content warning: sexual abuse

World of Wonder (the producers of RuPaul’s Drag Race) and VH1 (the network airing the series) have disqualified a contestant from RuPaul’s Drag Race after the majority of the season already filmed. Sherry Pie is no longer eligible to win the competition (if she made it to the finale) and will not even be allowed to attend the finale that is anticipated to be filmed this May.

This is an unprecedented move for the series and one the show did not take lightly. The official decision came out mere hours before the disqualified contestant’s first episode was set to air on Friday, 6 March. RuPaul’s Drag Race did a split premiere this season, meaning half of the contestants competed in one episode and the other half in another before combining on the new episode scheduled to air on 13 March.

Be Safe. The following paragraph details the disqualified contestant’s actions. I will use this heading size again afterwards so you know where it is safe to read again if you wish to avoid more specific details.

The accusations against the disqualified contestant are quite serious and upsetting. They admitted to befriending other performers during productions, then catfishing them with a fake audition notice for a play in NYC. They would assume the identity of a female producer asking the victims to record strange and sexually explicit audition sides. The victims would also have to answer inappropriate character development questions via e-mail. These sides and questions were connected to the disqualified contestant’s fetishes. The exchanges could go on for well over 100 e-mails with no tangible progress toward being cast in a role. They ended when the victims themselves cut off communication. The disqualified contestant allegedly did this for years before being cast on Drag Race and continued the predatory behavior after filming the season over the summer.

A more detailed account, including statements from one of the victims and the contestant’s apology/admission of guilt is available at this link.

The description of the allegations is over. The rest is an opinion piece inspired by my reaction to watching the episode and learning the news.

There are so many layers to what is going on. First and foremost, I have to applaud WOW and VH1 for disqualifying the contestant. Knowing that a predator can no longer profit in a direct way for being skilled as a performer is a welcome change for the entertainment industry. Predators tend to be protected at the expense of anyone not connected enough so as to not rock the boat or create negative publicity. That’s not even going into the levels of predation cooked into the audition process itself, where saying “no” to one inappropriate request can mean fewer opportunities to even audition in the future.

Contestants have been disqualified during or after filming on other reality shows for contract violations or dangerous/potentially criminal behavior on set, but I cannot think of another situation where a contestant is disqualified after filming for prior potentially criminal behavior. Contestants have been eliminated after auditioning for shows like American Idol for contract violations, criminal records, or morality clause reasons, but not after a pre-recorded season already completed filming. The only other disqualification on Drag Race involved a contestant intentionally violating the contract during production of the show so they could leave for another paying job. None of these scenarios compare to the illicit behavior of the disqualified contestant.

Here’s the catch: the Drag Race contestant wasn’t caught before the show cast them. They weren’t caught on background checks because no one reported the activity to the police before. No one filed a lawsuit. There was nothing to connect the contestant to the producer alter ego except the common actor activity of “oh, you should try for this” audition suggestions. Just be aware that trying to speak out on allegations of misconduct connected to an audition can kill a career faster than directly saying “no” at an audition. We don’t know how far this contestant made it on the show, so we don’t know how long they will appear on the season.

On a competition show like RuPaul’s Drag Race, it’s impossible to just edit an entire contestant out of existence. Even if they receive a smaller amount of screentime, they’re still part of an ensemble cast that interacts with each other every day of filming. They are in the work room together. They are in the challenges together. They are on the runway for judging together. They film the spin-off Untucked series together. Even if you took out every talking head interview and cropped as much as you can, they would still be there.

Here, again, is where WOW, VH1, and many of the outlets who report on the show are doing a great job. This disqualified contestant is being edited out of media coverage of the show. Their individual cast poster has been removed from all the official websites and their one-on-one interviews/features on video have been deleted. Unless they have to be discussed, they are being ignored. Both “The Pit Stop” recap series and “Fashion Photo Review” contestant fashion review series have edited the disqualified contestant as much as possible from the discussion. Many other fan and professional outlets are doing the same.

