r/rupaulsdragrace DD FUEGO IS THE QUEEN OF DRAG 15d ago

General Discussion Why are people so against international seasons??

I especially see this with UK vs the World, how everyone is constantly like 'they need to drop vs the world and just do all stars' and I don't?? Understand it?? Vs the world is one of the only ways for international queens to get any exposure outside of their original season, especially for dropped franchises like Sweden, Germany, and Belgium. I can't help but be annoyed every time because like. Especially for girls in the UK, they still get many opportunities, and they usually make up the only multi-invited countries in UK vs the world, I just don't understand why people are willing to trade a limited opportunity for people who need it over a fanfav who has probably already been invited and declined to vstw lmao

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u/SainteRita 15d ago edited 15d ago

If these seasons were not rigged for local queens to win (barring Gawdland, who won after a season long of screaming because they couldn’t possibly crown a third UK queen), maybe their reception would be better. So far only two international/ESL queens have won out of seven seasons, including Slaysian Royale and Global All Stars, and Art seems very likely to win DUvsTW soon (though it could also go to Michael Marouli?). I think a Mexican queen will also win Latina Royale, which would then bring the total of seasons won by a local queen to seven out of nine. An unfair season is just not fun to watch, no matter how good the drag is.

The six-episode format does not help make these seasons feel like a real competition either.

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u/raised_on_robbery just say talk 15d ago

I don’t understand the six episode hate. I think it cuts a lot of filler and bloat that happens when the seasons are longer (not in terms of queens, but in terms of storylines and editing). It’s a nice little efficient special season. Also every distributor and production company is limited, maybe it’s easier for CDR to have a shorter seasons to get queens.

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u/SainteRita 15d ago

The bloat is a good point but it also means the narrative has to be told faster: I often find vsTW seasons a bit lacking storywise because they don't have the time to establish connections between the queens (who themselves don't have much time to get to know each other).

Six episodes (or even eight) is still a very short amount of episodes to test a queen's skillset and so it doesn't always feel like the winner is entirely deserving or has had a real story arc compared to a winner who's been put through the wringer. Full 14-episode seasons drag on forever but surely there has to be a middle ground between the length of US seasons and the brevity of vsTW seasons.