RuPaul Announces Premiere Date For Season 2 Of Drag Race Down Under
Image: RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under judges Michelle Visage, RuPaul and Rhys Nicholson.
We finally have a premiere date for the second season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under. Stan on Tuesday announced that the sophomore edition of the series with drag queens from Australia and New Zealand will premiere on Saturday July 30, 2022.
While details of the production are a tightly guarded secret, here’s what we know about Season 2 of the Down Under edition of the Emmy award winning international franchise.
Mama Ru returns with her judges from season one, BFF Michelle Visage and Australian comic Rhys Nicholson. The season will see queens from Australia and New Zealand competing for the crown and title of Drag Race Down Under winner.
Down Under Queens Are Ratchet, Says RuPaul
In March 2022, after wrapping up the shooting of the second season in New Zealand, RuPaul had described the queens from Down Under as “ratchet”.
The first season was criticised for its low production values and RuPaul in an interview on The Graham Norton Show revealed, things hadn’t been upsized for season two.
“It’s the size of a garage, the studio,” RuPaul told Graham Norton. “You’d never know it, and we still have fun. It’s a different type, Australian and Down Under queens are very different.”
Fellow guest and actor Benedict Cumberbatch asked RuPaul how different were the Down Under queens. The Emmy award-winning host responded: “They’re a little bit more, I’m going to get in trouble for this, they’re a little more ratchet. Which is great because, you know I’m married to an Australian, and Australians have a great sense of humour and that’s really what it’s all about, we have so much fun.”
Season One Of Drag Race Down Under
The inaugural season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under premiered in May 2021, with 10 queens competing for the title. New Zealand queen Kita Mean was crowned the winner.
The season was, however, marred by controversies after the past racist behaviour of two contestants Scarlet Adams and Karen From Finance came to light. Scarlet Adams was called out for past performances, where she had appeared in blackface. She was also accused of indulging in racist banter and cultural appropriation. Adams apologised on social media as well as on the show.
Accusations Of Racism Continue To Beset RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under
Karen From Finance had to apologise for sporting a golliwog doll tattoo – the golliwog portrayed as a child’s rag doll is considered a racist caricature of Black people. Karen from Finance said she had disposed of her collection of dolls and covered her tattoo.
Kiwi queen Anita Wigl’it had to apologise after Australian radio host and comedian Anthony “Lehmo” Lehmann said the drag queen had plagiarised one his jokes on the show. The joke, “When you turn 100 you get a letter from the queen, when you turn 16 you get a text from Prince Andrew,” was censored in the UK. Wigl’it apologised to the comedian.
The elimination of contestants was also criticised when the only two queens of colour Jojo Zaho and Coco Jumbo were the first two queens to be eliminated. Subsequently, the show brought back one eliminated queen, Art Simone, who made it to the finale. Coco Jumbo tweeted “Give the white girl another go she deserves it!”.
