RuPaul’s Drag Race finale to go ahead virtually without disqualified finalist Sherry Pie

Finale will air on 29 May

The grand finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race season 12 is set to go ahead with a lip sync competition recorded over Zoom.

With last week’s semi-final of the competition series seeing contestants Jaida Essence Hall, Crystal Methyd and Gigi Goode reach the top three, fans had been left questioning how the show would find its winner without their usual “lip sync for the crown” event able to go ahead.

However, as reported by Entertainment Weekly, the finale on 29 May will see the finalists compete in a virtual lip sync competition using “boundary-pushing technology” to highlight each queen’s creativity.

A reunion special filmed virtually and starring all the eliminated contestants will also air on 22 May.

The semi-final of the 12th season of Drag Race saw queen Sherry Pie also reach the show’s top four, despite being retrospectively disqualified from the competition following “predatory” catfishing claims.

In March, Sherry, real name Joey Gugliemelli, was accused of posing as a casting director and asking aspiring performers to submit “disturbing” audition tapes, with one man claiming he agreed to masturbate for him on camera.

In a disclaimer airing after each episode, RuPaul’s Drag Race producers clarified that Sherry would not be appearing in the reunion and final even if she did reach the top four and that it would donate $5,000 (around £4100) to charity anytime she won a main challenge.