However, this contestant was officially disqualified mere hours before their debut episode was aired. There was no time to reedit the show. It had already gone out around the world in its originally intended form. People who knew what the contestant admitted to had to watch them having the time of their life onscreen while their victims were pouring their hearts out about how the disqualified contestant’s newfound fame was impacting their mental wellness. I struggled to watch an episode of my favorite reality show because my only option to escape the presence of an admitted sexual predator was to stop watching.

No one can anticipate how well anyone can do on a show like RuPaul’s Drag Race. There have been two 21 year olds who won the entire season, never landing in the bottom two, against well-known industry veterans. There have been contestants with years of professional acting experience on stage and screen who go home in the first few weeks. Shoot, one contestant who won the most challenging and prestigious drag competition in America went home first on her season against a contestant with far less experience. Reality TV is its own beast and not everyone is fit to thrive under those conditions.

The split premiere is no guarantee of future success, but the edit is. This disqualified contestant placed in the Top 2 on the first challenge, had many talking head interviews, and clearly played along with the common producer tactic of giving contestants questions to ask each other to spur discussion. If they are used that way for however long they last on the season, they will still receive quite a lot of screentime for someone disqualified for reasons strong enough to merit a giant disclaimer screen at the top of each episode.

Competition shows still have a narrative element. We don’t need to know that a finalist on a singing competition has two kids and rescues special needs cats. That has nothing to do with their talent or the competition. It’s there for story purposes. Reality TV is a TV series genre like any other narrative series. The story is key and that story is crafted by story producers once the show is cast and constantly edited depending on performance. It’s not a coincidence that the eliminated contestant on shows like Drag Race can suddenly have more screentime than ever when they go home.

Casting goes further than that. It is never a coincidence when two or more contestants know each other, for better or worse. They are cast to be on the same season of a show together to play off of that relationship. If one of them flops horribly and the show has no choice but to eliminate them, the other’s pre-existing story arc is over. The savvy contestants take every opportunity they have for more screentime (usually a producer saying “X, go ask Y about their childhood” or “A, go watch B and C have this discussion” or the like) because it gives them more story opportunities. More story options can be the make or break difference between continuing on the show or being eliminated.

We don’t know what the disqualified contestant was like on set or how long they last. We do know they definitely played the game well in the first episode to be noticed by production. How far that takes them is unknown.

There is a slight silver lining to the challenge posed to editing by the disqualification. VH1 posts the first segment of the new episode as a preview on social media each week. This time, the disqualified contestant has nowhere near the screentime they did in their first episode. Even after placing top 2 on the previous episode, no one acknowledges their success unless they have to. They get no crowing talking head interviews about their success on the show. No one mentions their name until the contestants pick their teams gym class style (down the line, one at a time until only one person is left). The reaction to the name being called is far shorter than any other contestant.

Allegedly, part (or all) of episode 3 leaked earlier in the week and did not match what was posted as advertisement on official channels and accounts. The disqualified contestant had at least one (if not more) talking head interviews in that earlier cut, as well as banter with the other contestants. All of that is now gone in the final edit.

It would appear that WOW and VH1 are going to make edits to the show to minimize the disqualified contestant’s presence. This is not an inexpensive undertaking. Imagine having to hire people to quickly reedit an hour long series that most likely started editing in August, around the time the series finished filming. They could literally have spent weeks perfecting each episode and now have days to rework the show.

It is more than I could have hoped for. The worst case scenario would have been cancelling the season entirely, which would have destroyed the careers of 12 other contestants who did not prey on other performers. The next scenario is what happened episode 2, which was no changes made to the edit because there wasn’t enough time. I can only hope that the show is being reedited to minimize the presence of an admitted sexual predator. Their victims aren’t the only people who suffer from seeing someone like that thrive on a national platform.

My last thoughts on this are quite simple. If you do not feel safe watching the new season of Drag Race because of the disqualified contestant, don’t. You take the time and the space you need to feel well in this world. Put yourself first and seek help if you feel you need it. You are not obligated to watch and engage with anything that cause you harm. Be safe and take care of yourself.