Sadly, over the years several stars of the franchise have sadly passed away, with RuPaul's Drag Race UK series 1 champion, The Vivienne, dying on 5 January 2025. Tributes have flooded in for the Welsh-born star including from her competitors and show presenter RuPaul.

The new-season festivities continue on MTV as 14 new drag queens compete for the crown on “RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

The second half of the new cast of 14 queens will compete to be crowned America's Next Drag Superstar in a new episode of "RuPaul's Drag Race."

“RuPaul’s Drag Race” will air Season 17, Episode 2 on Friday, January 10 (1/10/2025) at 8 p.m. ET on MTV. Cord cutters can sign up for Philo (free trial), fuboTV, or DirecTV Stream (free trial) to stream the episode live.

RuPaul hit back against a drag queen’s offensive joke following the recent death of Drag Race U.K. winner, The Vivienne. Tyra Sanchez, 36, who won the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race, sparked an outcry when she responded to an old tweet by The Vivienne.

James Lee Williams, the first winner of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” better known by their stage name The Vivienne, has died at age 32.  The British drag queen died over the weekend, their manager Simon Jones confirmed in a statement posted to Instagram.

RuPaul is reportedly "seriously considering" quitting the UK version of 'Drag Race' following the death of former winner The Vivienne.