RuPaul's Drag Race - Season 18 ⁞⁞ Reality TV Spotlight

The award-winning reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race is back for Season 18 on MTV. Creator and host RuPaul returned, welcoming fourteen new drag queens, looking to make their mark on the competition, impress RuPaul, and become America's next drag superstar. From queens within the same drag family, to queens from the same state, several competitors enter the competition with some shared backstory, as they compete against one another to win the crown and the cash prize of $200,000. The premiere was themed around renewal, rejoicing and bringing light into a dark world. The fourteen queens were introduced in a dark room, and after getting the lights back on, they competed in a scream-themed mini challenge before RuPaul revealed a twist. 

The first main challenge would not be the traditional talent show utilized in previous years. Instead, the queens were tasked with a sewing challenge, as they were presented with unconventional materials from past seasons which they would need to use to create runway looks that illustrated their signature drag style. The queens were joined on the runway by special guest judge Cardi B who brought some spotlight to the trans members of her style team, Tokyo Stylez and Erika La'Pearl After presenting their creations on the main stage, and receiving the judges' critiques, it was revealed that no one would be eliminated during the first week, leaving the season's first top two performers, Nini Coco and Vita VonTesse Starr, to lip sync for the first win of Season 18.