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Snatch Game
Recurring challenge within the Drag Race franchise From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.
Ginger Minj has won Snatch Game three times, the most of any queen in the franchise. Seven other queens have won Snatch Game twice: BenDeLaCreme, Baga Chipz, Jinkx Monsoon, Trinity the Tuck, Jimbo, Hannah Conda, and Gottmik. Three queens have been eliminated twice for their Snatch Game performances: Gia Gunn, Onyx Unleashed and Cynthia Lee Fontaine.
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United States
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Legend:
WIN indicates that the contestant won the challenge and, for the All Stars format, the Lip Sync for Your Legacy too.
TOP2 indicates that the contestant won the challenge, but lost the Lip Sync for Your Legacy.
Win (Winner) indicates that the contestant won the challenge and the Lip Sync for the Crown.
R-up (Runner-up) indicates that the contestant was the runner-up.
SAFE indicates that the contestant was declared safe by the judges.
BLK (Blocked) indicates that the contestant was blocked by the lip sync winner from earning a Legendary Legend Star.
BTM (Bottom) indicates that the contestant was up for elimination
ELIM (Eliminated) indicates that the contestant was eliminated.
RuPaul's Drag Race
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Jinkx Monsoon (left) won on season 5 for her portrayal of Edith "Little Edie" Bouvier Beale (right).
Kennedy Davenport (left) also won on season 7 for her portrayal of Little Richard (right).
Bob the Drag Queen (left) won on season 8 for her portrayals of Uzo Aduba (middle) and Carol Channing (right).
Gigi Goode (left) won on season 12 for her impersonation of Maria the Robot, a parody of the humanoid robot Sophia (right).
RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars
BenDeLaCreme (left) won on season 3 for her portrayal of Paul Lynde (right), becoming the first contestant to win the challenge twice.
Shangela (left) also won on season 3 for her portrayal of Jenifer Lewis (right).
Trinity the Tuck (left) also won on season 4 for her portrayal Caitlyn Jenner (right).
Ginger Minj (left) won on season 6 for her portrayal of Phyllis Diller (right), becoming the second contestant to win the challenge twice.
Jinkx Monsoon (left) won on season 7 for her portrayals of Natasha Lyonne (middle) and Judy Garland (right), becoming the fourth contestant (tied with Trinity the Tuck) to win the challenge twice.
Trinity the Tuck (left) also won on season 7 for her portrayals of Lucifer (middle) and Leslie Jordan (right), becoming the fourth contestant (tied with Jinkx Monsoon) to win the challenge twice.
Jimbo (left) won on season 8 for her portrayal of Shirley Temple (right), becoming the sixth contestant to win the challenge twice.
Ginger Minj (left) won on season 10 for her portrayal of Reba McEntire (right), becoming the first contestant to win the challenge three times.
RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars
RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race
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International
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Legend:
WIN indicates that the contestant won the challenge and, for the All Stars format, the Lip Sync for Your Legacy.
TOP2 indicates that the contestant won the challenge, but lost the Lip Sync for Your Legacy.
RW (Runway win) indicates that the contestant won the runway challenge.
SAFE indicates that the contestant was declared safe by the judges.
BVR (Golden Beaver) indicates that the contestant received the Golden Beaver from the challenge winner and was saved from the bottom three.
WDN (Wooden Beaver) indicates that the contestant received the Wooden Beaver through a chain created by the challenge winner and was saved from the bottom.
BTM (Bottom) indicates that the contestant was up for elimination.
ELIM (Eliminated) indicates that the contestant was eliminated.
WEL (Winner eliminated) indicates that although the contestant won the challenge, they were the worst in the runway challenge and were subsequently eliminated.
DISQ (Disqualified) indicates that the contestant was disqualified after losing a lip sync to stay in the competition.
Canada's Drag Race
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World
Drag Race Belgique
Drag Race Brasil
Drag Race España
Drag Race España All Stars
Drag Race France
Drag Race Germany
Drag Race Holland
Drag Race Italia
Drag Race México
Drag Race Philippines
Drag Race Sverige
Drag Race Thailand
RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under
RuPaul's Drag Race UK
The Vivienne (left) also won on series 1 for her portrayal of Donald Trump (right).
RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World
Baga Chipz (left) won on series 1 for her portrayal of Kathy Bates (right), becoming the third contestant to win the challenge twice.
Blu Hydrangea (left) also won on series 1 for her portrayal of Mike Myers (right).
Hannah Conda (left) won on series 2 for her portrayal of Shirley Temple (right), becoming the seventh queen to win the challenge twice.
