Culture

Virtual viewing parties make latest RuPaul’s Drag Race episode the most watched in years

Mar 27 2020
Written by Emma Powys Maurice

Meet the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12. (VH1)

Virtual viewing parties for RuPaul’s Drag Race made the latest episode the highest rated in two years, the show has reported.

As everyone knows, RuPaul’s Drag Race is best enjoyed with friends, and in the days before coronavirus (remember those?) fans gathered at pubs and bars to watch their favourite queens battle it out to become the next drag superstar.

Social distancing has made that tough, but the RuPaul fandom aren’t the type to let a mere pandemic get in the way of their favourite show.

Last week, fans across the globe united from afar to watch the latest episode together, and massively boosted the show’s ratings in the process.

According to Deadline, the show posted a season-high in ratings with a 0.6 in the demographic, making it the highest Live+SD ratings for the franchise since the season 10 finale when Aquaria took the crown.

The 12th season of Drag Race was also the top cable program with the adults 18-34 demographic in its time slot.

On top of all that, Friday night’s episode was the number one most social TV series of the night, excluding sports and news. In addition, the Drag Race behind-the-scenes show Untucked earned a season-high rating of 0.46 in the demographic.

Fans shared pictures of their viewing parties online, encouraging others in the community to do the same.

Friday night therapy with my favourite local drag queens hosting a virtual #DragRace viewing party ??

What’re you doing to recharge while #SocialDistancing? pic.twitter.com/gfuzC4UksB

— ?Samantha Yammine, PhD (aka Science Sam) (@heysciencesam) March 21, 2020

This is how we have Drag Race watch parties now. I don’t make the rules pic.twitter.com/hUn60phCeM
— anastasia beaverhausen (@Capta1nCam) March 21, 2020