Snatch Game
Snatch Game is a comedy challenge recurring across the Drag Race television franchise and a fixture of the reality competition series. Since the second season of the original American RuPaul's Drag Race series in 2010, the challenge has returned for every subsequent season. Typically arranged as a parody of Match Game (known as Blankety Blank in the UK, Blankety Blanks in Australia, and Jogo dos Pontinhos in Brazil), the challenge is a test of the contestants' skills at celebrity impersonation and improvisational comedy.
The challenge similarly recurs on various spin-offs, including All Stars and Secret Celebrity Drag Race, as well as the international adaptations for Thai, British, Canadian, Dutch, Australian-New Zealand, Spanish, Italian, French, Philippine, Belgian, Swedish, Mexican, Brazilian, and German audiences.
Usually occurring midway through each Drag Race season, Snatch Game is widely considered among the most important and memorable challenges of the show and, in RuPaul's own words, separates "the basic bitches from the fierce-ass queens." Winners of the show are often amongst the top performers in the Snatch Game, though there are a few exceptions.
The drag queen contestants typically impersonate women, though several contestants choose male celebrities with sufficiently flamboyant public images to fit a drag aesthetic. Several contestants have chosen to impersonate other people directly associated with the show, such as other past or present contestants, Michelle Visage, or RuPaul. Queens cannot choose copyrighted characters, although some celebrity portrayals have been closely based on a specific screen performance.
The challenge often relies on special celebrity guests to participate in game play, who frequently double as the episode's guest judges. Other seasons feature the show's regular production team—Michelle Visage, Ross Mathews, Carson Kressley, Rhys Nicholson, or members of the Pit Crew—in lieu of outside guests.
Eight queens have won Snatch Game multiple times: BenDeLaCreme, Ginger Minj, Baga Chipz, Jinkx Monsoon, Trinity the Tuck, Jimbo, Hannah Conda, and Gottmik. Two queens have been eliminated multiple times for their Snatch Game performances: Gia Gunn and Onyx Unleashed.
United States
Legend:
RuPaul's Drag Race
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RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars
RuPaul's Drag Race Global All Stars
RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race
International
Legend:
Canada's Drag Race
Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World
Drag Race Belgique
Drag Race Brasil
Drag Race España
Drag Race España All Stars
Drag Race France
Drag Race Germany
Drag Race Holland
Drag Race Italia
Drag Race México
Drag Race Philippines
Drag Race Sverige
Drag Race Thailand
RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under
RuPaul's Drag Race UK
RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World
Most frequent impersonations
Cardi B and Jennifer Coolidge are the most frequently impersonated celebrities, with Coolidge as the first celebrity to be simultaneously impersonated by two competing queens in the same Snatch Game followed only by Liberachi. Both queens who impersonated Mariah Carey and two of the five queens who impersonated Cardi B were eliminated, making them the only choices of impersonation subject to lead to multiple contestants' eliminations. Both of the queens to impersonate Ariana Grande, Celine Dion, Ellen DeGeneres, Nancy Grace, and Rue McClanahan, respectively, and two of the three queens to impersonate Lady Gaga were up for elimination due to their performances, but only one queen was eliminated for each. Two of the four queens to impersonate Eartha Kitt, and two of the three queens to impersonate Cher and RuPaul, respectively, landed in the bottom, but none of them were eliminated. Three of the four queens to impersonate Liza Minnelli won the Snatch Game, making her the first impersonation subject to earn multiple queens a win, while Joan Rivers became the second following season 15 of RuPaul's Drag Race.
Reception
Snatch Game is considered the signature challenge on the show. Kevin O'Keeffe from Into discusses that the challenge isn't only about the celebrity impersonation and RuPaul looks for accuracy, humor, and the idea of the character. He also states that the challenge tests a lot of different skills, such as the queens' ability to put on a different look from their signature one, and also their ability to be "funny on a dime". RuPaul states each year, as the challenge is introduced, that the cardinal rule of the challenge is to make him laugh.
Writing for Vulture, Bowen Yang and Matt Rogers state that "Snatch Game" is "the mother of all comedy challenges on a reality show" despite the varied results over the years. On a more critical reception of the challenge, Josh Lee, for PopBuzz, argues that while the annual challenge has given viewers some of the best moments from RuPaul's Drag Race, it is starting to feel stale overall. He comments that recent celebrity impersonations in the challenge have been lackluster and the show should adapt and retire "Snatch Game" in future seasons of the series.