Does Age Matter on Drag Race?
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- Опубліковано 31 сер 2021
- In today's video, we discuss everything there is about age on Drag Race. Do younger queens have an advantage on the show? Who is our oldest winner? And what age does the best on Drag Race? I took a lot at all of the data and solved the mystery behind all of these questions, and more!
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Baby, as a researcher myself, one of the most important things we must know is: the lack of data is data in itself. The lack of older queens in itself shows a negative bias against them.
But we don't know how many queens of each age are actually auditioning every season. Not saying that I don't believe casting has an age bias based on the criteria he mentioned, but it's a little questionable empirically to assume that fewer older queens cast equals lower chances to be cast when you're older.
In general there are less older queens. A lot of people start doing drag in college and stop in their 30s
Sadly, HIV has taken many older queens from us. On a more practical level, my 56 year old hips and knees can barely get me off the sofa these days. All those years of turning it out can take a number on your joints even if you are in otherwise amazing health.
@@LuckyBadger yeah queens around the age of 50-60 would be affected by the crisis and I think that should be included somehow in this data
i think it doesn't matter when you know modern references but "older" things that will make Ru laugh. Symone is an example. Jaymes Mansfield as well, she's a young queen but she knows a lot about the 60s and 70s pop culture
It's a shame poor Jaymes didn't get to shine like she deserved because of shyness I think. I can't blame her tho, there were so many huge forces in that season.
@@pamelasouza7867 she would’ve been in the top for challenge 2 (princess design). That cheerleading challenge fucked her over
@@pamelasouza7867 She's proven after the show that going home first didn't mean a damn thing for her lol
I had NO IDEA Peppermint was 37… she’s ageless…
IKR? I was shook!
Wth
Lol 37 isn’t old
@@robertjohannessen2796 No, of course not (I wish I was 37!). She just looks about ten years younger to me. YMMV
I think she looks older. She looks like a middle aged woman, 45 at least.
The problem with age in drag race is that as younger queens appear, they’re praised for being young and knowing how to dress or being ‘stars’ where as older queens are actively told how they’re old and it’s not a positive thing. Or if it is, it’s only because they’re supposed to be humorous. They’re not considered beautiful or fashionable despite in many regards being much better dressed or being talented enough to design their own garments. They’re treated as if their age is a problem to overcome whereas younger queens are seen as stars simply for being young.
It's because producers are ghastly cretins who don't think twice about being ageist, misogynist, racist, homophobic, or back stabbing if doing so makes them money and betters their lot in Hollywood. They are absolute sickos who would throw their own mothers under the bus for a chance at success.
I’d say age matters on drag race if you aren’t pandering to Ru’s taste in drag or a young but not too young to not get the references that Ru often references. Queens like Kasha and Tempest were queens that got shafted for not being the young archetype they wanted to push and Aja and Other younger queens/artist get shafted for not knowing older references (even tho they got everything they were talking about right in that ball challenge) it’s just based on what storylines the producers are pushing positively or negatively for the queens
Yea it varies on each season heavily
Exactly! Talk about the infamous Serena ChaCha bickering of her being 21 on Season 5. Another example that gravitates on the same orbit is Jōta Carajōta from España Season 2.
The fan base is so young now that anyone over the age of 26 is considered old. I personally like the older queens as they're a little more mature, confident and seasoned and they've really grown into their art.
lets take into account that the youngest judge is the hilarious ross mathews at 41 years of age. if the queens' average age is, say, 30, thats still around 10-20 years of an age gap between the judging panel n the contestants
so ofc some references will be not understood, but on both parts. n tbh, if some queens could learn about old hollywood n the 70s the judges could also bother n try to understand memes. just saying
I like the older queens too. I usually find them more interesting than the baby queens.
@@waddledeedeee I appreciate any queen regardless of age.
It’s not as if the 20 something queens have a monopoly on style.
I think they purposely choose older queens who do more ‘old school’ drag to demean older drag queens.
I’ve seen queens in the their 50’s and even older that’d would give Aquaria and Violet Chacki a challenge in the modern art style looks!!!
Also there’s many shock queens over 50!
