| RuPaul's Drag Race | |
|---|---|
| Season 4 | |
 Promotional poster for season four | |
| Hosted by | RuPaul |
| Judges |
|
| No. of contestants | 13 |
| Winner | Sharon Needles |
| Runners-up | |
| Miss Congeniality | Latrice Royale |
| Companion show | RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked! |
| No. of episodes | 14 |
| Release | |
| Original network | Logo TV |
| Original release | January 30 – April 30, 2012 |
| Season chronology | |
The fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race is the fourth series, began airing on January 30, 2012, and aired its final episode on April 30 of the same year.[2] The cast members were announced November 13, 2011.[3] The winner of season four headlined Logo's Drag Race Tour featuring Absolut Vodka, and also won a one-of-a-kind trip, a lifetime supply of NYX Cosmetics, and a cash prize of $100,000.[4]
Like the previous season, Santino Rice and Billy B (Billy Brasfield), celebrity makeup artist and star of the HGTV mini-series Hometown Renovation, shared the same seat at the judges table alternatively, Brasfield filling in for Rice when needed.[1] Both judges appeared side-by-side in the audience during the "Reunited" episode.
The theme song played during the runway every episode was "Glamazon" and the song played during the credits was "The Beginning", both from RuPaul's album Glamazon.
This is the first season in which a contestant, Willam Belli, was disqualified from the competition for breaking the rules, and the second season in a row in which a contestant, Kenya Michaels, was brought back into the competition after having been eliminated in a prior episode.
The winner of the fourth season of RuPaul's Drag Race was Sharon Needles, with Chad Michaels and Phi Phi O'Hara being the runners-up, making it the first time in the show's history to have two runners-up. The final also featured the first three-way lip-sync battle, instead of the usual format with two competitors. It was the first season in which the winner was not crowned in the studio, but instead during the "Reunited" episode, which was filmed in front of a live audience. This was also the first time three versions of the finale were filmed with each Top 3 contestant being crowned to prevent spoilers; this came after Raja winning Season 3 was leaked by Perez Hilton in 2011.[5]
- ^ a b Peterson, Brian. "Legendary Makeup Artist and RuPaul Drag Race Judge Billy B. Eats Boys for Breakfast, Specifically "New Queer on the Block"". Seattle GAY Scene. Archived from the original on March 16, 2014.
- ^ Polly, John (October 10, 2011). "RuPaul's Drag Race Season 4 Judges: Think Glee, Modern Family!". NewNowNext. Logo. Retrieved October 12, 2011.
- ^ "Rupaul's Drag Race Season 4". Logo. Retrieved November 15, 2011.
- ^ Shumaker, Jason (December 12, 2011). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Fourth Season Premiere Sashays onto Logo, Monday, January 30th" (Press release). Logo. Retrieved August 23, 2017.
- ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race': The Elaborate Way Producers Prevent Audience Spoilers While Filming the Season Finale". May 16, 2019.