Drag Race is heading down under

By 15 February 2021



Oh, my little babies. How we have waited. How we've speculated!

Rumors circulating that a Pacific arm of the twelve-year long-running Drag Race franchise has been running rampant - with Buzzfeed lists of our favourite queens picked to compete bookmarked in my browser (for stalking of course) for at least a year now. 


Waiting with bated breath and a Kylie Minogue Rosé in hand, Ru Paul's Drag Race Down Under has been confirmed. 


The new series, which has finally been confirmed to be filming in New Zealand (let's just say that, as I work for a certain company, a certain New Zealand studio emailed me with a vague overview that I highly suspected was about Drag Race Down Under, and have been waiting for the public announcement since that day), with the news breaking from streaming platform, Stan.


“I cannot wait for everyone to see that Down Under queens have some of the biggest charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talents in the world. Thank you to Stan and TVNZ for providing a platform for these outrageous drag artists to share their heart, soul and humour,” says Ru Paul Charles, host and famed drag performer who is credited with the growth of modern drag across the globe.

Nick Forward, Stan Chief Content Officer, said “You asked for it Australia, and now we’re bringing it to you – finally, our very own Aussie Drag Race, the new Stan Original Series RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under! The series is already a huge hit with our audience, so to now be working with RuPaul and the entire team at World of Wonder to create a local version is beyond a thrill. We can’t wait to reveal all the guest judges and see what our local queens bring to the global sensation that is RuPaul’s Drag Race.”

With the Drag Race franchise, one that comes with an audience of literally MILLIONS of fans (ones that can be quite toxic at times), it will be interesting to see the flow-on effects that come with queens becoming exposed to the masses; with past queens growing their social media pages to hundred's of thousand's of new followers after the release of their participation on the show. Hopefully, it will allow for some education on the tongue-in-cheek humour Australia and New Zealand are so well known for, as well as the political issues that our people and people within the LGBTQIA+ community deal with on the daily. 

Here are the top Down Under stars or cultural references (snatch game characters?) that I just NEED to see on this first season:
  • Kath & Kim
  • J'amie Private School Girl 
  • DAME EDNA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Any reference to Cold Chisel 
  • The Nutbush
  • Courtney Act (unlikely, but I'm hopeful!)
  • Muriel's Wedding
  • Not Happy Jan
  • Priscilla, Queen of The Desert
  • The Veronica's 
  • Broken Heel
  • Kylie/Dannii Minogue 
  • Steve Irwin (RIP)
  • Magda Szubanski
  • Pauline Pantsdown
  • Ian Thorpe
  • Ru Paul's terrible Aussie accent
  • And I'm hoping a nice little mention of our local Drag Bar, Mary's Poppin
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