That’s just Hollywood in general though
That's crazy that in 13 seasons we only had 5 queens over 40
After how they treated Tempest/Kasha on S7, I bet it they didn't even wanted to try that much
Drag race Holland has 5 queens at or over 40 in one season just saying.
No one watches Holland
@@henrylopes8324 that's why they got a 2nd season
@@henrylopes8324 the second is 1000 times better then the first
We know the real reason all stars wasn’t included cause Chad Michaels skews the data. She was about to die and Ru wanted her to go happy
Lol, Insert Chad's laugh xD
*Me, being a 31 year old Australian who has never even done drag before.
Me: well, looks like I'm never winning drag race USA.
Olivia got on with only 2 years of drag. There's always time
@@RNCHFND that is the most inspiring thing I've read all day. Thank you ❤️❤️❤️
maybe next season of down under lol
I’m 42 and have never done drag either, but I think I could win 😂😂
Unfortunately answer is yes. Since drag race has mainly young public they will push younger queens for sure.
I always felt like older queens are at a disadvantage because there’s no way they could compete in dance challenges or the top 4 dance and rap challenge in a way that a younger queen could
Truth. Arthritis is a bitch, especially for people who have spent their careers doing very athletic entertainment. If I tried any of that stuff now, I'd break a hip!
I have to wonder if maybe not a lot of older queens are really applying to be on drag race? It seems like the vast majority of queens in general out there are in their 20's and early 30's with the rise of Drag Race in pop culture, and they seem more willing to sign the infamous Drag Race contract to be on the show compared to older queens who might already be more established and may not think they need Drag Race.
I also think that the kind of drag that is demanded on drag race (in short: You have to be able to deliver high energy lip syncs) isn't very easy to deliver as someone who is older.
There is a reason why many dancers look for an other job when they get older.
Older queens just stop performing at bars and focus on other stuff they know. Production, wig, costumes, etc
True, Drag Race has popularized the art so there are a lot more teens and twenty somethings going into drag now than there were 20-30 year ago.
Tamisha’s “ The lady said go home!” Is still one of my favorite drag race moments ever. And I loved Tempest Dejior. We need more older queens.
Edit: Apparently I misspelled Tempest Dujour name. My apologies.
Obviously you didn’t like Tempest, because you don’t even know her name.
My apologies for misspelling her name. No I don’t follow every queen I enjoyed from drag race super close, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy them.
Tempest should be on All Stars imo
@@mandik2050 girl, it's fine, they're just toxic
Tyra was technically the youngest winner since the production didn't know about Tati. So three times did the youngest ones won: Tyra, Violet and Aquaria.
Sorry but no
No
Still, they knew Tati was younger. They even say it in the season, Tatianna says something like "this bitch thinks she's years ahead of me, BITCH calm down, i'm 2 months younger than you"
At the time I was convinced ageism was the reason Joe Black was eliminated first on UK2. According to production, she was at the beginning of her 30s but her demeanor and look made her look 50, so I assumed they pidgeonholed her into the "old queen who gets eliminated early" role.
Thank you for pointing this out! We cant even tell if there's a bias in judging because there's already a HUGE one is casting
I do think that many "older" queens that made a name for themselves the old fashioned way don't even bother to audition. I guess some of them fear it will tarnish their reputation if they go home first Joe Black style.
I also do think that it's not just how old they are, but also how they look. To put a recent example, Kylie Sonique Love is older than Ginger, but I think that Kylie resonates more with a younger audience because her drag style feels more fresh and modern.
Awesome video!
I think another great video topic would be to discuss the optics of the show and how "new" and "groundbreaking" and "never seen before" has shifted to only refer to young skinny white queens.
The trailblazers in the early season who changed the perception of drag and what drag could mean were queens like Ongina, Raja, Nina Flowers, Yara ,Manila etc. After Sharon introduced "spooky" alternative drag - we've only ever seen young skinny, white queens get praised and recognised as a "trailblazer" (see: Detox, Violet, Milk, Sasha, Aquaria, Gottmik, Gigi Goode etc)
Notable exceptions include: Yvie Oddly
I’d say Crystal Method belongs in that camp too, she wasn’t consistantly praised on the show but was definitely told her drag was pretty original and new.
