18 Seasons of Excellence: RuPaul’s Drag Race Earns 88 Emmy Nominations

To celebrate its most recent slew of Emmy nominations, executive producer Natalia James, co-executive producer John Polly, production designer Jen Chu, choreographer Jamal Sims, and Season 18 winner Myki Meeks joined Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio to discuss how the show consistently hits the mark each year with critics and award voters alike.

With a total of 88 Emmy nominations and 29 wins under its belt, RuPaul’s Drag Race has proven itself to be a force to be reckoned with in the world of television. The show’s success can be attributed to its unique blend of drag culture, competition, and entertainment, which has captivated audiences for 18 seasons.

‘It starts with the queens,’ said James, whose work extends across RuPaul’s Drag Race, RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked, and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. ‘To me, there’s no other show that has drag queens that have as much personality as ours do. There’s heart. There’s comedy. There’s emotion. There’s queer story.’

Polly credits the ‘raw talent’ each season for making the show as successful as it has been. ‘It’s the raw talent that just needs a showcase, and we’re lucky enough to be able to put these amazing artists on TV and let them do what they do,’ he said. ‘We have RuPaul – who is the most fantastic host, guide, and sort of spiritual guru – leading the whole team. But yes, it’s the queens, their talent, and love of drag – it’s their exuberance, spunk, and fight because it’s competition they want to win, which comes across.’

Myki Meeks, the Season 18 winner, shared her own experiences on the show. ‘The experience was a roller coaster start to finish,’ she said. ‘I always say I was a big fish in a small pond in my local scene, and I entered a full sea of whales, OK? I mean, look at the girls.’

‘It’s a pressure cooker,’ she continued. ‘You get there, and you start questioning, like, ‘Wow, what is it that I really do if you’re not 100% secure in it?’ It was the trials of the show, and constantly going 100% the entire time. It turned out to be for the better. I have even said that when we all came back together in the last episode, the queens who entered the workroom are not the queens that are leaving. I feel way more secure with what I do. I’m a much stronger performer than before, and that’s just now. Five years from now, who knows what’s going to happen.’

Jamal Sims, the choreographer, worked closely with Myki on her finale number. ‘Again, it starts with the queens,’ he said. ‘Myki had a clear idea of what she wanted, which is always helpful because not every queen comes with a clear idea. Sometimes I’m kind of fishing around, ‘And what do you think about…?’ Myki [for the finale] was like, ‘I know the song, and I know what I want to do.’ So that made my job a lot easier.’

Each week, the queens face off in unique challenges. Myki touts her favorite week was Snatch Game of Love: Island, which aired in February. With guest judge Brooke Shields in the house, the queens played the celebrity-impersonation competition with a twist. Myki dressed up as Drew Barrymore. ‘My favorite set from the season was Snatch Game of Love Island, which shows how the show is always up to date with pop culture references and not afraid to play with what people are talking about nowadays,’ she said. ‘I think that’s kind of drag too. When we’re at our local shows, we’re creating mixes based on what’s popular now, or just pop culture moments.’

Jen Chu, the production designer, added, ‘Obviously, we have some favorite colors on the show that pop like crazy on white. So it was everything we love together, and it turned out perfect. We love sparkly; we love hot pink and orange. It was nice to have an intense contrast and so much eye candy in that particular show.’

‘It’s so funny because you don’t know this about us, but we watch you all on the monitor,’ Chu said to Myki. ‘My team works 12 hours a day, and they work really hard. We’re all there long hours, and it’s really hot in the Valley. But whenever we watch the monitors, you girls are working so hard. It’s crazy. We know that we cannot complain because look at these girls; they didn’t know these songs, they had never done this dance before, and they had been up for 14 hours.’