Is it time for Drag Race to dump Snatch Game?
I can fix her.
Once the jewel in the crown of Drag Race maxi challenges, Snatch Game seems to have lost its sparkle with the fickle fanbase, who in recent years have increasingly been calling to ditch it altogether (source: I’ve seen a couple of posts). While most editions reliably offer a mixed bag of success, the cast of season 14 collectively failed so catastrophically it landed seven of them in the bottom, calling into question how much entertainment value the staple improv challenge really has to offer. Though it got some more favourable press later that year with Jinkx Monsoon’s transcendent turn as Judy Garland on All Stars 7, the most recent offering from flagship Drag Race has once again turned the fanbase off with some of the worst performances in the show’s herstory.
Snatch Game is admittedly plagued by inconsistency, but I’d like to make the case that the format isn’t the problem – it’s the queens. Yes, it’s one of the toughest challenges, often voiced by the queens as their most dreaded. You have to think on your feet, play off Ru and your competitors, stay in character, all while following the singular golden rule: make it funny. It’s a big ask for someone who isn’t experienced in this particular facet of theatrics or doesn’t have a natural flair for comedy, but that doesn’t need to make performing badly a foregone conclusion. Bombing on Snatch Game doesn’t happen for a lack of talent, but rather, a lack of preparedness.
Even though improvisation is at its core, Snatch Game also benefits from being one of the only maxi challenges contestants can plan for ahead of time, so why not make the most of it? It’s clear that many of the queens who do badly have turned up thinking they can wing it, but failing to adequately prepare isn’t just a recipe for disaster, it’s a huge missed opportunity because the payoff can be massive. Even if you don’t go on to take the crown, an iconic Snatch Game performance can cement you as a legend in the fandom well past your season.
While there’s no guaranteed formula for success, history has taught us there’s definitely a few precautions that could reasonably be taken by anyone to avoid a total flop without having to set foot in an improv class (although that would be ideal, obvs).
1. Know the assignment
It’s almost impressive (but mostly just disappointing) how many queens still manage to miss the mark when RuPaul has so succinctly distilled the challenge’s entire objective into a single question: how are you going to make it funny? Snatch Game is about celebrity impersonation as much as the commercial challenge is about selling a product i.e. it’s great if you do those things well, but the actual task at hand is to make us laugh. Looking and sounding like the character definitely helps, but it’s meaningless if you don’t have jokes – getting those priorities mixed has routinely proven to be a fatal error.
2. Choose the right character
Not every queen’s repertoire includes celebrity impersonation, so doing it for the first time on Snatch Game can be a daunting task when you don’t have a tried and tested option up your sleeve. That said, there are a few quick wins when it comes to choosing a character that will more likely set you up for success even if you’ve never done them before. Picking someone Ru has heard of is usually a safer bet (so not your favourite TikToker); picking someone Ru loves could make you golden, but also risky if you don’t do them justice. Avoid at all costs: anyone whose fame rests on a singular catchphrase. Even if they have a few, the audience’s expectation that they’re coming removes the joy of spontaneity, and once you’ve used them all up you’ve only got your wits to rely on. The judges always say they’re looking for a point of view, so pick someone who you can create one around without forgetting, of course, to MAKE IT FUNNY.
3. Do your research
Among the dozens of Snatch Games that have taken place globally in the last 16 years, RuPaul has hosted more than 30 of them himself, wherein lies a wealth of information. Looking back at previous episodes, anyone can figure out what does and doesn’t tickle Ru’s funny bone, and that’s the holy grail right there. More practically, 100+ questions have been asked to previous contestants: write them down, make a list, figure out how your character(s) would respond. For the most part, the answers rarely need to be logical, they just need to be FUNNY. Doing this dry run of sorts, not only will you start to shape your character’s point of view, but you’ll also end up armed with a collection of nouns, verbs and adjectives that make sense for them, and you’ll have to do less thinking on the spot.
I reckon these tips are enough to at least set you up for a safe performance, however, if you’re not much impressed by advice from an opinionated, no-drag-knowledge fan, take it from an actual Snatch Game winner:
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Snatch Game is often cited as the juncture in the season that separates the weak from the strong, and while I don’t think that’s entirely accurate, I do think it gives a very specific insight on who the queens are as entertainers that we don’t get from other challenges. Without the constraints of producer-provided scripts or lyrics (perhaps the real villains of maxi challenges), getting to see the choices they make in selecting a character and their unique way of interpreting them is revealing of the queens’ individual taste and sense of humour in a way that tells the audience ‘this is why you should be my fan’.
Realistically, I don’t see them ever doing away with Snatch Game, and as a viewer I fall into the camp that’s happy to see it on every season. Celebrity impersonation is a cornerstone of drag and it would be remiss to not include it in some capacity on the show. Variations of the challenge like RuPaul’s Gaff-In, Snatch Game of Love, and Canada’s take on Snatch Game: The Rusical haven’t materially added value to the basic premise, so I don’t think a change to the format is the answer. If future contestants can just figure out the basics of what to do (and, probably more crucially, what not to do) Snatch Game has every chance to reclaim its status as a fan favourite, putting all the romper room fuckery behind us for good.
🗨️ Join the discussion
Do you think Snatch Game needs to be eliminated?