Gigi Goode didn't do ANYTHING new. Crystal was the most creative being on that season
Darienne not being back for AS really says something huh
Boy do I have news for you
@@GEN.L 😂😂
I mean, the last time an older queen won was on season 6. Most of the other winners were in their 20s or early 30s. There's your answer right there.
Bianca also won before lipsyncing in the final four was became the norm.
I have a soft spot for older queens because I think they tend to have more finalised personas and know exactly what kind of performers they are. The older queens that got knocked out first left a lasting impression on me.
charlie rly brought the average age all the way up for season 9 💀
and the fact some of the fans will call 38 year old queens old? like ma'am that's not how it works
Apparently drag queens age like pets after 21. I guess that's why everyone was floored to see Tamisha Iman and Charlie Hides compete instead of being put to sleep. Smh!
One day they’re going to be in their late thirties and forties. Let’s see how they like hearing things like that then.
*_THERE'S ALWAYS TIME FOR A COCKTAIL!_*
There’s always time for Mrs. Kasha Davis!
The thing about references, didn't Trixie Mattel said they were given a list of things to watch before filming, or was that for All Stars contestants only? Like the "how's your head reference" I didn't even know what it was until I saw it too many times to not google. But most queens seem to get it despite any queens in the 20s wasn't even born when that was a thing.
i don't know if trixie has said elsewhere that they were given a list of things to watch, but on her podcast with katya i think she was specifically referring to the 'my best squirrelfriend's dragsmaids wedding trip' challenge. i believe that they let them watch the films they referenced in that acting challenge over the weekend in the hotel before they filmed the challenge.
@loveutill theendoftimes im 24 and I've only ever heard this joke from Drag Race 🤷♀️
@@darchocla ok you probably don't listen when people aren't talking directly to you
@@TheNickleChick how's your head?
I think a good metric would be this: look at tha average age o the season as a whole and than the average age of the top4 or top5. I imagine that the age of the top will always be younger.
I don't think age matters in terms of their performance but obviously production would never crown a queen like Tempest because she is on the older side
I think another interesting approach to find out, if age matters on drag race or not, would be to look at how the challenge wins are scattered over the age range. Has any of the 40+ queens any main challenge wins? I don't think. And even though Darienne made it far in her season, she had to lip-sync several times.
season 2 was like:
Tatiana: I’m 20 and -
Everyone: YOURE 20?! …
…
YOURE 20?!
As I click on this video, I thought of Tamesha telling Kandy “Listen lil gurrrl” 😅😂
Honestly I’d love to see a season full of older queens with only a few young queens.
i think both mrs kasha davis and tamisha iman were robbed. not of winning the season, just higher places in general.
There is a reason they don't cast older queens. Life has already forged them into something too strong/secure to easily exploit. They had to do drag before it was popularized and don't take shit from anyone - least of all productions shit.
Maybe, but also drag race takes a lot of energy. Older queens are more prone to injury from the challenges that get physical.
@@demeliou3844 there's a lot of things young queens are more often bad at, such as acting, comedy, and sewing. i don't think not being able to do a backflip into a split is what keeps the older queens down.
I'm shocked that there have only been 5 queens aged over 40 and only one aged over 50!!!
Wait what queen was over 50😭
Oh wait, watched the video now
@@jaidaa charlie i think 😭😭
@@jaidaa yeaah BAGSHS
@@isa-ti6og Yes. Charlie Hides was 52 I think.
I'd be really interested to hear this data about the international seasons where the queens cast are even younger. I mean on UK season 3 there's already two 19 year olds.
That's what I was thinking. There are also two really young queens on the 2nd season of Holland, and they went on in the first two episodes
What do you mean we don't have older queen representation? There has been a queen over 40 on every single episode of Drag Race. Ru Paul. She's 60.
that just makes him a hypocrite tbh.
Love how the age 32 queens who got 5th place all followed eachother in terms of seasons. s7 s8 and s9
09:29 LMAO the picture you chose of Jasmine
I love how you work so hard for your videos! Your videos are also so calm and i love em!
I think you should have used the median, since it would have given you the center of the actual contestants without getting pulled too much in one direction or another by extreme data points. Charlie Hides’ age would have had a very big pull on the average, even if all the other contestants were younger than the average season.
