Which Drag Race Duos Would Return for ‘All Stars: Best Friends Edition’?

Since the very first season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars” aired in 2012, the spin-off series, which welcomed back former “Drag Race” queens for a second shot at the crown, it has been known for its frequent format shake-ups.

While “RuPaul’s Drag Race” features a fairly typical Bottom Two elimination format, “All Stars 1” changed the game by forcing its players to compete in teams for the duration of the season. “All Stars 2” continued the trend, featuring an all-new Top Two lip sync format, wherein the winning queen of the week was given the power to eliminate one of her fellow competitors. “All Stars 3” featured the series’ first-ever finale jury vote, while “All Stars 4” remains the only season of “Drag Race” to boast two winners.

For “All Stars 5” the show introduced a format that allowed queens to vote on which of the Bottom Two would be eliminated. The 2020 season was also the first to feature a lip sync battle between each week’s winner and a mystery “Lip Sync Assassin” from the show’s history. “All Stars 7” featured a cast of all former “Drag Race” winners and “All Stars 9” was the first-ever charity season. The frequent format changes have continued in the currently-airing “All Stars 10,” which gave birth to the “Tournament of All Stars” format and features the series’ largest-ever cast of 18 queens.

For years fans have been calling for the show to change its format once again to allow iconic “Drag Race” duos to compete in “RuPaul’s Best Friends Race.” Among the pairs fans want back on screen for the hypothetical season are Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme.

BenDeLaCreme Wants ‘Amazing Race’ Format for ‘All Stars: Best Friends’

BenDeLaCreme, who dramatically self-eliminated during her record-breaking run on “All Stars 3,” commented on the possibility of returning to “Drag Race” to compete alongside her Seattle sister during a podcast appearance with comedian Eric Williams.

“What I would like to see for a ‘[RuPaul’s] Best Friends Race’…is a combination of ‘Drag Race’ and ‘The Amazing Race,’” pitched BenDeLaCreme.

BenDeLaCreme, who originally appeared on Season 6 of “Drag Race,” has already taken the world by storm with her stage partner – and 2025 Logo Legend – Jinkx Monsoon, namely with the international tour of their self-produced stage show, “The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show.”

BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon perform onstage during ‘The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show’

While the concept of a literal drag race around the world might be a bit far fetched for World of Wonder, the production company behind “Drag Race,” DeLa revealed that she’d want hypothetical “Best Friends Race” season to be focused on “fun and weirdness” rather than on eliminating her competition.

Which Other ‘Drag Race’ Duos Might Compete?

Apart from DeLa and Jinkx, fans have similarly called for other legendary “Drag Race” duos, such as Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolochikova, Bob the Drag Queen and Monet X Change, and Violet Chacki and Gottmikk, to compete on the “Best Friends Race” season.

Trixie Mattel and Katya Zamolochikova

Trixie and Katya originally appeared on Season 7 of “Drag Race” together before going on to compete on separate “All Stars” seasons. The pair rose to fame, however, after launching the Stream Award-winning web series “UNHhhh” on the WOWPresents YouTube channel, which currently has 2.1 million subscribers. Together, the duo have since become New York Times best-selling authors and award-winning podcasters for their work on “Trixie and Katya’s Guide to Modern Womanhood” and “The Bald and the Beautiful,” respectively.

Despite their “Drag Race” success, both queens have been vocal about their disinterest in returning to the series.

Katya previously responded to being fan-cast on the hypothetical season on X/Twitter, saying, “THE WAY Me and Trix would be first out, prob not even make it through the first mini challenge.”

Bob the Drag Queen and Monét X Change

Also unlikely to appear on “RuPaul’s Best Friends Race” any time soon are Bob the Drag Queen and Monet X Change. Bob, who won Season 8 of “Drag Race” and recently competed on Season 3 of “The Traitors,” similarly reported a disinterest in returning for an “All Stars” appearance. Meanwhile, Bob’s “Sibling Rivalry” co-host, Monet, is also prepping for an appearance on “The Traitors” Season 4.

Violet Chachki and Gottmik

Fans have similarly called on Season 7 winner Violet Chacki to return for “Best Friends Race” with her “Hey Gorge” co-host, Season 13 and “All Stars 9” star, Gottmikk. The duo, known for their high-fashion drag looks, have stunned runways and red carpets worldwide in custom garments designed by luxury brands like Loewe, Versace, Moschino and Prada.

While it remains unclear if the duo would return for the season, BenDeLaCreme doubled-down on keeping the season light-hearted, in part to avoid drama with the pair.

“Listen, I do not want to go on there and fight Gottmik and Violet Chachki. That sounds like a nightmare,” said DeLa. “I love them in real life, but [to] have producers tell them to yell at you? Absolutely not!”

With a major shift in format, BenDeLaCreme posited that she can not only avoid shade from fierce competition like Gottmik and Violet, but also secure the integrity of what the teams of queens have accomplished together by not forcing them to eliminate one another.

“Part of what’s beautiful about all those duos is that we, like, uplift each other and, like, our careers and our lives have all exploded because of the power of the team,” added DeLa. “To me, the spirit of that would not be honored if we were pitted against each other as teams.”

BenDeLaCreme Wants ‘Amazing Race’ Format for ‘All Stars: Best Friends’