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As super-fans of RuPaul’s Drag Race, we can’t claim that we’re veteran drag performers and/or experienced comedians… but we have seen a lot of Snatch Game performances over 16 seasons of the series — not to mention all the international shows and the All Stars spinoffs in between.
The goal of Snatch Game is to make Mama Ru laugh. Sometimes, that happens with certain personalities that Ru is incredibly familiar with. Other times, Ru is completely taken aback by people that she probably had never even heard of before. But there’s nothing like watching a queen really succeed in the Snatch Game and having an incredible back and forth with Ru hosting the challenge.
Before we start our ranking, let’s just make one crystal-clear acknowledgment right here and right now: this is a list of Snatch Game winners, which means that all of the queens on the list have succeeded in their own ways. We’re ranking winners against winners, so there has to be some subjectivity in there. With that said, we’ve done our best to rank these according to their impact on the series, add some consensus among fans, and evaluate how they’ve aged over the years.
So buckle up, babes: it’s time to rank the Snatch Game winners of Drag Race.
Scroll through to see our ranking of all Snatch Game winners on RuPaul’s Drag Race — and tune in to watch new episodes of season 16 every Friday on MTV.
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We often add some bonus points for Tatianna’s Britney Spears impersonation on Drag Race season 2 because this was the first-ever Snatch Game in the series. Season 1 didn’t have this challenge, which meant that the queens had no idea how to play it. With that said, Pandora Boxx’s Carol Channing performance in this same Snatch Game gives us much more of a blueprint that would be followed for years to come, making this challenge win from Tatianna feel a little bit odd over time.
VH1
It is very wise for queens to impersonate celebrities with similar personalities as they have, which is what Silky Nutmeg Ganache was aiming for in season 11. On the other hand, OG users of Vine have known Ts Madison for years. She’s now also a regular fixture of Drag Race. Generally speaking, Silky’s Snatch Game was giving more Silky than Ts Madison… and it was funny, but felt a little too close to home.
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Ah, the infamous season 14 Snatch Game where DeJa Skye won was Lil Jon and all seven of the other queens placed in the bottom and had to lip sync for their lives in the next episode. This totally chaotic Snatch Game didn’t work as well as others, which makes DeJa’s win as Lil Jon also feel kind of weird.
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The internet is pretty divided between people who either loved or hated the Snatch Game of season 16. To be honest, we didn’t feel that strongly either way, but we didn’t like it very much — generally speaking. While Plane Jane’s impersonation of Jelena Karleuša did feel like a worthy winner, it’s hard to put it above some of the other winners on this list.
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The impersonation of Mo’Nique from Stacy Layne Matthews on Drag Race season 3 was another gag-worthy moment when a quieter queen just shines in the Snatch Game. We’ve seen that more recently with queens like Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige suddenly doing a good job in the season 16 Snatch Game, but it all started with this Stacy moment as Mo’Nique.
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The biggest gag of Aquaria’s Melania Trump impersonation is just how funny she was able to be after spending the entirety of season 10 explaining that she struggled with public speaking or being quick on her feet. She did benefit from choosing a character that was known for having a lower energy, but what Aquaria pulled off was still really surprising in the best possible way.
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Gottmik entered season 13 trying to prove to people that she wasn’t just a “look queen,” and her Paris Hilton impersonation in the Snatch Game served as the first big evidence that this queen was much more than what meets the eye. Drawing from her pop culture knowledge of Paris, as well as her times hired to literally do Paris’ makeup, Gottmik gave us a Paris Hilton that was simply hilarious.
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After so many seasons with the discussion of queens playing men or women in the Snatch Game, here came Gigi Goode with the idea to play a literal robot (non-human!) in the Snatch Game. When Mama Ru questioned if that was a great idea, Gigi stuck to her guns — and then delivered it! Gigi’s Maria The Robot impersonation was absolutely hilarious and a very well-deserved Snatch Game win.
MTV
We waited a very long time to see a queen finally doing Joan Rivers in the Snatch Game. Though we had gotten Jimbo’s version on Canada’s Drag Race, it was kind of bizarre that this hilarious American comedian beloved by the gays had never been impersonated in the Snatch Game. In season 15, Loosey LaDuca finally gave us what we wanted, and we ate it up! Definitely a standout performance among recent seasons of Drag Race.
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Adele is incredibly charming as a performer, but could she be funny for the Snatch Game? In season 7, Ginger Minj proved that she could. This was a hilarious impersonation that poked fun at the singer but never really disrespected her or anything. During the critiques, Mama Ru announced that Ginger and Kennedy won the challenge, marking the first and only Snatch Game tie in a regular season of Drag Race.
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Playing a …MAN… in the Snatch Game?! [gay gasp] What used to be considered taboo on Drag Race was broken in the season 7 Snatch Game delivered by Kennedy Davenport impersonating Little Richard. While it definitely helped that Little Richard was a larger-than-life queer personality anyway, Kennedy really sold this character and had everyone in the room cracking up with her.
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It’s kind of crazy that it took nine whole seasons for a queen to finally do Liza Minnelli in the Snatch Game. Even though it was a tall order to impersonate such a beloved figure and an icon among gay audiences, Alexis Michelle delivered the full Liza-With-A-Z experience we had been craving for almost a decade watching the show.
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“Excuse me, we originated the language!” What a tough thing for BenDeLaCreme in season 6 to follow up her Seattle drag sister Jinkx Monsoon just one year after Jinkx delivered her groundbreaking Snatch Game as Little Edie. BenDeLaCreme was also in a panel that included Bianca Del Rio’s fierce Judge Judy and Adore Delano’s hilarious Anna Nicole Smith — but Ben was funnier, faster, sharper, and won this challenge fair and square!
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I mean, what can we say about Chad Michaels doing Cher that hasn’t already been said a million times? In recent years, it’s even become a joke that Chad is looking more like Cher than Cher herself! That’s a joke, obviously, because Cher still looks fabulous… but it’s also a testament to just how good Chad is at impersonating her. In the season 4 Snatch Game, Chad not only did justice for her supreme popstar, but also delivered a hilarious performance that had RuPaul, the other queens, and fans at home dying of laughter.
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It can be a high-stakes situation for a self-proclaimed comedy queen to go into the Snatch Game. Priyanka (Canada’s Drag Race season 1) and Lawrence Chaney (RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 2) both bombed their impersonations, for instance. In any case, Bob The Drag Queen absolutely soared in the season 8 Snatch Game with an impersonation of Uzo Aduba that then turned into Carol Channing. But it wasn’t just the gag of doing two characters: it’s that Bob really was that incredible with both of them.
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Jinkx Monsoon’s Little Edie impersonation in season 5 still reigns supreme when it comes to Snatch Games in regular seasons of Drag Race. This Seattle queen literally re-invented the way Snatch Game should be played — interacting with other queens in the panel and making references based on what other answers had been given. This is truly a masterclass in the Snatch Game that is still holding its no. 1 spot.