I’m so glad somebody else pointed this out! Yay statistics!
right? i was literally thinking this throughout the whole video! academics use medians rather than means in their research for a reason
Age is a factor in every form of entertainment. This society is built to despise the elderly. So to answer your question…yes it matters.
this is an outstanding video! So interesting, and love the additive fun facts at the end haha
Without watching yet: yes
I think age matters too much in the fandom. I heard some hater say that Kylie is favored because she is young and skinny, (stan her, admit she did great) but she is literally the oldest in the top 5, which are all close in age anyways, lol. The fact that WOW casting anyone 40 and up is rare speaks volumes to the fandoms mentality. I have even heard people say that queens like Raja, Pandora or Chad are too old to preform, wtf.
Love this and all your content! Have you ever considered scaling placements between seasons with different numbers of queens so that you can more easily compare placements?
Not gonna lie, I always do a little bop when the intro music comes on! Love this channel!!
I noticed that a lot of the Holland S2 queens are older? 4 of the total 10 are 40 or older. Holland S1 didn't have a single queen over 40 though.
i think the exercise-oriented challenges are the ones that scare older queens off; after watching charlie hides in s9 (still the oldest competitor to date) and that cheerleading fiasco, that would surely discourage them from auditioning most likely
I think you are right. ALL aspects of drag should be represented on Drag Race including the old because they are the foundation layers
Yes! There is so much ageism on drag race that fans don't even notice, I mean Pupi showed that it can be done but most times they get swept under the rug even though they perform really well (aka. Kasha and Tamisha). Heck Charlie, the oldest contestant on the show was critiqued because she couldn't give 100% and what is even more ironic is that 4 seasons later Ru performed worse then Charlie in the finale.
Also Tatiana said that her being 20 are jsut rumours, she was 21.
Honestly I'm most shocked that Mimi was 26 and Ginger was in her 20's on season 7. Like when I first saw her I though we finaly got a queen in her 50's on the show.
To be fair, Charlie completely bombed the challenge and deserved to go when she did, especially for doing what she did in the lip sync.
@@handsoaphandsoap I agree, but I was talking about cheerleaders where they expected them to do splits, backbends and all sorts of gymnastics.
@@benjamintic3653 Okay yeah true, though that challenge was a complete trainwreck in every regard. Don't make inexperienced people do all these dangerous stunts that can take professionals years to perfect.
The viewership of the show is young. Therefore the winners will be someone the majority of the audience can relate to. So, yes…age matters. You’d be a fool to deny it. It’s a television show that gets renewed based on viewership. BAM! *reference intended*
I’m watching season 7 rn (thanks Hulu for finally putting that season on)I think tempest was put in the bottom unfairly, Sasha belle had the worst outfits that episode and probably the only reason they put tempest in the bottom was because of the tempest vs kandy ho story line
I agree. Sasha Belle should have been on the bottom. Her outfit didn’t even fit the challenge.
i would've never known s7 was on hulu until you told me so thank you, i guess it's time to rewatch lol
love your videos !
Drag Race needs Queens who will keep making them money. Queens with TikToks and Instagrams who are fluent in current technology. Older Queens who have just figured out Facebook isn't what they want. But it's what we deserve we deserve to see older Queens who have fought for our legacy and our right to have something like drag race. Its unfortunate but that's the way it is.
The only exception to this I see is suga caine, I don't remember how old she was but she ended up doing better and lasting longer than the producers thought which forced her elimination
She was 40 at the time of filming, and Nina West was 39
I’m pretty sure Raja was 37 when she won drag race
Raja was 36
@@camcantgayme Ah I stand corrected! Idk if I’d say that age matters all that much, because its not like being old excludes you from being able to turn looks or fit into the culture of drag race, I’d be interested to see how many older queens are actually auditioning each year
watches immediately
😂 Ikr. Same. DD videos are my "late night work" podcast xD
Girl so glad I found this channel
Grate video love this idea!! I wonder what the data is to be a winner like how many challenges do They need to win? which ones? how many times do they audition on average there fan support ect ect
I love your content, as a drag race data need these are always facinating.
When analysing how far people got in the competition despite different series length. Could you do percentage of the series they participated in.
