Snatch Game

The Snatch Game as seen in season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race

Snatch Game is a comedy challenge recurring across the Drag Race television franchise and a fixture of the reality competition series.[1] Since the second season of the original American RuPaul's Drag Race series in 2010, the challenge has returned for every subsequent season. Typically arranged as a parody of Match Game (known as Blankety Blank in the UK, Blankety Blanks in Australia, and Jogo dos Pontinhos in Brazil), the challenge is a test of the contestants' skills at celebrity impersonation and improvisational comedy.

The challenge similarly recurs on various spin-offs, including All Stars and Secret Celebrity Drag Race, as well as the international adaptations for Thai, British, Canadian,[2] Dutch, Australian-New Zealand, Spanish, Italian, French, Philippine, Belgian, Swedish, Mexican, Brazilian, and German audiences.

Usually occurring midway through each Drag Race season, Snatch Game is widely considered among the most important and memorable challenges of the show and, in RuPaul's own words, separates "the basic bitches from the fierce-ass queens."[3] Winners of the show are often amongst the top performers in the Snatch Game,[a] though there are a few exceptions.[b]

The drag queen contestants typically impersonate women, though several contestants choose male celebrities with sufficiently flamboyant public images to fit a drag aesthetic.[4] Several contestants have chosen to impersonate other people directly associated with the show, such as other past or present contestants, Michelle Visage, or RuPaul.[5] Queens cannot choose copyrighted characters,[6] although some celebrity portrayals have been closely based on a specific screen performance.[4]

The challenge often relies on special celebrity guests to participate in game play, who frequently double as the episode's guest judges. Other seasons feature the show's regular production team—Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, Carson Kressley, Rhys Nicholson, or members of the Pit Crew—in lieu of outside guests.

Eight queens have won Snatch Game multiple times: BenDeLaCreme, Ginger Minj, Baga Chipz, Jinkx Monsoon, Trinity the Tuck, Jimbo, Hannah Conda, and Gottmik. Two queens have been eliminated multiple times for their Snatch Game performances: Gia Gunn and Onyx Unleashed.

  1. ^ "Where Are Your Favorite Queens from RuPaul's Drag Race Season 1?". TV Guide. February 2, 2019. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
  2. ^ Joey Nolfi, "Canada's Drag Race first look serves Canadian bacon with a side of fish". Entertainment Weekly, May 19, 2020.
  3. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race' episode 6 recap: Which queen won Snatch Game?" Archived 2019-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. Mic, April 28, 2017.
  4. ^ a b "The 10 Tightest Snatch Game Characters on RuPaul's Drag Race" Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine. Vulture, May 4, 2017.
  5. ^ "Bob the Drag Queen on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 9's Snatch Game". Teen Vogue, May 1, 2017.
  6. ^ RuPaul, "Characters are copyrighted. RT @SickeningHunty: Why are "characters" not allowed in Snatch Game?". Twitter, April 12, 2015.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).