | Paired with one of the eliminated queens, present a conjoined twins look.[2] | ||
| S2 | Ep.4 | Turn a male pair of a heterosexual couple into a bride to attend their wedding as their drag mother. | |
| Ep.10 | Give superhero-inspired drag makeover to contestants' family members. | ||
| RuPaul's Drag Race UK | |||
| S1 | Give drag makeover to contestants' family members. | ||
| Canada's Drag Race | |||
| S1 | Makeover Rainbow Railroad refugee newcomers. | ||
| S2 | Give makeover to teenagers. | ||
| Drag Race Holland | |||
| S1 | Give a drag makeover to contestants' friends or family members. | ||
| S2 | |||
| RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under | |||
| S1 | Makeover and raise their very own Drag family members, out of gay rugby players. | ||
| Drag Race España | |||
| S1 | Makeover members of inclusive rugby club Madrid Titanes. | ||
| S2 | Makeover members of 26th of December foundation, benefitting old queer people. | ||
| Drag Race Italia | |||
| S1 | Makeover themselves into brides and their loved ones into their best women. | ||
| House of Drag | |||
| S2 | Drag up a client and initiate them into your Drag Family. | ||
| La Más Draga | |||
| S3 | Makeover internet celebrities into "buchonas", the archetype of a rich, opulent and luxurious girlfriend of a narcotrafficker. | ||
| S4 | Makeover women into "cholas", the archetype of a member of a Chicano subculture associated with anti-social and criminal behavior and gang activity. | ||
| Love for the Arts | |||
| S1 | The contestants must create a make-up tutorial video and then serve a "7 Deadly Sins" look on the runway. | ||
|
Trivia
- In Season 13, RuPaul said that Makeover is his favorite challenge.
- The Makeover Challenge and the Ball Challenge are the only challenges to be included on every regular season since Season 1.
- However, this tradition was broken in Season 14, which featured no Makeover Challenge.
- In Seasons 3, 4, and 7, this challenge marked the episode where a previously eliminated queen returned to the competition.
- Season 7, Thailand Season 1 and Season 11 had the eliminated queens return as makeover guests.
- In the latter two they however weren't allowed back to compete.
- Coincidentally, the former two had the queens creating conjoined twins as their assigned look.
- All Stars 3, All Stars 5 and All Stars 6 are so far the only seasons of the American series that did not feature a Makeover challenge. Each of these featured a Ball Challenge instead, with an additional Design Challenge on All Stars 6.
- UK Season 2 is the first regular Drag Race season without a Makeover Challenge.
- However, it was later revealed that the Makeover Challenge was cancelled due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and replaced with the COVID Supersheroes Design Challenge.[citation needed]
- All Stars 1, Season 6, All Stars 4, Thailand Season 2, Season 12, Canada 1, Holland 1, Season 13, Down Under 1, España 1 and Holland 2 are the only seasons where the winner of Makeover Challenge also won the season.
- Season 13 is the only regular seasons to have a double win.
- Additionally, Season 13 is the only season where queens walk the runway alone (since every previous season included walking in pairs).
- Season 12 is the first season where no one was eliminated on the Makeover Challenge.
- Naomi Smalls is the first and so far only queen to win two Makeover Challenges.
- With the exception of Miz Cracker and Utica Queen, all Makeover Challenge Winners have made it to the finale.
- Coincidentally, the former two were sent by Kameron Michaels and Ginger Minj respectively, both of whom were in the bottom for the Makeover Challenge but ultimately made it to the Finale.
- Utica was sent home by her double win partner Symone.
- Monét X Change and Kandy Zyanide are the only queens to be eliminated on their first makeover and win their second one, and Manila Luzon is the only queen to win her first makeover and be eliminated on her second.
- Jujubee, Latrice Royale, and Alaska are the only three queens to compete in two Makeover Challenges and be in the bottom in both of them.
- Alaska's Season 5 partner Nebraska Thunderfuck is one of Derrick Barry's partners, and Derrick later helped Nebraska become a professional drag queen.
- Nebraska was mentioned in the premiere of All Stars 5, as her off-screen drama with India Ferrah was brought up by Derrick Barry.
- Nebraska was later featured in two episodes of RuPaul's Drag Race Vegas Revue, with focus on her relationship with Derrick and feud with Naomi Smalls.
- Drag Race Holland Season 1's Ma'Ma Queen is the first and only contestant in the entire franchise to have their father as their pair in the Makeover Challenge.
