‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ Season 16: How to Watch the Season Finale Online for Free
RuPaul’s Drag Race is taking its final lap for the season! Season 16 comes to a close on Friday (April 19) on MTV at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
On tonight’s episode, one of the three remaining queens will officially collect the crown and the cash prize.
More from Billboard
Apart from the fabulous queens, the new season featured music challenges and guest judges such as Becky G, Charlize Theron, Adam Shankman, Icona Pop (Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo), Isaac Mizrahi, Jamal Sims, Joel Kim Booster, Kaia Gerber, Kelsea Ballerini, Kyra Sedgwick, Law Roach, Mayan Lopez, Ronan Farrow and Sarah Michelle Gellar.
Michelle Visage, Carson Kressley, Ts Madison and Ross Mathews returned as mainstay judges this season.
Read on for more details about the season and ways to watch and stream the show live for free.
How to Stream RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16
Start your engines! Season 16 of RuPaul’s Drag Race premiered on Jan. 5. The finale episode arrives on MTV on Friday at 8 p.m. ET/PT.
If you’re a fan of the show and want to catch up on the new season, you can watch the latest episodes from this season on MTV.com with a login from your cable or streaming provider. If you don’t have access to MTV through a cable, satellite or a streaming subscription, there are a few ways to stream RuPaul’s Drag Race without paying anything upfront.
For example, Philo offers a free trail and 70-plus channels and unlimited DVR for just $25/month.
The platform is currently offering a seven-day free trial here, so you can stream Drag Race and other shows, movies and more for free for up to a week.
Not interested in Philo? DirecTV Stream offers 70-plus cable and local channels for less than $70, plus a free trial for five days.
You can also find a free trial through Fubo TV to stream live television, including MTV and other cable and local channels. Fubo Pro is $79.99/month for over 100 channels.
Fubo Pro includes 191 channels, 1,000 hours of Cloud DVR and streaming on 10 screen.
Other ways to watch and stream Drag Race: Hulu + Live TV, Sling TV and Verizon Fios.
To access DirecTV, Paramount+ and other streaming platforms internationally, use ExpressVPN (Drag Race is also available on the WOW Presents).
Want to catch up on last season of Drag Race? MTV aired a marathon ahead of the season 16 premiere in January, but you can stream episodes from the current and previous seasons on-demand through your cable or streaming provider or on Paramount+ (for season 15).
Additionally, new episodes and older episodes of Drag Race are available for purchase on Prime Video, Vudu and iTunes.
rupaul's drag race: buy now on prime video
In addition to the new season, the latests installment of Untucked: RuPaul’s Drag Race, where the competing queens discuss the current season, airs on Fridays at 9:30 p.m. ET on MTV.
The season 16 premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race set a record for the franchise for the second year in a row. The season premiere earned the show its highest ratings share in franchise history – a six percent increase from the previous season, per Deadline.
Episode nine, which aired on March 1, earned a 0.697 rating — the show’s highest-rated episode since 2013 and the most-watched cable entertainment show among adults 18-49 and 18-34, according to The Wrap.
Season 16 secured the highest season premiere in six years among adults 18-49, but the ratings only lifted to 0.91, a one percent bump from the previous season. Season 15 held the previous record for the show’s highest rated premiere in six years, Deadline reported at the time.
Part two of the two-part season premiere broke another record for the reality series. According to The Wrap, episode two scored a 0.91 rating among adults 18-34, its highest rating since the season 12 finale in 2020, up 18 percent from the season 16 premiere on Jan. 5.
RuPaul’s Drag Race also celebrated a big night at 75th annual Emmy Awards. The show won for best reality competition program and RuPaul won an award for outstanding host of a reality competition for the eighth year in a row making him the most Emmy awarded reality host in history.
“We are so honored to have this award. You guys are lovely for honoring our show and recognizing all these queens,” RuPaul said in his acceptance speech. “We have released into the wild hundreds of drag queens and they’re beautiful. On behalf of all of them, we thank you.”
The show has won a total of 29 Emmys out of 63 nominations.
How to Watch Previous Seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars
Older episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race and Drag Race All Stars including season 15 extended episodes are available to stream on Paramount+. You can stream the new season of Drag Race on platforms such as Philo, Paramount+, Hulu and Prime Video.
New subscribers can choose between Hulu with, or without, ads to watch various seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race online. Alternatively, the Hulu + Live TV package offers customers 90-plus live channels, including MTV.
Who’s on This Season of RuPaul’s Drag Race?
Meet the queens! The season’s full roster of queens who competed for the ultimate title of “America’s Next Drag Superstar” and a grand prize of $200,000 include Amanda Tori Meating, Dawn, Geneva Karr, Hershii LiqCour-Jeté, Megami, Mhi’ya Iman Le’Paige, Mirage, Morphine Love Dion, Nymphia Wind, Plane Jane, Plasma, Q, Sapphira Cristál and Xunami Muse.
The first episode of the season, titled “Rate-a-Queen,” revealed a portion of the queens competing for the title of America’s Next Drag Superstar. The queens introduced in the premiere episode included Amanda Tori Meating, Dawn, Mirage, Morphine Love Dion, Q, Sapphira Cristál and Xunami Muse. The remaining queens were introduced in the second episode.
For episode one, the queens competed in a photo shoot and talent show. Theron, Becky G, Mizrahi and Roach, McCarthy are some of the guest judges that have appeared this season.
After the semifinals episode only three queens remain: Plane Jane, Nymphia Wind and Sapphira Cristál.
Watch a sneak peek of the new episode below.