Rupaul’s Drag Race Down Under: A guide to the Australian version of the drag queen reality TV competition

Start your engines, because RuPaul’s Drag Race is finally arriving in Australia and New Zealand this weekend.

The show — think America’s Next Top Model but for drag queens — is a certified pop culture phenomenon and the most-awarded reality TV competition in Emmy history.

While the 13th season of the American iteration has just finished (all hail the reigning queen Symone), the original has spawned a gaggle of international offspring, including Thailand, Holland, the United Kingdom and Canada’s Drag Race.

Now, RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under is joining the family.

Hold up, who is RuPaul? 

RuPaul Charles is a singer, model, actor, author and drag queen. 

He cut his teeth as a club kid in New York in the early 90s, vaulting to international fame when his hit single Supermodel came out at the end of 1992.

RuPaul briefly hosted an MTV talk show in the mid-90s with Michelle Visage, but Drag Race has propelled him to a new level of stardom.

What actually happens on the show?

Despite the name, nothing with cars. 

In RuPaul’s Drag Race, Ru sets out to find and crown America’s “next drag superstar“.

Each week, the cast of drag queens compete in a range of challenges — acting, singing, sewing, dancing, stand-up — and walk the runway (past runway themes include ‘Night of a Thousand Madonnas’, ‘Wigs on Wigs on Wigs’ and ‘Latex Extravaganza’).

After Ru and his panel (including Visage) judge the queens, the two least impressive competitors of the week have one last chance to save themselves from elimination by lip-syncing for their lives. 

A note: We recommend reading up on the queer and African American history of the slang featured in Drag Race.

The show started out as a low-budget affair (see: the first season’s lighting) that premiered on Logo (a small, queer cable TV channel) in 2009, before evolving into a VH1 juggernaut with a cash prize of US$100,000.

And while this is not RuPaul’s best friend race, over the seasons the queens have shared stories — of homophobia, racism, addiction and other traumas — with groundbreaking candour. 

Side note, what is drag?

Big question, reader!

When most people think of drag, they think of men performing female characters (queens) or women performing male characters (kings) — but drag is broader and more complex than that.

Drag historian Joe E. Jeffreys told Time: “Drag is a theatrical form. Drag is anytime that someone is putting on clothing that is considered to be not appropriate to them, and then wearing it with some type of ironic distance.”

Speaking to Stop Everything! in 2019, before she was cast on Drag Race Down Under, Australian drag queen Karen From Finance said: “Drag first and foremost is about creating a character. And you could say ‘performing gender’. I say ‘gender is a character’. I perform a character … It’s about entertaining.”

Another queen who was subsequently cast in the show, Art Simone, told Stop Everything!: “It really comes down to just being a fabulous personality that people appreciate. You don’t have to look a certain way, if they relate to you … that’s what really matters.”

Okay, so who is competing in Drag Race Down Under?

Seven drag queens from Australia and three from New Zealand.

Who is hosting and judging?

Unlike some other international versions of the show, RuPaul is hosting the series.

Joining him on the judging panel are Drag Race veteran Michelle Visage and Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson.

Other guest stars set to appear in the series are popstars Kylie and Dannii Minogue and director Taika Waititi.

So is this simply the US show with Australian and New Zealander competitors and guests?

Not exactly. 

Nicholson told RN Drive: “I feel like American drag is a very particular thing and … because the show is so popular, it has become the idea of what drag is.”

But he says Drag Race Down Under showcases the diversity of drag, as well as drag that’s particular to Australia. 

Nicholson told ABC Arts: “It’s not as simple as a man dressed as a woman, or a woman dressed as a man, lip-syncing to a song. We do a more kind of character-based [drag here].”

Australia has its own history with drag, whether that’s Black drag or The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.

“The thong dress in Priscilla is a pretty perfect boil-down of what we do — it’s crafty, it’s high camp, it’s a reference to something,” says Nicholson.

Beyond the drag on display, Drag Race Down Under’s challenges will also tap into our uniquely antipodean sensibilities, says the host.

But there’s already been some drama?

Yes, RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under has already been marred by controversy.

Firstly, Scarlet Adams issued an apology after being called out by Aboriginal drag queen Felicia Foxx for Blackface and cultural appropriation.

Then Karen from Finance apologised for a racist tattoo (now covered) and doll collection (now disposed of).

When asked for comment by the ABC, Stan Publicity wrote: “There are no comments from production relating to the recent press around Scarlet/Karen. It will be addressed in the show.”

While we’re here, the US show is not without its own controversies, including criticism over its treatment of drag queens of colour and trans competitors.

Who is this show for? 

The fandom has changed and grown since Visage joined the show as a judge in season three, and has a legion of both queer and straight fans, young and old.

Visage told Stop Everything!: “I think it resonates with everyone because of one certain thing, and that’s everyone is welcome.”

Nicholson says: “As soon as something that a small community creates becomes mainstream, we start to go: ‘Well, is it still our thing?'”

“And I would say, the amount of jokes in this show that go straight over straight people’s heads … [means] it is for us, and just [because it’s] for everyone as well, doesn’t mean it’s not for us anymore.”

When’s the premiere and where can I watch it?

The first episode (of eight) of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under drops at 4:00pm AEST Saturday on Stan.

I’ve watched the first episode and now I want more.

Of course you do.

While you wait for next week’s episode, why not simply catch up on all 13 seasons of the original RuPaul’s Drag Race (and its many other spinoffs) on Stan. If you’re overwhelmed and not sure where to start, we recommend the glory years: seasons four to six.

Of course, there is a world of drag outside of RuPaul.

As an entree, check out documentaries Paris is Burning and The Queen (Netflix), and the TV show Pose (Binge).

And now that you’ve read this handy explainer, why not get out to your local gay bar and take in some live drag?