With Canada’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK it was only a matter of time before RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under happened, which represents Drag Queens from Australia and New Zealand.
The series was entirely filmed in Auckland New Zealand, during the height of the pandemic last year. The season introduces the world to the likes of Karen from Finance, Coco Jumbo, Maxi Shields and Etcetera Etcetera. Interestingly enough RuPaul Charles is married to an Australian Georges LeBar.
Like the other series the Drag Queens are competing to take home the crown and the title of Down Under’s first Drag Superstar.
This series has contestants judged by RuPaul, Michelle Visage and Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson with appearances by the likes of Kylie and Dani Minogue and Film Director Taika Waititi.
As with the other incarnations, the series doesn’t hold back and the Queens let loose their opinions on each other and their own performances. They all have a remarkable talent some as comedians and others have this amazing skill set that requires you to complete the overall look that can take some contestant hours but definitely worth the effort.
Episode one of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under was introductions to the contestants and a glamour challenge where the Queens walk the runway presenting an outfit that can be easily identifiable as the city where they reside and perform. Many of the contestants presented outfits that were absolutely sublime while others needed a little bit of work.
The following episode sees the contestants performing in Snatch Game, for those of you not familiar with the format, it is very similar to Celebrity Squares. But the big difference is the Drag Queens perform as various celebrities, some doing the likes of the Queen, Bindi Irwin or Dolly Parton. A number of the performances were absolutely hysterical and others not so funny.
The appeal of the series is that you can see the level of artistic talent these people have to complete this type of performance. The creative design in the costumes, make up and overall performance will leave you impressed. This is a series designed to highlight the amount of effort and energy these people put into their performances each week and you have to remember this is not something you go to school to learn it is something that is handed down from Drag Mother to Drag Child.
RuPaul’s Drag Race has been running for thirteen years including five seasons of all-stars. With the ongoing success of the series you can understand why it has branched out to include Thailand, Canada, UK, Spain, Holland and a slight variation in Chile called The Switch Drag Race which is a similar format.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under is a fascinating series just for the simple fact that Drag Queen culture is very different depending on the country. The style, mannerisms and humor are all varying, but one thing that is the same is the passion and love these individuals have for their art. People do Drag for the simple love of the art form as it isn’t going to bring you fame or fortune and a lot of people do it because they just love the overall creativity.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under is available through the app WOW.