Tia Kofi (left) also won on series 2 for her portrayal of Anne Boleyn (right).
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Most frequent impersonations
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Cardi B and Jennifer Coolidge are the most frequently impersonated celebrities, with Coolidge as the first celebrity to be simultaneously impersonated by two competing queens in the same Snatch Game followed only by Liberachi. Both queens who impersonated Mariah Carey and two of the five queens who impersonated Cardi B were eliminated, making them the only choices of impersonation subject to lead to multiple contestants' eliminations. Both of the queens to impersonate Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, Ellen DeGeneres, Nancy Grace, and Rue McClanahan, respectively, and two of the three queens to impersonate Lady Gaga were up for elimination due to their performances, but only one queen was eliminated for each. Two of the four queens to impersonate Eartha Kitt, and two of the three queens to impersonate Cher and RuPaul, respectively, landed in the bottom, but none of them were eliminated. Three of the four queens to impersonate Liza Minnelli won the Snatch Game, making her the first impersonation subject to earn multiple queens a win, while Joan Rivers became the second following season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
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Reception
Snatch Game is considered the signature challenge on the show.[15] Kevin O'Keeffe from Into discusses that the challenge isn't only about the celebrity impersonation and RuPaul looks for accuracy, humor, and the idea of the character. He also states that the challenge tests a lot of different skills, such as the queens' ability to put on a different look from their signature one, and also their ability to be "funny on a dime".[16] RuPaul states each year, as the challenge is introduced, that the cardinal rule of the challenge is to make him laugh.[5]
Writing for Vulture, Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers state that "Snatch Game" is "the mother of all comedy challenges on a reality show" despite the varied results over the years.[17] On a more critical reception of the challenge, Josh Lee, for PopBuzz, argues that while the annual challenge has given viewers some of the best moments from RuPaul's Drag Race, it is starting to feel stale overall. He comments that recent celebrity impersonations in the challenge have been lackluster and the show should adapt and retire "Snatch Game" in future seasons of the series.[18]
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Notes
- In all the seasons to include the Snatch Game, these queens (Jinkx Monsoon [twice], Bob the Drag Queen, Aquaria, Alaska, Trinity the Tuck, Shea Couleé, Natalia Pliacam, The Vivienne, Envy Peru, Sharonne, Blu Hydrangea, Gisèle Lullaby, La Diamond, Ra'Jah O'Hara, Admira Thunderpussy, Jimbo, Cristian Peralta, Captivating Katkat, and Ginger Johnson) who won the Snatch Game went on to win their seasons.
- as Mary Lee Johnston from Precious
- as Faye Dunaway's portrayal of Crawford in Mommie Dearest
- as Violet Crawley from Downton Abbey
- as Fran Fine from The Nanny
- a parodic Kim Jong-un's sister
- as Blanche Devereaux from The Golden Girls
- a parodic Gordon Ramsay's sister
- a parodic Trina's cousin
- as Audrey from Little Shop of Horrors
- as Samantha Jones from Sex and the City
- as Sheneneh Jenkins from Martin
- as Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous
- as Joanie Taylor from The Catherine Tate Show
- a fictional character Roxxxy portrayed on RuPaul's Drag Race season 5 and All Stars 2
- as Sue Sylvester from Glee
- a satirical version of King Kong
- a parodic Gollum's cousin
- as Criquette Rockwell from Le cœur a ses raisons
- a woman from a La Manif pour tous protest famously mocked on Le Petit Journal
- as Terminator from the Terminator franchise
- Special guest Vincenzo De Lucia took part in the Snatch Game portraying Barbara D'Urso, intervening in various sketches making parodies about the character and the show Pomeriggio Cinque.
- Guest judge Tiziano Ferro took part in the Snatch Game as the host.
- as Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek
- as Lynne Postlethwaite from The D-Generation
- as Humphries' drag character Dame Edna Everage
- as Trude from Kath & Kim
- as Kath Day-Knight from Kath & Kim
- as Elle Woods from Legally Blonde
- as Rasputia Latimore from Norbit
- as Vicky Pollard from Little Britain
- as Kath Day-Knight from Kath & Kim
- as Sue Tuke from Charity Shop Sue
- as Kevin McCallister from the Home Alone films
- as Gladys Kingston from Little Miss Jocelyn
- as Bernie and Derek Faye from The Catherine Tate Show
- as Mrs. Doubtfire from Mrs. Doubtfire
- portrayed as having just auditioned for the role of Mary Poppins played by Julie Andrews
- as Annie Wilkes from Misery
- first as Austin Powers and then as Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series of films
- as Pray Tell from Pose
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References
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