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Just in time for Pride Month, Hulu’s new reality competition series Drag Me to Dinner has a seemingly foolproof premise – two teams of drag queens competing to see who can throw the best dinner party. In theory, a show combining the lighthearted competition of Nailed It! with the nonsensical sketch comedy challenges of RuPaul’s Drag Race promises to be a great time, but unfortunately stumbles in its execution. The delight of watching some of the most entertaining drag queens improvise elaborate themed dinner parties is bogged down by executive producers and judges Neil Patrick Harris and David Burtka, both of whom insist on being a main part of the show themselves. Drag Me to Dinner loses itself in its own premise, resulting in a campy yet awkward mess.
How Does ‘Drag Me to Dinner’ Work?
Though Drag Me to Dinner sometimes forgets it’s a reality competition show entirely, the format is as follows: two drag duos must plan and prepare a dinner party according to the theme presented to them (examples include Tropical Kiki and Tupperware Party) to be judged on “food and drink, design and decor, and entertainment and overall vibe.” It’s hosted by drag king Murray Hill, and the four judges (referred to as judgers) are Harris, Burtka, Bianca Del Rio, and Haneefah Wood. The queens have a variety of interpretations of the task at hand, often coming up with songs and games which typically devolve into chaos by the end of the party, reminiscent of the outlandish sketch comedy scenes you would see on Drag Race.
Drag Me to Dinner loses its charm when it spends time on anyone other than the contestants. The star-studded duos include drag legends like Peaches Christ and the late great Heklina, and plenty of Drag Race alumna like Jinkx Monsoon and BenDeLaCreme, Jaida Essence Hall and Heidi N Closet, and Latrice Royale and Manila Luzon. All the contestants are funny in their own right, and the highlight of the show is watching these queens who are skilled at improv bounce off of each other comedically and create a uniquely hilarious experience. The same cannot be said of the host and judges, however. Hill does a fine job of ushering the show from one segment to the next, but doesn’t bring the humor you would expect from the host of a show as campy and chaotic as this one. Instead of hosting, Del Rio’s talents are squandered as one of the four judges, whose main role is to drop punchy one-liners that sometimes make the other judges visibly uncomfortable in a way that suggests that they may not be entirely in on the joke.
Much Room for Improvement
Though the show is a nice departure from the competitive nature of Drag Race as the queens aren’t competing for prize money but a golden cheese grater, at times it appears that the contestants, and even the judges themselves, aren’t exactly sure what the point of the show is. It clearly takes inspiration from Nailed It!, though most of the queens aren’t earnestly trying to cook something appetizing (or even edible), but when it comes time to assess the parties, the judges assess them as if they were. And when the parties end up resembling a sort of fever dream, the judges, aside from Del Rio, often seem confused at such a turn of events, despite it ostensibly being part of the point of the show.
What could have been neat 30-minute episodes drag on by pulling focus from the queens and shoehorning in corny backstage sketches with the judges, inexplicably failing to edit out the copious dead air and frequent awkward silences in every episode. Though the dinner party sets are cute, the lighting does the queens no favors and leaves everyone on set looking washed out. Considering the hour-and-a-half time limit is seemingly arbitrary as the show’s “Handy Helpers” do most of the actual set decorating, the show cuts to Hill and Burtka explaining who the contestants are while the action unfolds around them. Instead of speaking to the queens directly as they’re formulating ideas or utilizing confessionals to hear about the queens’ friendships in their own words, Hill and Burtka stand off to the side and clumsily explain them to each other as if they were just learning who the queens are for the first time on camera.
Drag Me to Dinner tries to have the best of both worlds — a genuine competition with comedic elements and absurdist sketch comedy — but gets lost in the attempt, resulting in an experience that ranges from entertaining to surprisingly tedious.
The show would benefit from executive producers Harris and Burtka staying out of the spotlight and allowing Del Rio to have a bigger role, especially considering her successful run as host of The Pit Stop. It’s counterproductive to have judges who appear to get visibly uncomfortable at scandalous jokes or shady comments in a show that’s meant to be a celebration of drag.
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