The third season of RuPaul's Drag Race began airing on January 24, 2011, and ended its run on May 2 of the same year. Thirteen drag queens competed for the title of "America's Next Drag Superstar", a headlining spot on the Absolut Tour, a lifetime supply of Kryolan makeup, and a cash prize of $75,000.

This season had Michelle Visage replacing Merle Ginsberg at the judge's table and Billy Brasfield (better known as Billy B), Mike Ruiz, and Jeffrey Moran filling in for Santino Rice's absence during several episodes. Billy B, celebrity makeup artist and star of the HGTV mini-series Hometown Renovation, appeared as a judge in five episodes. Whereas Mike Ruiz only judged for two episodes, and Jeffrey Moran for one, Moran only appeared for promotional reasons. Due to Billy B's continued appearances, he and Rice are now considered to have been alternate judges for the same seat at the judges table, both appearing side-by-side in the reunion special to announce Yara Sofia as the season's Miss Congeniality.

Other changes made included the introduction of a wildcard contestant from the past season, Shangela; an episode with no elimination; and a contestant, Carmen Carrera, being brought back into the competition after having been eliminated a few episodes prior. A new pit crew was also introduced consisting of Jason Carter and Shawn Morales.

The theme song playing during the runway every episode was changed to "Champion" while the song playing during the credits is "Main Event", both from RuPaul's album Champion. As with the previous season, each week's episode was followed by a behind-the-scenes show, RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked. On December 6, 2011, Amazon.com released this season on DVD via their CreateSpace program.

The winner of the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race was Raja, with Manila Luzon being the runner-up.

Contestants

Ages, names, and cities stated are at time of filming.

+Contestants of RuPaul's Drag Race season 3 and their backgrounds Contestant Age Hometown Outcome Raja 36 Los Angeles, California Manila Luzon 28 New York City, New York Alexis Mateo 30 St. Petersburg, Florida 3rd place Yara Sofia 26 Manatí, Puerto Rico 4th place Carmen Carrera 25 Elmwood Park, New Jersey 5th place Shangela 28 Los Angeles, California 6th place Delta Work 34 Norwalk, California 7th place Stacy Layne Matthews 25 Raynham, North Carolina 8th place Mariah 29 Atlanta, Georgia 9th place India Ferrah 23 Dayton, Ohio 10th place Mimi Imfurst 26 New York City, New York 11th place Phoenix 29 Atlanta, Georgia 12th place Venus D-Lite 26 Los Angeles, California 13th place

Notes:

Contestant progress

Lip syncs Legend:

Episode Contestants Song Eliminated 2 Shangela vs. Venus D-Lite "The Right Stuff"(Vanessa Williams) Venus D-Lite 3 Delta Work vs. Phoenix "Bad Romance"(Lady Gaga) Phoenix 4 India Ferrah vs. Mimi Imfurst "Don't Leave Me This Way"(Thelma Houston) Mimi Imfurst 5 India Ferrah vs. Stacy Layne Matthews "Meeting in the Ladies Room"(Klymaxx) India Ferrah 6 Delta Work vs. Mariah "Looking for a New Love"(Jody Watley) Mariah 7 Alexis Mateo vs. Stacy Layne Matthews "Knock on Wood"(Amii Stewart) Stacy Layne Matthews 8 Delta Work vs. Manila Luzon "MacArthur Park"(Donna Summer) Delta Work 9 Carmen Carrera vs. Yara Sofia "Mickey (Spanish version)"(Toni Basil) None 10 Carmen Carrera vs. Shangela "Believe"(Cher) Carmen Carrera 11 Alexis Mateo vs. Shangela "Even Angels"(Fantasia) Shangela 12 Carmen Carrera vs. Raja "Straight Up"(Paula Abdul) Carmen Carrera 13 Alexis Mateo vs. Yara Sofia "I Think About You"(Patti LaBelle) Yara Sofia Episode Contestants Song Winner 15 Manila Luzon vs. Raja "Champion (DJ BunJoe's Olympic Mix)"(RuPaul) Raja

Guest judges Listed in chronological order:

Bruce Vilanch, comedy writer, songwriter, and actor Mike Ruiz, photographer, director, and reality television personality Vanessa Williams, actress, singer, and former Miss America Lily Tomlin, actress and comedian Alessandra Torresani, actress La Toya Jackson, singer Susan Powter, motivational speaker and fitness guru Chloë Sevigny, actress and model Debbie Matenopoulos, television host Aisha Tyler, comedian and actress Amber Rose, model Eliza Dushku, actress Sara Rue, actress Rita Rudner, comedian Arden Myrin, comedian Cheryl Tiegs, model Johnny Weir, professional figure skater Jeffrey Moran, Absolut Vodka marketing/branding executive Jody Watley, R&B/pop singer Carmen Electra, actress Wayne Brady, actor, comedian, and singer Fantasia Barrino, singer, actress, and author Margaret Cho, actress and comedian Sharon Osbourne, television host and reality television personality Gigi Levangie, novelist and host of Logo's The Arrangement

Episodes

Ratings Episode Title Viewers (in millions) Households1 Ages 18–491Network2The Queen who Mopped Xmas0.449 -0.4/1LOGO3Queens in Space0.5600.3/10.3/1VH14Totally Leotarded0.4780.3/10.2/15QNN News0.5370.4/10.3/16The Snatch Game0.5030.3/10.2/17Face, Face, Face of Cakes0.4860.4/10.2/18Ru Ha Ha0.4830.3/10.2/1 1Based upon point/share system for Nielsen ratings. The first number represents the percentage of households within the population viewing the program (known as points). The second number (known as shares) is how many households were expected to view the program, within the population. For example, Episode 8 has a point/share of "0.3/1". This means .3% of households viewed the program from the expected 1%, showing .7% of the show's audience were watching a different program.

Controversy Raja's win leaked

Before the season even started airing, blogger Perez Hilton revealed Raja as the winner to the public, causing an uproar from fans. It also led to the show's crowning format being changed, with the finale taped with several different winning outcomes. The true outcome would then be announced during the broadcast of the finale in an attempt to conceal the winner's identity and prevent any spoilers from taking place. This took place from the following season-onwards.

References

External links (U.S.) (Canada) Official Facebook page