After 18 seasons on the air, RuPaul's Drag Race has received 88 Emmy nominations and 29 wins. Season 18 winner Myki Meeks, along with several producers and crew members, gathered at Deadline's Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio to talk about how the show keeps earning that recognition.
Meeks, who represented Orlando and wore a white gown featuring Florida's signature fruit, oranges, described the competition as a defining experience. "The experience was a roller coaster start to finish. 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," she said, drawing laughter from the panel.
The pressure of the competition pushed her in ways she did not expect. "It's a pressure cooker," she said. "You get there, and you start questioning, like, 'Wow, what is it that I really do if you're not 100% secure in it?'" She added that by the time filming wrapped, the contestants had transformed. "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."
Executive producer Natalia James, whose credits span Drag Race, Untucked, and All Stars, credited the cast as the show's foundation. "It starts with the queens," she said. "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."
Co-executive producer John Polly, who has been with the show since 2013, pointed to the role of RuPaul in keeping the series grounded. "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 — mleading 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."
Choreographer Jamal Sims worked closely with Meeks on her finale performance, a showgirl-themed number built around her original song Versed. Sims, who also serves as a guest judge on the show, described the collaboration as a direct extension of what makes Drag Race work season after season.
In the finale, Meeks said she felt she had entered the competition as an ingenue and was leaving as a leading lady. That arc, both on screen and off, appears to be what keeps both Emmy voters and audiences coming back.
