The eighteenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race started airing on January 2nd, 2026. The fourteen new contestants came to lip sync, sew, and act their way to the crown. This year, the race is one of the toughest ever, with most of the cast being thirty or older, and having over a century of experience in drag combined.
Predicting who will make it to the top four of the competition is extremely difficult, but someone has to do it.
1. Jane Don’t
Being in the top for the first three episodes basically guarantees being in the finale. Not only has she done this, but she has a win under her belt. Jane Don’t is the complete package. She has shown in the first four episodes that she can sew, perform, and act exquisitely. Jane Don’t will likely dominate the ball coming later in the season. Coming from a drag family that has already dominated the show will also help. Her two drag sisters, Bosco and Irene The Alien, were both finalists on the most recent season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. The two dominated the season, only being eliminated in the finale due to a lip-sync twist (it was rigged), and they helped Jane prepare for the trials and tribulations of the show. Clearly, their advice is paying off. As long as Jane continues to do what she’s been doing she will likely dominate the competition.
2. Juicy Love Dion
Prior to episode three, I was convinced that Juicy would not make it to the finale. In her own words, “I don’t act, I don’t do comedy,” and she already flopped in the first sewing challenge. However, Juicy did incredibly well in episode three’s RDR Live Challenge. Off the show, we have seen Juicy perform in a manner that no one else has ever been able to on Drag Race. The way she emotes, the handstands into splits, all of the tricks, Juicy is truly the ultimate performer. There is no one on this cast that could eliminate Juicy in a lip-sync, and the show no longer does eliminations without a lip-sync. Juicy also may also continue to do well in comedy and acting challenges, with her episode three win being proof of this. Then, she surprised everyone in episode four by creating a somewhat visually appealing garment, showing that she may have much more up her sleeves than it appears.
3. Darlene Mitchell
Darlene hasn’t had much screen time in the first four episodes but despite this, she’s been doing incredibly well in the competition. She entered the competition with an adorable, expertly constructed pajama-inspired garment and sold it beautifully on the runway. In episode two she was technically in the bottom but despite this the judges absolutely adored what she did in the girl group challenge; it was silly, she looked incredible, and her runway that week was definitely one of the more unique garments. In episode three she was in the top, delivering a hilarious performance in RDR Live. Episode four, again she delivered an incredible look despite her inspirations being really hard to combine. Again, she was technically in the bottom but her look was leagues better than Athena’s. The judging this week was really weird. The judges loved Darlene’s look but said her shoes were ugly so the win had to go to Athena (even though Darlene’s shoes were barely visible and they had many problems with Athena’s look). Regardless of Darlene’s two-ish bottom placements, she has really shown to be incredible at Drag Race. Now, all she needs to succeed is for the judges to give her the 10s she deserves.
