The BBC has axed RuPaul’s Drag Race UK after viewing figures dropped by hundreds of thousands.
The show, an adaptation of the popular American show of the same name, has highlighted British drag acts across its eleven series.
But in recent years, viewing figures fell from averages of 1.5 million to around one million.
Fans of the show will have to be subscribed to LGBT+ streaming platform Wow Presents Plus.
A BBC spokesman said: “As the BBC continues to navigate significant financial pressures and deliver the savings required of us, we have had to make some very difficult choices, none of which have been taken lightly.
“We can therefore confirm together with World of Wonder, that RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will be leaving the BBC and moving to WOW Presents Plus.
“The BBC is incredibly proud of all eleven series of this groundbreaking show and we would like to thank RuPaul, World of Wonder and everyone involved, both on and off screen.”
The spokesman noted the eighth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is currently airing on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three.
PICTURED: The season eight cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK
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BBC
Announcing the news, Wow Presents Plus said it was heralding a “new era” of the show.
Matt Brittin, the director-general of the BBC, has previously said “the scale of savings requires tough choices” as the corporation hopes to fill a £500million black hole.
Many of the performers have used RuPaul’s Drag Race UK as a springboard for further work on television.
Tia Kofi, a noted Green supporter, joined Eurovision’s presenting team after their appearance in the second series, later winning spin-off show Drag Race UK vs The World.
Tia Kofi, a winner of Drag Race UK vs The World, used the show as a springboard to later TV work
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WIKIMEDIA / DVSROSS
Ginger Johnson, meanwhile, won Celebrity MasterChef and Tayce won the Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special in 2024.
The success of the show also led to the BBC picking up the rights to air Drag Race Canada and Drag Race Down Under, but it is unclear if the international variants were also axed.
Some more recent drag acts, however, have struggled to use their newfound fame to find work.
“Years ago Drag Race UK contestants earned big money from lucrative tours and corporate gigs, but now the showbiz world is saturated with drag queens, so there isn’t as much work to go around,” an insider told The Sun.
RuPaul hosts the British iteration of the show, which first aired on American screens in 2009
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BBC
The British show launched in 2019 after the success of the original USA series, which premiered in 2009.
Jinkx Monsoon, a winner of the American Drag Race, appeared on Doctor Who in 2024, acting against Ncuti Gatwa’s iteration of the Time Lord.
Major guest judges include Simon Le Bon, Hannah Waddingham, Andrew Garfield, Thandiwe Newton and Nicola Coughlan.
Earlier this year, the BBC announced that the UK’s first ever gay dating show, I Kissed a Boy, had been scrapped.
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