Drag Race Down Under Episode One: ‘Loosen Up! Amyl’s Here’
Image: Amyl Instagram
Episode one of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under dropped Friday night, kicking off season three of the successful drag franchise and setting 10 queens on a collision course for the crown.
The first Maxi challenge was to create a “traffic-stopping Mardi Gras float” performance.
Each queen wrote a verse to a mash-up of RuPaul’s songs “Super Queen” and “Sissy That Walk”.
Together, they came up with their own choreography for their group performance on the Main Stage.
(This article has spoilers for Season 3 of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Down Under Episode One)
‘Lifetimes Are Not What They Used To Be’
Amyl and Ivory Glaze struggled with the choreography, Ashley Madison struggled with “nipple-gate,” and Hollywould Star shined.
Amyl wore a dress with the phrase, “Lifetimes Are Not What They Used To Be,” inspired by David McDiarmid’s artwork.
“The message that I’ve brought to the runway today is a message of hope,” Amyl explained.
“Lifetimes are not what they used to be, in the sense that we’ve got whole new ways to fight something that had previously devastated communities – and I think that’s really powerful.”
Spoiler Alert
The first queen to sashay away: Amyl.
Nerves got the better of Amyl, which put her into the bottom along with Ivory Glaze.
‘She Gives Blak Excellence’
Amyl has been on the drag scene since 2019.
“She gives Blak excellence,” Hollywould Star said of Amyl, in an episode testimonial.
Talking to Star Observer, Amyl shared the experience of being a ‘RuGirl’ and making it to the runway.
Using words like, “overwhelming, special, exhausting, exciting” she explained, “I feel like I am feeling every single emotion, that anyone has ever felt, at any point in history, and I’m feeling it all at once. It’s fabulous.”
When asked what she has taken away from this relatively short, yet meaningful time on the show, Amyl said, “I can act with a little more confidence in my life.”
“[The time on the show] made me want to really improve at what I do,” she added.
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A Floral Dress And Two Huge Balloons
Amyl’s first time in drag was at a movie character-themed fundraiser in high school.
“I decided to go as Big Momma from Big Momma’s House, and I wore this foul floral dress, I had two huge balloons as my breasts, and the worst wig I’ve, maybe, ever seen in my life.”
“Then I had to get out of drag before I got home that night, to my parents.”
“It was a whirlwind of a night. I think it sparked something. It definitely sparked something.”
Favourite Sydney Queer Space
When asked to name her favourite Queer space in Sydney, Amyl named two. “Ching-a-Lings on Oxford Street. I’m also very partial to the Imperial in Erskineville, which obviously has a very important history as a queer venue.”
‘Flor May Take That Shadiest Queen Title’
When asked who the shadiest queen on the show is, Amyl said: Flor.
Amyl recalled, “Flor said something to me as soon as we walked in. It was day one and she said, ‘You know, you’re actually nice. I didn’t think you were gonna be nice.’”
“I think Flor may take that shadiest queen title,” she said with a laugh.
Catch new episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under every Saturday on Stan.
