Fresh off big Emmys wins, ‘RuPaul’ serves up something special for holidays

VH1 will air a holiday-themed RuPaul’s Drag Race special Friday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m. ET/PT. The one-hour RuPaul’s Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular will feature Eureka O’Hara, Jasmine Masters, Kim Chi, Latrice Royale, Mayhem Miller, Shangela, Sonique and Trixie Mattel as they compete for the title of America’s first “Drag Race Xmas Queen.”

VH1 promises “jaw-dropping surprises, eye-popping fashions and epic performances” choreographed by Todrick Hall. The queens will be dancing and lip-syncing to original music from two RuPaul holiday albums, “Slay Belles” and “Christmas Party.”

Hall, Michelle Visage and Ross Mathews will join RuPaul on the judging panel.

“Nothing says Christmas like ‘Chestnuts roasting on an open fire, and drag queens slipping on their pantyhose,’” said RuPaul. “Celebrating the holidays with my most festive girls inspired me to record my new album, ‘Christmas Party.’ And this VH1 holiday extravaganza is my way of saying thank you to my Drag Race family by spreading a little bit of love, laughter and light across the country and around the world.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race Holi-slay Spectacular is produced by World of Wonder Productions, with Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, Tom Campbell, Steven Corfe, Mandy Salangsang and RuPaul Charles the executive producers. Pamela Post and Tim Palazzola are exec producers for VH1.

RuPaul’s Drag Race picked up Emmys for Outstanding Host of a Reality Competition Program and Outstanding Reality Competition Program in September. VH1 said the tenth season was the most watched in franchise history, averaging 794,000 viewers 18-49 and 1.2 million total viewers in Live + 7.

VH1 is part of Viacom.