Where to watch RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 premiere? Streaming platforms explored

Season 16 of RuPaul's Drag Race debuted with its first episode on January 5, 2024, at 8 p.m. ET on MTV After a drama-filled season 15 that was released in January 2023, it's been a while since its fans saw RuPaul and his queens.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 is to have 14 contestants that were introduced to the fans on the show's official YouTube channel by season 15 winner Sasha Colby, in the clip titled Meet The Queens. These 14 queens will compete to have the America's Next Drag Superstar title and to take home the $200,000 prize money.

RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 is now available for streaming, so fans who missed the season premiere are covered. Philo and FuboTV offer streaming access to the most recent episode, titled Rate a Queen, as well as the forthcoming ones.

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RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 streaming platforms explored

Philo offers a 30-day free trial for people who haven't subscribed to it before. It is also considered to be the cheapest of all streaming platforms as it gives access to 70+ channels on its very basic subscription.

Its base subscription starts from $25 a month and goes up according to the additions viewers want to make to their plans. It allows 3 devices to stream simultaneously on one account. Its list of channels includes most of the highly watched channels such as MTV, Comedy Central, Discovery, Paramount Network, TLC, etc.

FuboTV on the other hand is a slightly more expensive option that gives more channels suiting its higher price. Although it also offers a 30-day free trial for its new subscribers. A base subscription for FuboTV starts at $74.99 and it gives access to about 100 live TV channels.

It includes most channels from Philo as well as some important channels of its own such as CBS, NBC, ESPN, FOX, etc. FuboTV allows users to watch live sports and news which Philo doesn't cater to.

Both streaming platforms advertise themselves as a replacement for cable TV, viewers can watch their favorite shows at any time and anywhere with a subscription to these TV alternatives.

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What happened at the premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race season 16

This season premiere of RuPaul's Drag Race introduced only half of its queens to the fans, leaving the other half for the next episode making it a 2 part premiere. The episode started with the queens of this episode walking into the Werk room. This is the moment they introduce themselves to the world and so it marks the most important moment on the show.

They first compete in a photoshoot competition, where they have to give their best poses to impress not only the camera but RuPaul as well. After the photoshoot challenge, Ru quickly geared the queens up for the main challenge, a talent show.

Charlize Theron the guest judge on this season of RuPaul's Drag Race showed up with sweets and encouraged the queens for their performances. The rest of the judges Michelle Visage, and Carson Kressley were also introduced before the queens started their performances. The host this season is going to be Derrick Berry who is going to dress as Britney Spears for the rest of the season, on RuPaul's Drag Race.

The performances from the contestants included acts in dance, stand-up comedy, a rap performance, a puppet show, and singing. The queens had to judge each other in this segment, giving the episode its name, Rate a Queen. The next segment was called RuVeal Yourself, which made the contestants dress to their best.

After all the performances and challenges, the judges decided on 2 best contestants and 2 contestants at the bottom who needed improvement. Even though this episode was kept clean of any eliminations, it sure had a lip-synch battle between the top two out of which only one emerged victorious.

The next episode of RuPaul's Drag Race season 16 comes out on January 12, 2024, on MTV at 8 pm ET.