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When it comes to reunion specials, RuPaul's Drag Race knows a thing or two about creating iconic moments that fans will never forget.
Over the years, Drag Race has featured several reunion moments that truly made herstory. Some of these interactions were amazing, while others were uncomfortable to watch, but they were all moments that fans still reference to this day.
From shocking fights to emotional revelations to cringe-worthy exchanges to outrageous looks, Mama Ru and her cast of queens have constantly delivered highly-entertaining reunion episodes that looked back on each season and highlighted its highest and lowest points. Whether it's a dramatic moment, a hilarious meme, or a complicated situation, nothing is ever off the table when it comes to Drag Race reunions.
Scroll through to see the most memorable reunion moments from RuPaul's Drag Race after 13 seasons.
Tammie Brown vs. RuPaul (Season 1)
The iconic drama involving Tammie Brown in the season 1 reunion started when RuPaul talked about how drag queens constantly face a lot of negativity when they're out in the world. Brown pushed back, "Why feed off of that negativity, though?" Ru tried elaborating further, but Brown wasn't having any of it. She then stood up FOR herself and declared that she was an amazing queen despite the criticism she received from the judges.
RuPaul declared that Brown had forgotten how amazing of a queen she was while competing on Drag Race, which Brown didn't appreciate at all. "You both called me losers, and I don't see you out there walking children in nature," she quipped. Santino Rice denied ever calling her a loser, but Brown wasn't convinced.
Ru concluded the segment with, "You forgot how amazing you are. That's your f*cking responsibility." Alas, it was Brown who had the last word: "Excuse your mouth?"
Sonique Comes Out as Trans (Season 2)
The eventual winner of All Stars 6, Kylie Sonique Love, was known as just Sonique over the course of Drag Race season two. Back then, it took Love until the reunion episode to come out as a trans woman - making herstory as the first out trans woman on Drag Race.
At the reunion, Love explained that she had always been "a girl trapped in a boy's body." She revealed that, after the show, she went to a doctor and officially started her medical transition using testosterone blockers and taking hormones. RuPaul and Love's costars on Drag Race showed her nothing but full support.
Heathers vs. Boogers (Season 3)
The biggest storyline among the cast of RuPaul's Drag Race season three was the clear divide between the "Heathers" and the "Boogers." The "Heathers" - Raja, Delta Work, Carmen Carrera, and Manila Luzon - thought of themselves as the pretty and talented girls of the bunch, which meant that everyone else in the cast was a "Booger" according to them.
The season three reunion dedicated a lot of screentime for the "Heathers" and the "Boogers" to hash things out. Shangela took issue with being called a "Booger," but Raja and Carrera stood their ground and insisted that the nickname was meant to prop themselves up rather than to tear their competitors down. This dramatic and hilarious back-and-forth culminated in Raja giving her beloved "Heathers" necklace to Stacy Layne Matthews, suggesting that she was now an honorary member of their prestigious clique.
Willam Reveals Reasons for Disqualification (Season 4)
Season four was the first time that a reunion and grand finale were filmed in front of a live audience. While it was exciting to see archenemies Sharon Needles and Phi Phi O'Hara hashing things out one last time, what made the season four reunion of Drag Race so memorable was finding out what Willam had actually done to get herself disqualified and kicked out of the competition. This reunion bit included Willam being dragged onto the mainstage by the Pit Crew members and Ru asking the audience to say in unison, "What did Willam do?"
In short, Willam's explanation was that her husband snuck into her hotel room a few times while she filmed Drag Race. Since the queens have to be sequestered throughout the competition, that was a major rule violation. That reunion became even more iconic after Willam declared that she wouldn't "ru-pologize" for anything she's done. RuPaul laughed out loud and said, "Oh, b*tch! Consider that word stolen."
It should be noted, however, that Willam has since spilled the real tea behind her Drag Race disqualification. Still, she created an iconic reunion moment that fans still remember to this day.
Adore Delano & Laganja Estranja’s Awkward One-On-One (Season 6)
The most awkward moment in the history of Drag Race reunions was the "special segment" of Adore Delano and Laganja Estranja getting together to watch themselves back on TV and hash things out in front of the cameras. Delano and Estranja had been friends before the show, but Delano insisted that she didn't recognize Estranja while they filmed season six.
Production chose violence that day and set up Delano and Estranja to hear and watch what they said of each other throughout the season in order to catch their raw reactions. Both queens said very vague things during the segment, as it was clear that neither of them felt comfortable in that situation. After Estranja's infamous breakdowns in season six, this just felt like something that Delano wanted to discuss with her friend behind closed doors. With that said, this was still a very memorable reunion moment that had viewers questioning how far is "too far" for the show to push these queens in order to create conflict and drama.
Aja Comes for Valentina’s Miss Congeniality Win (Season 9)
We all remember Aja's "You're perfect, you're beautiful, you look like Linda Evangelista" read of Valentina in Untucked, as well as the time when Aja point-blank refused to acknowledge Valentina as the winner of Miss Congeniality at the reunion.
After it was announced that Valentina won Miss Congeniality and she started to give out her speech, a clearly befuddled Aja interrupted her to say, "I just don't feel like you should be Miss Congeniality." Valentina insisted that she had been kind to all of her costars, but Farrah Moan brought out the receipts that Valentina had directly ignored her calls and text messages.
After a lot of back-and-forth between Valentina and Moan, Aja asked the queens to chime in: "Is it fan-favorite or Congeniality?" Sasha Velour and Peppermint agreed that this felt more like a "fan-favorite" award, which prompted Aja to declare: "Then we should call it fan-favorite." Just like that, Aja singlehandedly changed the name of the award as RuPaul just watched the whole thing play out in front of him.
The Vixen Walks Out (Season 10)
The Vixen had a really hard time on Drag Race season 10 when it came to how she would be perceived every time that she engaged in a new confrontation with a white queen. In hindsight, a lot of what The Vixen had been saying turned out to be true in the long-run. At the time, however, the show - and a large portion of its fanbase - had a hard time acknowledging what the Chicago queen had been saying.
After trying to explain herself in regard to her drama with Eureka and making it clear that her beef with Aquaria had been squashed, The Vixen found herself in an intense back-and-forth with none other than RuPaul. After the host stood his ground and made it clear that he had his own point of view in these matters, The Vixen revealed that she had only attended the reunion out of respect for her fans and proceeded to walk off-camera.
The only other time a queen refused to appear at a Drag Race reunion had been Phi Phi O'Hara on All Stars 2. Alas, she didn't even show up to begin with. Thus, The Vixen's mid-reunion exit became an unfortunate but very memorable moment for this franchise.
RuPaul Wears a Facekini For Zoom Reunion (Season 12)
An honorable mention goes to RuPaul's hilarious and completely nonsensical facekini during the season 12 reunion of Drag Race. While one could argue that RuPaul wore the facekini because she didn't have access to his glam squad in the middle of a pandemic, the host had always done the reunion episodes out of drag. As such, it was really curious to see Ru wearing a loud facekini and very basic hoodie for the season 12 reunion instead of showing his face and wearing a beautiful suit, which had been the standard for 11 reunions.
Nonetheless, this had the fans talking and laughing, which was probably Ru's intention to begin with. RuPaul then wore yet another facekini for the grand finale, but this time, it was a much more elaborate black-and-white look. Still, that amusing outfit choice for the season 12 reunion shall never be forgotten.
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