Drag Race Italia is an Italian reality competition streaming and television series based on the American series RuPaul's Drag Race, and is the Italian edition of the Drag Race franchise, produced by Ballandi Arts Studios. In a similar format to the American version, the show features a crop of Italian drag queens as they compete for the title of "Italia's Next Drag Superstar" and becoming MAC Cosmetics ambassador for one year. The series is produced by World of Wonder for Discovery+ in Italy, and subsequently free-to-air on Real Time (season 1–2) and, beginning with the third season, Paramount+. The show is also available worldwide on WOW Presents Plus.

Drag Race Italia is the eighth international adaptation of the American reality competition series RuPaul's Drag Race, following Chilean, Thai, British, Canadian, Dutch, Australian and New Zealand, and Spanish versions. It has been followed by French, Filipino, Belgian, Swedish, Mexican, Brazilian, and German iterations.

The series is hosted by Italian drag queen Priscilla, along with actress Chiara Francini, singer and DJ Paola Iezzi, and actor Paolo Camilli. Television personality Tommaso Zorzi appeared as a main judge for the first two seasons, before being replaced by Iezzi and Camilli for the third season.

The first episode of the inaugural season premiered on November 18, 2021. The cast was announced on October 29, 2021. A second season was announced on March 1, 2022 with the premiere confirmed for October 2022.

Production

Season 1 

Casting occurred in early 2021 with production starting in summer 2021. The inaugural season of six one-hour episodes. Early coverage of the production announcement indicated that the series would be broadcast on the streaming platform Discovery+; followed later by a free-to-air broadcast on Real Time, which premiered on January 9, 2022.

In the United States the series premiered on WOW Presents Plus, the streaming service of RuPaul's Drag Race production company World of Wonder, concurrently with its Italian debut.

Season 2 

In March 2022, it was announced that the show was renewed for a second season. At the same time, it is announced that all the judges from the first season have also been reconfirmed.

Season 3 

In March 2023, it was announced that the show was renewed for a third season, with the broadcast confirmed on the streaming platform Paramount+. 

In June 2023, it was announced that Zorzi will not return as a judge in the third season, due to a scheduling conflict with another project he is working on. The third season judging panel included singer and DJ Paola Iezzi and actor Paolo Camilli.

Judges 
On June 30, 2021, it was announced that the judging panel for the first season would include Italian drag queen Priscilla, actress Chiara Francini and television personality Tommaso Zorzi, being reconfirmed for the second season.

In June 2023, coinciding with the program's move to the Paramount+ streaming platform, Priscilla and Francini announced they would be returning for the show's third season while Zorzi would not citing scheduling issues with Discovery+'s shows. In the same day singer and DJ Paola Iezzi and actor Paolo Camilli were announced to be joining the panel to replace Zorzi.

Series overview

References

2020s LGBT-related reality television series
2021 in LGBT history
2021 Italian television series debuts
 
Italian reality television series
Italian television series based on American television series
LGBT in Italy
WOW Presents Plus original programming