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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

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 only celebrity to be simultaneously impersonated by two competing queens in the same Snatch Game. 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.

Notes

1. In all the seasons to include the Snatch Game, these queens (Jinkx Monsoon , Bob the Drag Queen, Aquaria, Alaska, Trinity the Tuck, Shea Couleé, Natalia Pliacam, The Vivienne, Envy Peru, Sharonne, Blu Hydrangea, Gisèle Lullaby, La Diamond, Ra'Jah O'Hara, Admira Thunderpussy, Jimbo, Cristian Peralta, Captivating Katkat, and Ginger Johnson) who won the Snatch Game went on to win their seasons.
2. In all the seasons to include Snatch Game, only five queens (Yvie Oddly, Willow Pill, Trixie Mattel, Priyanka, and Lawrence Chaney) who placed in the bottom for the Snatch Game went on to win their seasons.
3. as Mary Lee Johnston from Precious
4. ^ as Faye Dunaway's portrayal of Crawford in Mommie Dearest
5. as Violet Crawley from Downton Abbey
6. as Fran Fine from The Nanny
7. as Suzanne "Crazy Eyes" Warren from Orange is the New Black
8. a parodic Kim Jong-un's sister
9. ^ as Blanche Devereaux from The Golden Girls
10. was eliminated in the following episode due to seven queens landing in the bottom.
11. As a twist, the contestants were split in two groups to compete in two separate Snatch Games.
12. a parodic Gordon Ramsay's sister
13. a parodic Trina's cousin
14. Kristin Chenoweth joined the contestants as an additional panelist, portraying herself.
15. as Samantha Jones from Sex and the City
16. As a twist, the contestants were asked to portray two separate celebrities in two separate Snatch Games.
17. as Sheneneh Jenkins from Martin
18. as Patsy Stone from Absolutely Fabulous
19. as Joanie Taylor from The Catherine Tate Show
20. a fictional character Roxxxy portrayed on RuPaul's Drag Race season 5 and All Stars 2
21. as Manny the Fanny from Leguizamo's one-man show Mambo Mouth
22. a satirical version of King Kong
23. A parodic Kevin Hart's sister
24. as Lucille Esmeralda "Lucy" McGillicuddy Ricardo from I Love Lucy
25. Bob the Drag Queen joined the contestants as an additional panelist, portraying herself.
26. as Ziggy Stardust from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
27. as Ace Ventura from Ace Ventura: Pet Detective
28. as an infant
29. a parodic Gollum's cousin
30. as Criquette Rockwell from Le cœur a ses raisons
31. a woman from a La Manif pour tous protest famously mocked on Le Petit Journal
32. from the viral video Las vecinas de Valencia
33. Special guest Pupi Poisson reenacted her season one impersonation of Karina, who was also a celebrity guest alongside Pupi.
34. Credited as Pepa Pink.
35. As a twist, the contestants were asked to switch to a second character mid-Snatch Game.
36. as Terminator from the Terminator franchise
37. Credited as Frau Wollny.
38. Credited as Mega Mega Mindy.
39. Special guest Vincenzo De Lucia took part in the Snatch Game portraying Barbara D'Urso, intervening in various sketches making parodies about the character and the show Pomeriggio Cinque.
40. Credited as Pinguino.
41. Guest judge Tiziano Ferro took part in the Snatch Game as the host.
42. Credited as Il Testone.
43. Credited as Mano Drag.
44. as Miranda Priestly from The Devil Wears Prada
45. as Moira Rose from Schitt's Creek
46. as Lynne Postlethwaite from The D-Generation
47. as Humphries' drag character Dame Edna Everage
48. as Trude from Kath & Kim
49. as Kath Day-Knight from Kath & Kim
50. as Elle Woods from Legally Blonde
51. as Rasputia Latimore from Norbit
52. as Vicky Pollard from Little Britain
53. Credited as Psychic Sally.
54. as Kath Day-Knight from Kath & Kim
55. as Sue Tuke from Charity Shop Sue
56. as Kevin McCallister from the Home Alone films
57. as Gladys Kingston from Little Miss Jocelyn
58. Credited as Sainty Paddy.
59. as Bernie and Derek Faye from The Catherine Tate Show
60. as Mrs. Doubtfire from Mrs. Doubtfire
61. portrayed as having just auditioned for the role of Mary Poppins played by Julie Andrews
62. as Annie Wilkes from Misery
63. first as Austin Powers and then as Dr. Evil from the Austin Powers series of films
64. as Pray Tell from Pose

References

1. "Where Are Your Favorite Queens from RuPaul's Drag Race Season 1?". TV Guide. February 2, 2019. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
2. Joey Nolfi, "Canada's Drag Race first look serves Canadian bacon with a side of fish". Entertainment Weekly, May 19, 2020.
3. "'RuPaul's Drag Race' episode 6 recap: Which queen won Snatch Game?" Archived 2019-04-19 at the Wayback Machine. Mic, April 28, 2017.
4. ^ "The 10 Tightest Snatch Game Characters on RuPaul's Drag Race" Archived 2019-03-27 at the Wayback Machine. Vulture, May 4, 2017.
5. ^ "Bob the Drag Queen on 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 9's Snatch Game". Teen Vogue, May 1, 2017.
6. RuPaul, "Characters are copyrighted. RT @SickeningHunty: Why are "characters" not allowed in Snatch Game?". Twitter, April 12, 2015.
7. Rezsnyak, Eric. ""RuPaul's Drag Race" Season 5: Snatch Game Wrap-Up". City Newspaper. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
8. Reid, Alexander Abad-Santos, Joe (2014-03-25). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Power Rankings: The Snatch Game Edition". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-04-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
9. Petersen, Sven (2014-03-25). "'Drag Race' Aired The Best Episode Ever. But Did It Go Too Far?". www.queerty.com. Archived from the original on 2016-04-17. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
10. Carpentier, Megan; Rushe, Dominic (2015-04-14). "RuPaul's Drag Race recap – season seven, episode seven: Snatch Game". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2019-03-27. Retrieved 2019-04-05.
11. Megarry, Daniel (April 4, 2019). "Drag Race season 11 is doing Snatch Game with a twist…". Gay Times. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 5, 2019.
12. "A stellar lip-sync bails out RuPaul's Drag Race's rocky “Snatch Game At Sea”"
13. "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars 3' Episode 4 Recap: Who Won Snatch Game?". HuffPost. February 16, 2018. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
14. Kulzick, Kate (December 29, 2018). "Drag Race's latest twist pays off as the All Stars play the "Snatch Game Of Love"". The A.V. Club. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
15. O'Keeffe, Kevin (September 9, 2018). "What Makes for a Great 'RuPaul's Drag Race' Snatch Game?". Into. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
16. "Snatch Game, The Kiki Ep 5". intomore. September 9, 2018. Archived from the original on March 30, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
17. "Every Snatch Game Impersonation on RuPaul's Drag Race, Ranked". Vulture. May 3, 2018. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 27, 2019.
18. Lee, Josh (September 21, 2018). "I'm Sorry My Dear But It's Time To Retire Snatch Game". PopBuzz. Archived from the original on March 27, 2019. Retrieved March 26, 2019.

• Comedy
• LGBTQ
• Television

• Drag Race (franchise)
• Improvisation
• Television episodes about impersonation
• Celebrity impersonators