RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under

Kia ora and welcome to my review and power rankings for the second episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 – “Cagey Queens” – a particularly wretched acting challenge.

Despite living in New Zealand for five years, I haven’t seen a single lick of New Zealand TV – so, I couldn’t tell you if this prison skit is a spoof of anything specific about Down Under television.

(In fact, there have been some well-regarded Aussie prison shows to pull from – namely, Prisoner and its modern reboot Wentworth – but I can’t say whether it references either.)

Just based on what I’ve absorbed from conversational context, it feels like a more apt acting challenge would be a Soap Opera spoof of Home and Away or Neighbours, a high school drama, a parody of Xena, a nature programme, or even a badly-imported reality TV show.

(Too meta?)

Yet, here we are with a prison script that sincerely has no plot and no jokes. Much like the “here’s some leaves” design challenge last episode, it feels like these Aussie and Kiwi queens are being given nothing to work worth.

In the immortal words of India Ferrah: “Girl… prison, honey.”

Yet, once again this cast somehow managed to shine despite that. Aside from two queens who were particularly lost in this scene, everyone delivered something ranging from a decent performance to laugh-out-loud comedy.

Pair that with a particularly-strong insect-themed runway and it feels like the cast made good episode by sheer force of will. They certainly weren’t aided by a downright surly Michelle Visage, or the typically-hilarious Lucy Lawless as a guest judge. She gets the chance to say maybe two sentences throughout the entire episode.

This criminally bad acting challenge has shaken up the power rankings significantly from my Week One rankings – with one low queen on a meteoric rise and another queen seemingly doomed to be the next out no matter what she does. Do you agree or disagree? Sound off in the comments below.

If you want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 outside of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the home country of a franchise you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see that content.)

Readers, start your engines… and may the best Down Under drag queen win!

[Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Episode 1 – Cagey Queens: Review & Power Ranking

Kia ora and welcome to my review and power rankings for the first episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 – “Grand Opening” – featuring drag queens from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand!

Drag Race almost always starts out with a look challenge on the first episode. Sometimes that involves a minor “ball” challenge of showing multiple looks on the runway. Other times, as in this episode, it involves a design challenge with a theme and/or using unconventional materials.

This design challenge theme let everyone down – both queens and viewers. The Down Under queens were supposedly offered some native bush of Aotearoa and Australia, but it looks like they only scored a minor assortment of leaves. And… recyclable materials? Including bike tires and a used mattress?

Sure, those things can be recycled, but that’s not the first pile of stuff I think of when I hear “sustainability.” I’d expect much more paper and plastic.

Altogether, the theme didn’t feel especially green in a natural way or green in a sustainable way. This stuff was uncommonly difficult to work with, even for an unconventional materials challenge. Also, by telling the queens the theme was nature and then throwing in the recyclable trash as an afterthought, it felt to me like they were being discouraged to use it for the majority of their looks lest they get a “this really isn’t the theme” comment on the runway.

That’s the show’s prerogative, but for a version of the franchise that might’ve had the most-hated first season of all time I’d think production would be keen to show all of queens in the best possible light for this Season 2 debut. Even the best of their outfits were a bit of a sad trombone compared to most unconventional materials challenges, save for a particular standout.

At least the mini-challenge photo-shoot felt a little more culturally relevant. Sausage Sizzles are enough of a Kiwi staple that even a ovo-lacto-pescatarian shut-in like me has been to a few. They’re the standard fundraiser fodder in New Zealand – effectively, the Kiwi equivalent of selling Girl Scout Cookies or having a bake sale. You run into them at school events, community fundraisers, and even sometimes randomly outside of a grocery store.

And, yes, they sometimes really do just hand over a sausage wrapped in a piece of white bread. The mini-challenge worked because it was something commonly understood by the queens and Ru didn’t need too much specific cultural humor to make and appreciate sausage jokes.

(She missed a The Warehouse joke on the runway – I’m surprised the editors let the free advertising slip through!)

If you want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 outside of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the home country of a franchise you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see that content.)

My initial Power Ranking is completely backwards from my pre-season ranking. Bottoms are at the the top and tops are at the bottom! That includes some controversial choices – like listing a pair of bottom queens above a pair of safe ones. HOW COULD I? You’ll have to read on to see if agree on my thoughts on the power of the edit to say things on RuPaul’s behalf.

Readers, start your engines… and may the best (antipodean) drag queen win! Leave me a comment below if you’d rank the queens differently than I did – I’d love to know your thoughts.

[Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, Episode 1 – Grand Opening: Review & Power Ranking

It’s time, y’all – Drag Race has circled the globe and crossed the equator to make it to my stomping grounds with RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2, featuring 10 queens from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand! That means it’s time for a new pre-season Power Ranking!

I won’t beat around the bush: anyone who watched Drag Race Down Under Season 1 knows it was a rough spot for the franchise. The queens were delightful (except for the unrepentant racist), but the production quality was wobbly and the elimination order was wonky. A production favorite came back only to be completely ignored and another was carried to the finale despite flatlining in the back half of the competition.

Luckily, totally awesome Kiwi queen Kita Mean brought the crown home to our shores (or, more accurately, kept it here, since due to pandemic restrictions in Australia the show was shot in Auckland while NZ was COVID-free). That helped to make up for all of the intended guest stars who were trapped in Australia as well as Ru and Michelle not getting many(/any?) Down Under jokes.

All of that is behind us now. We’re back with another season of Down Under queens starting this weekend (again, shot in NZ!). While we won’t know if this production will be a shit-show or “sweet as,” today we can dig into the cast of 10 amazing drag performers to rank their chances at walking away with a crown.

I’d insert some appropriate Kiwi slang in here, but I’ve been locked in my house for half the time I’ve lived here so I don’t know any.

Now, let’s get to ranking the queens!

My rank is not a comment on their quality as drag artists, but on how far I see them making it on Drag Race based on the trends and tropes of the show as witnessed from over 25 Ru-hosted seasons. These are all outstanding performers, but being a great drag artist doesn’t always translate to doing well on Drag Race.

I have deliberately stayed away from any spoilers about this season, so my ranking is purely off of the vibe I get from queens from their two-minute “Meet The Queens” videos and their social media.

Finally, I’ll disclaim ahead of time that, while I haven’t met any of them or seen them perform, I am obviously going to be biased toward the Kiwi queens. I’ll try not to let it effect my rankings, but let’s face it: this is as close as I’ll ever come to participating in a NZ-vs-AUS rugby rivalry.

If you want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 outside of Australia, New Zealand, and Canada you can sign up for WowPresentsPlus to watch the many worldwide Drag Race franchises for $4.99 a month or $50 a year. (Note that if you’re in the home country of a franchise you will need to use a VPN to “visit” another country to see that content.)

Readers, start your engines! And, may the best (antipodean) drag queen win! [Read more…] about RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 – Pre-Season “Meet The Queens” Power Rankings