After 14 seasons, a few regular judges have come and gone in the U.S. seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race (and All Stars). While RuPaul herself has consistently returned as the main judge in the panel, there were mainstay judges like Michelle Visage who only got to join the series after season three due to previous contractual obligations.
Since season seven of Drag Race, the judging panel changed significantly to include comedian Ross Mathews and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy style expert Carson Kressley as recurring judges who often take turns with each other but sometimes appear on the panel together as well. Before them, however, there were other judges who sat alongside Mama Ru to give critiques to the Drag Race queens. Even recent seasons have featured recurring judges who are no longer associated with the franchise for varying reasons.
Scroll through to find out what the former recurring judges of RuPaul’s Drag Race are up to now.
Prior to Visage joining her BFF on the judging panel of Drag Race, Merle Ginsberg was RuPaul’s main wingwoman on the show. She came into Drag Race as a fashion expert, but left behind her seat as a judge as soon as Visage was able to join the show (which had been the plan all along).
Since then, Ginsberg has appeared on and worked as a writer for syndicated shows like The Doctors and Entertainment Tonight. In 2021, Ginsberg appeared for an interview on Joseph Shepherd’s digital series Exposed.
Santino Rice left the Drag Race franchise after many complaints from viewers for how he mistreated certain queens, as well as his judging style. Since then, Rice’s public persona has only deteriorated.
In recent years, Rice has made several inaccurate claims about the ongoing pandemic and the vaccine, being labeled by many onlookers as an “anti-vaxxer.” This has led to Rice deactivating his social media accounts and basically disappearing from any public exposure for the time being.
Billy Brasfield – better known as Billy B. – appeared as a judge on the third and fourth seasons of Drag Race. However, the makeup artist was no longer a part of the judging panel starting in season five.
After his time as a judge on Drag Race came to an end, Billy B. appeared on shows such as Project Runway and Transformations. As of 2022, Billy B. still shares his work as a makeup artist and looks back on previous work he’s done in the past as well.
Mike Ruiz is one of the most successful photographers in the business. He might no longer be attached to Drag Race as a recurring guest (for photoshoots) and judge, but Ruiz is still a fixture in the entertainment business and in the LGBTQ+ community.
When it comes to RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ruiz appeared as the guest judge on every single premiere episode of the series between seasons one and six. Despite not being a part of the show any longer, Ruiz has always maintained a great relationship with RuPaul and even worked as the director of 2007’s Starrbooty.
Todrick Hall had a roller-coaster journey as a judge and collaborator on Drag Race. At first, Hall was widely embraced by the fans for his work in creating original songs for the season eight finale and choreographing the “Read U Wrote U” ru-mix challenge of All Stars 2.
As the years went by, however, Hall started to get a lot of hate from viewers who felt like his criticism of the queens on the show was very negative or “overly produced” to create drama in the competition. In any case, Hall is still a successful popstar who releases original songs, puts out stunning music videos, and tours the country with his productions.
Jeffrey Moran was a recurring judge on several seasons of Drag Race due to his role at Absolut Vodka and the fact that the alcohol company was a major sponsor of the show. Moran’s appearances on the show went away when Absolut dropped out as a sponsor of Drag Race.
Nonetheless, Moran has since also left Absolut Vodka. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is currently a managing director at Ketchum.
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