RuPaul's Drag Race, Season 13 Is Off to a Lousy Start

After watching the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race, Season 13, I felt moved to write the following email to the production company, World of Wonder.

Hello,

I watched your Meet the Queens video on YouTube and was excited by what a great lineup you have this year. A transgender man, a natural-hair queen and a figure skater are among this fabulous bunch of talented, fascinating contestants.

So it was all the more disappointing to see them treated with contempt on the very first episode—indeed, on the very first DAY. Six lip-synchs in a row (you know, I have nothing against lip-synchs, but they're not the only thing I want to see!), RuPaul made some pretty random-looking decisions, and seven beautiful, brilliant queens were herded into something called "The Pork Chop Docking Bay," as if they were property rather than people.

Then they were told they must choose one queen to eliminate. They rightly protested that they can't reasonably do that. They don't know each other. Just as RuPaul doesn't know them yet, and had little to no basis to put them in the "docking bay."

It was dehumanizing, insulting and disgusting—to the current queens, and to the eponymous Pork Chop. And it didn't make for great TV either. It was repetitive and tedious.

One of the things I've enjoyed about RuPaul's Drag Race in the past is what sets it apart from most reality TV shows. It's not like Fear Factor, Big Brother or Wipe Out (usually). It's not primarily about pitting people against each other and watching the fur fly. It's about watching the queens being creative, improving their craft, coming to terms with difficult aspects of their past and forging relationships despite the competitive aspect.

Watching the latest degradation of the queens, I wonder if you've ever understood what the strength of your show is. Maybe you really think you should be more like Wipe Out or Fear Factor. Maybe you worry that you don't make your contestants eat enough bugs or hate each other enough.

Reality shows don't have to be like this. Watching people get tormented on TV is a kind of cultural sickness. It's a sad substitute for watching people come together in community.

RuPaul's Drag Race has, in the past, provided glimpses into that better type of reality TV show that is possible. I hope those moments aren't all in the past, but the Pork Chop Docking Bay is a very bad sign.