RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 9: Everything we know so far

The ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is set to premiere on Friday, May 17, on Paramount+. RuPaul will also host the highly anticipated two-episode season premiere of the debut season of All Stars.

The ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars is expected to be a nostalgic journey, featuring eight fan-favorite queens from previous seasons. They will compete for the prize money of $200,000 which will be provided by The Palette Fund.

The official synopsis of the ninth season reads -

"The first time in franchise her-story where the queens are competing for charity and harnessing their drag skills to win money for a variety of organizations."

The recently wrapped-up season of Drag Race US season 16 premiered its final episode on Friday, April 19. After the Lip Sync battle, Nymphia Wind was crowned the winner competing against Sapphira Cristal in the finale.

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RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 9: Release date

On April 23, Paramount+ announced that the reality show would be back with its signature exciting concepts on May 17. However, the release time of the show is yet to be announced at the time of writing this article. As per the new format of the show, there will be no elimination for this season of All Stars, meaning no queens will be eliminated in the first week, or during any further weeks.

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RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 9: Everything we know so far

Paramount+, along with the release date also announced the cast members and judges list. Mama Ru will be back heading the judges' table along with returning judges Carson Kressley, Michelle Visage, Ts Madison, and Ross Mathews.

Fans will get to their favorite queens from the past seasons. Here is the complete list of the queens who will be joining the cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars season 9:

• Angeria Paris VanMicheals from season 14
• Jorgeous from season 14
• Plastique Tiara from season 11
• Nina West from season 11
• Roxxxy Andrews from season 5 and All Stars 2
• Gottmik from season 13
• Vanessa Vanjie Mateo from seasons 10 and 11
• Shannel from season 1 and All Stars 1

Among the queens, Roxxxy Andrews’s return is highly anticipated by fans as she was runner-up in her original season 5 and was followed by the top four in her All Stars season 2. Moreover, like Roxxxy, Shannel and Venessa Vanjie Mateo have also participated twice, once in the original season and once in All Stars.

They will compete for $200,000 in prize money—but that will also come with a twist. Like most seasons, queens will be competing for the prize money, however, the prize money will be donated to a charity of their choice.

Some of the pre-selected charities by the queens are the National Black Justice Collective (Angeria Paris VanMichaels), the National Alliance of Mental Illness (Jorgeous), Trans Lifeline (Gottmik), The Asian American Foundation (Plastique Tiara), The Trevor Project (Nina West), Miracle of Love and Anxiety (Roxxxy Andrews), Depression Association of America (Shannel), and ASPCA (Vanessa Vanije Mateo).

A non-profit organization, The Palette Fund will provide this season’s prize money. The NGO is dedicated to funding and grants to various organizations supporting under-represented communities such as LGBTQ+ people. The ninth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars will be the first season where queens compete for charities.

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RuPaul will host the show, which is produced by World of Wonder. Following the premiere, further episodes will premiere every Friday, along with all new episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars: Untucked.