Ninety minute episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 are officially headed to Paramount+.
Earlier this year, the beloved competition series moved from VH1 to MTV with its highly anticipated 15th season.
While the latest entry made waves for having the largest cast in the franchise’s herstory, it also received backlash from fans for moving away from its 90-minute format to 60 minutes.
As a result of its shortened runtime – which was due to MTV’s LGBTQ+ reality show The Real Friends of WeHo – runway and judges’ deliberations were significantly shortened, and “a lot of fun chaotic” interactions between the queens in the werkroom were cut.
At the time, season 15 queen Salina Estitties tweeted that the cast “worked too hard and invested too much” for the edit to be slashed while Loosey LaDuca wrote: “These short runways are AC-TU-AL-LY killing me. All that time, money, and effort. Yeeeesh.”
Loni Love – who memorably competed on RuPaul’s Secret Celebrity Drag Race – also spoke out against the edit, offering her “apologies to the queens” of season 15.
“You spend time making these fabulous looks and deserve more then under two minutes to show them off…” she tweeted.
While the last half of Drag Race season 15 reverted back to its 90-minute format, fans have still called on World of Wonder to release the extended cuts of the aforementioned 60-minute episodes.
Fortunately, the fans’ wishes are finally set to come true.
On 27 July, Drag Race executive producers Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato announced that they would be releasing the full 90-minute episodes for the first half of season 15.
“You asked for it, and you got it – and we’re thrilled to deliver 90-minute episodes for all of season 15, showcasing the joy and genius of this legendary cast,” they said in a statement.
In addition to Bailey and Barbato’s announcement, World of Wonder released a special promotional video for the occasion, featuring Drag Race staples Trixie Mattel, Ts Madison, Katya, and Valentina.
“90-minute episodes are back,” Trixie exclaimed, with Katya adding: “That’s right, you asked for it bitch.”
Fans won’t have to wait too long for the extended cut of season 15, with the revamped episodes premiering on Paramount+ and WOW Presents+ on 9 August.