Global drag sensation RuPaul will host and judge the anticipated Australian edition of his hit reality competition Drag Race, streaming platform Stan has announced.
Longtime Drag Race co-star Michelle Visage will also join as a judge on the season, which begins filming in New Zealand this week and airs later this year.
Of Drag Race’s seven international franchises, the Down Under edition is only the second – after Drag Race UK – to be judged by two of the American production’s original cast members.
But Australia lost the lip sync when it comes to the show’s filming location: according to an unnamed source who spoke to the Nine papers, the shoot moved to New Zealand due to Sydney’s recent Covid-19 outbreak and border restrictions.
RuPaul, whose husband is Australian, said in a statement: “I cannot wait for everyone to see that Down Under queens have some of the biggest charisma, uniqueness, nerve and talents in the world.”
This is the first reality-TV commission for the Nine-owned streaming service, which also hosts Drag Race’s US, Canadian and British editions. Nick Forward, Stan’s chief content officer, said Drag Race was “already a huge hit with our audience”.
In August 2019, ITV Studios Australia announced it had acquired the rights to produce a local edition of Drag Race. In Stan’s statement on Tuesday, the producers are listed as World of Wonder (the producers of Drag Race internationally) in collaboration with Warner Bros International Production New Zealand for Stan and TVNZ.
The TVNZ partnership, filming location and announcement of the name “Drag Race Down Under” puts paid to rumours published by Auckland-based LGBTQ+ website Express that Drag Race will also feature New Zealander contestants.
Stan says the series’ contestants, third judge and celebrity guest judges will be announced later in 2021 – but anonymous Wikipedia users, who updated the Drag Race franchise page to include RuPaul and Visage more than a week before Stan confirmed their participation, listed the series’ third judge as Australian comedian Joel Creasey. Stan declined to comment on the Wikipedia entry.
