Promotional photo from VH1

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” Announces Season 13 Contestants

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” is returning for a 13th season, and the brand-new cast was announced on Wednesday (November 9).

For the first time ever, the cast includes an out trans man. Gottmik is a Los Angeles-based makeup artist.

“I need to be the first trans winner of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race.’ Period,” Gottmik said in a Meet the Queens interview. “The more and more I got comfortable with my gender identity, the more I got to play with the drag/Gottmik side, and now that it’s solely my art, it’s just the best thing in the world… It means so much for me to be on the show right now, especially being a trans guy going in – a feminine perspective of a trans guy. The trans movement is getting so big, so powerful, so strong.”

This season’s lineup also includes two queens from Atlanta: LaLa Ri, who’s bringing her mixture of sexy, classy, and sassy to the competition, and Tamisha Iman, one of the most experienced drag queens in the scene. Iman has competed in drag pageants since the ‘90s and hand-makes all her garments.

Along with Gottmik, LaLa Ri and Tamisha Iman, the rest of the season 13 cast is as follows, according to Variety:

Denali is a professional figure skater from Chicago who incorporates her skating abilities into her drag performances.

Eliott with 2 Ts is a dancing showgirl from Las Vegas who pulls inspiration from the ‘80s.

Joey Jay is another dancer from Phoenix, Arizona, who prides herself on her rhinestoning abilities.

Kahmora Hall is the drag sister to season 12 winner Jaida Essence Hall and drag mother to season 11 contestant Soju and from Chicago.

Kandy Muse already has a crown as the Brooklyn Drag Queen of the Year.

Olivia Lux is a New York queen with experience in piano playing and musical theater.

Rosé is another queen from New York and is part of the girl group Stephanie’s Child with season 12 contestant Jan.

Symone is currently based in LA but originally hails from Arkansas, the first “Drag Race” contestant to do so.

Tina Burner is New York queen who won National Miss Comedy Queen in 2019.

Utica Queen, from Minneapolis, defines herself as a “wacky, wavy inflatable arm-tube queen.”

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 13 premieres on VH1 on January 1 at 8pm. The after-show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Untucked” premieres immediately after, at 9:30pm.