It would mean that 1st outs in s8 would have a better score than s13. But in theory less spots on the show already means they did stronger to get on the show
Tatianna said on insta she was actually 21 when she competed on season 2
Yep, she’s born in 87 so she would’ve been 21 when they filmed in 2009 (22nd year, her birthday’s in December)
when i was rewatching season 7, i was absolutely struck by the immediate old queen vs. young queen sort of storyline that was going on, and how immediately most of the older queens went home while most of the younger queens got to stay. at first i didn't like the way the bitter old lady brigade always harped on the younger queens and just sort of hated them for existing, but it makes so much sense now when it did seem like drag race was set up for the older queens to fail and the younger queens to succeed (just based off who was eliminated when, i mean).
RuPaul is 60, but the lack of older queens succeeding or even being casted shows how much rpdr wants to emphasize whatever's considered trendy in drag. and we don't have access to casting metrics, but i'd be willing to bet a lot of queens in their 50s and 60s aren't auditioning because they know they can't keep up with all the trendy things Ru wants to see, or they probably aren't able to do the more physically demanding challenges or lip sync stunts.
RA’JAH O’HARA IS 35???? HOLY SHIT WHAT THE FUCK I FEEL LIKE IM IN A MANDELLA EFFECT I THOUGHT SHE WAS LIKE 23/25
Interesting data. If you have the data in an excel file, then you could also calculate a correlation coefficient, which would tell you the statistical relationship between age and placement.
The same age queens when they competed at the end shook me!
I think this would have made more sense if you did age groups rather than specifics. Love your vids 💕
I think what could be interesting to do is to see how the average age of contestant change inside a same season. Like what's the average age of the remaining queens for each episode as the season goes by?
That could show us if the cast is getting younger or older as queens are eliminated, or if it's getting younger at the beginning of the season, and toward the end, is getting slightly older.
Drag Race Holland Season 2 has 5 queens over or 40. Love Massi, Kita Minaj, Vanessa, Tabitha, My lil Puni. And the countess acts like she's 50 so there you go. It doesn't matter period
I dont even remember an “old” winner, like the only one i can think about is chad Michaels and that wasnt even a normal drag race season
It might be interesting to plot age vs placement for each season to see if there is any correlation … regardless , great video as always
More than it should. Even when older queens win like...Raja was friends with Ru BEFORE her season and Bianca was an obvious winner.
OMG finally a new video!!
A factor that can influence the ratio of young versus old is moldability. It's clear that the judges (and therefore production) wants people who "grows" and constantly does new stuff to keep things fresh. Older queens have the experience to not be as eager to change themselves according to the production's wishes and have brands they have spent years creating. This makes it harder for the production to create the storylines they want with the clips they have.
In the 40s catagory you missed vivacious and shuga
And Shuga Cain is a great example of an older queen competing well but clearly sent home when it was decided to be "her time."
they did mention them?
Great Video!!!!
The entire all stars 6 cast was like 30+ except Jan, Silky and Serena
I want a season with older queens ❤️❤️❤️
A key thing to find out is how many people of each age group are actually auditioning? If it'd a 80/20 split to younger that will be more young people on drag race. Additionally some of the more physical challenges are not suitable for older contents. And Charlie hide did just give up so I dont even know if she should count. Older queens will also be more comfortable with themselves and less obsessed with appearing on TV
I think to help account for the fact that there are different numbers of queens in different seasons, instead of using their placement (3rd, 4th, 5th), you can use their seasonal percentile rank.
its interesting to me that Darrien was the only older queen to do well because he was also the only one from an older season. I feel like the older seasons (season 7 and older) were less geared towards younger queens compared to the newer ones. The challenges and runway expectations have also changed so much I even wonder if Darrien would have done as well if casted in a later season.
For me, It started shifting on season 7
I think Ru wanted Charlie Hides to go a lot further then she did, especially to get to Snatch Game. If Charlie had let go and been less of a control freak she would have done better.
lets not forget that Charlie had a cracked rib, due to the cheerleading skit. Yet she got shit on because she didn't go all out on her lip sync.
another example of ' it doesn't matter in drag but in drag race maybe or yes '' and that's why we watch drag race for the art and the contestants personalities and not so much the competition and the challenges.
I appreciate any queen regardless of age.
It’s not as if the 20 something queens have a monopoly on style.
I think they purposely choose older queens who do more ‘old school’ drag to demean older drag queens.
I’ve seen queens in the their 50’s and even older that’d would give Aquaria and Violet Chacki a challenge in the modern art style looks!!!
Also there’s many shock queens over 50!
So I decided to look into the age comparisons of winners and runner-ups, and in the regular 13 seasons the youngest queen won 8 times, the oldest queen won 4 times, and only once did the queen in the middle win (Season 4). All-Stars had two seasons where the youngest queen won, two where the oldest won, and one where the middle queen won (All-Stars 2 as Alaska is only a few months older than Detox). Trinity was the oldest of the top four while Monet was the second youngest. The other seasons RuPaul judged (UK 1 & 2 and DU), the youngest queen won both UK seasons and the oldest won DU. Then for the other international versions, the youngest queen won three times, the oldest won three times, and twice the middle queen won. So while being younger seems to help in the original version of the show, it doesn't seem to have any bearing in other iterations.
Of course!
I am 126 and am going to audition for season 15, please pray I make it ♥️💕
maybe you should considered the placement from 1 (first to leave) to the number of queens in the competition. that mean instead of considering that porkchop was 9th, it was actually 1st to leave.
like this your average placement will become the average of the number of episode you are on and the number of queen in the season will have a different impact on your stats. Also it make every season placement equal (every first queen eliminated will have the placement 1 etc ...)
also the fact that Charlie Hides is the oldest competitor, yet she can turn out a look just as well as the younger queens, so
These would both be WAY too much to do, but I would be interested to see average age per episode (how does the age of the final 4 compare to the full cast in each season kind of thing) and screen time by age. Again, INSANE amount of work to do that, but it would start to show how the show approaches 20-something queens vs. 30-something queens
Shoulda broken it down into the same age groups the advertisers use - basically decades 18-24, 25-34, 35-44, 45+
Miss Fame and Ginger are the same age?? Miss Fame looked early-to-mid-20s meanwhile Ginger looked like she was in her early 40s
I honestly believe the show doesn't like a lot of older queens. Personally i get sick of all the heavy dancing and young queens filling up the roster. You don't have to be a dancer to be a good performing drag queen. They focus way too much on the dancing during the LSFYL and not the acting and story telling. Like why do they pick soooo many top 40 songs ?! I loved when they did songs like "no business like show business" and Judy Garland "come rain or shine". I wish they would pick songs from different eras and not always 80s, 90s and today.
That’s a good valid point…. 🧐
The picture of Jasmine Masters kills me every time.
like yeah i get this, but i also feel like the older queens are less likely to do anything risky because of their age and the thinking of "well I've been doing it for 20 years and this is whats worked" like some of my personal favorite queens are ones like Kim Chi, Gottmik Crystal Methyd and Yvie Oddly; who obviously aren't the youngest. But are still willing to do more visually interesting and unconventional styles of drag instead of more traditional pageant drag.
A possibly could be that older queens don't audition as much as the younger ones do.
Shoulda done total queens/placement to account for the varying number of queens in each season for more valid stats.
What a way to end on ginger and miss fame 😂 I know exactly what u were doing lol
girl I didn't recognize coco on that photo
i thought shuga cain was 42 on drag race? where is she?
She was 40 i think.
I love Older queens they can have so much to offer.
On top of production not wanting to cast older. i believe most older queens who are still active don't bother submitting to the show, because they're already established and don't see the benefit of going on the show, cancelling gigs and giving wow a cut of their profit and likeness. Not to mention producers potentially making you the villain and ruining your reputation, especially since older queens will likely not take shit and be so easily manipulated by the producers into doing storylines they might not be prepared for.
Plus the show has gotten very physically demanding. The dance challenges and lipsyncs comes with unique challenges when you're at that age.
Also older queens don't tend to have as large of a social media presence as early 20 something content creators, which the IG, UA-cam, Twitter and TikTok algorithm favors. Which I assume production considers as a queen with a big following means more potential watchers and people to squeeze money out of at drag con. As the demographic will spend more money on the show compared the millennials or older leaning demographics.