A Tearful Down Under Vs The World Farewell: ‘No Matter If I Did Good Or Bad, They Would Put Me In The Bottom’

Flor talks returning to Drag Race Down Under with elevated looks, facing four bottom placements, her misunderstood Mr Bean performance, fan toxicity, and whether she would answer the Drag Race call again.

Flor returned to Drag Race Down Under Vs The World convinced the franchise would call her back and determined to prove how far her drag had come.

Despite her track record, the Drag Race Down Under star still made a stunning impression on her return.

Flor makes a proud return on Drag Race Down Under Vs The World 

After finishing as a runner-up on season three of Drag Race Down Under, the New Zealand-born queen, who performed in Australia before relocating to the UK, entered the international competition with a clear goal: elevated, polished looks and another chance to perform on the world stage.

“I knew they wanted to get me back,” Flor told The Star Observer. “I knew they were going to call me back.”

The call eventually came while she was on her way to work, although she did not accept immediately.

“I didn’t say yes. I said yes after maybe, like, a week,” she said.

That decision led to a turbulent six episode run: a girl-group challenge win, four appearances in the bottom and, ultimately, an elimination at the hands of UK queen Michael Marouli. It was a tearful elimination that saw Flor unable to contain her emotions as she walked off stage without a word or a hug for her fellow queens, still struggling to contain her composure upon her return to the workroom.

Flor returned ready to elevate her drag, but she knew the international cast would make her second time in the competition more difficult.

“I knew it was going to be harder because there were some other, you know, very good queens this time,” she said. “And so I was nervous, but excited as well.”

When asked what she most wanted to bring differently, her answer was immediate: “Polished looks.”

“I think I stand by my looks from last season, but this time I really wanted to elevate them even more,” she said.

Her package delivered some of the season’s most striking runway moments, including her bloody, decaying reveal for episode six’s Shock And Awe category.

The episode began with Flor winning the Spank Bank mini challenge and earning the power to pair the queens for the week’s acting challenge, House of Whores: A Trilogy of Terror.

Flor competed alongside Vybe in The Shevil Dead, while Art Simone and LaLa Ri starred in Hell-Ho Dolly, and Michael Marouli and M1ss Jade So tackled The Sex Files.

Despite making it through the acting challenge and runway, Flor and Vybe landed in the bottom. It marked Flor’s fourth time facing elimination, coming within one placement of a five bottom record from the US franchise.

Four trips to the bottom took their toll, by the third and fourth bottom placements, Flor felt her fate had become unavoidable.

“I think at that point I was like, ‘No matter if I do good or bad, they will put me in the bottom,’” she said. “So I was like, ‘Oh well, here we go again.’”

The repeated placements gradually weighed on her.

“I think the third time I was like, ‘Okay.’ But the fourth one I was like, ‘Okay, yeah, I’m not surviving this one.’”

Michael and Jade were named the top two queens of the week and faced off to “UK Hun?” for the power to eliminate either Flor or Vybe. Michael won the lip-sync and selected Flor’s lipstick.

Flor said she had expected Michael to choose her “I knew Michael was going to pick my name no matter what,” she said.

She believed she had a better chance if Jade won because of the close bond the pair had formed during filming, a relationship she felt viewers did not get to see in full.

“I had a stronger connection with Jade. They cut a lot of our moments, but we were so close, and I knew she wasn’t going to pick my name,” Flor said.

Despite the disappointment, Flor remains proud of what she achieved.

“I was proud,” she said. “I think what I did was good.”

Flor stands by her Mr Bean Snatch Game

One of Flor’s biggest risks came during Snatch Game, when she chose Rowan Atkinson’s famously near silent character Mr Bean.

The performance failed to impress the judges and placed her in danger, but Flor remains proud of the concept and its execution.

“I wanted to pick a character who was not Latin, or someone people expected me to do,” she said.

Flor arrived with props, a carefully constructed look and the character’s recognisable physical mannerisms. However, speaking throughout the performance along with her “drag reveal” at the end ultimately let her down.

“I thought I did Mr Bean very funny,” she said. “Like Michelle said, if I was quiet, I could have won the whole thing. And, yeah, I believe that, because I ticked so many boxes.”

“I know the ending was a bit questionable, but I tried my best.”

Looking back, Flor believes much of the performance worked exactly as planned.

“I think I did very well,” she said. “I had props, I used all my props, and I made it very funny. And sadly, they put me in the bottom.”

Fan negativity followed the season

The queens’ performances were not the only source of pressure. As the season aired, contestants faced intense scrutiny from viewers, with Art Simone publicly responding to some of the abusive messages directed at her, including death threats.

Flor said the first two episodes brought a wave of negative comments and direct messages, but she tried not to let them define her experience.

“I really don’t pay attention to any negativity,” she said. “I think I have thick skin, and I’ve been good at observing the positives and laughing about the negatives.”

In Flor’s view, the most toxic reactions often come from viewers defending a favourite queen by attacking everyone around them.

“When they have their favourites, no matter what, they’re going to attack the other queens around them,” she said. “They don’t care if they did good or bad. They’re just going to attack because their favourite is not doing as well as they want them to be doing.”

Her message to fans is to stop and consider how their words would feel if the roles were reversed.

“Before sending a message or a comment, read it as if someone else were sending it to you,” Flor said. “Put yourself in that person’s shoes and think about whether you would like that type of comment or message in your life before you send it.”

Meeting Raven left Flor starstruck

One of the season’s biggest surprises was Raven’s arrival in the werkroom, initially presented as a competitor before her true role in the season was revealed.

For Flor, meeting one of her all-time favourite queens was unforgettable.

“I was very gagged because she’s one of my favourite queens of all time,” she said. “Knowing that she was going to be there, I was very gagged. It was incredible.”

The pair had met previously and have remained in contact. “We actually message on Instagram,” Flor said. “She’s very nice. I met her before, and she’s always been lovely to me.”

Since her original Drag Race Down Under season, Flor has relocated to Birmingham, where her husband is from.

She said the move had opened up new opportunities for her drag career.

“I think, for drag, I would say that it’s better. For gigs, it’s like 24/7 shows here,” she said.

“My husband is from Birmingham, and that’s why I moved here. The people are lovely, and I felt welcome.”

While London remains a major centre for UK drag, Flor prefers the pace of Birmingham.

“I feel like London is too busy for me,” she said. “When I go to London, I have a photo shoot or a show, and then I go back to Birmingham straight away.”

The girl-group win remains Flor’s proudest moment

Despite the difficult end to her run, Flor left the competition with a challenge win she remains deeply proud of.

“I think winning the performance challenge, because I enjoy performing,” she said. “I think that’s one of the things I really enjoy about drag: performing. I won that challenge, and I felt so proud of myself.”

That badge, together with the runway package she set out to elevate, forms the legacy Flor hoped to build the second time around.

And if another international franchise calls, she has not closed the door, although she will not give an immediate yes next time either.

“I will think about it,” Flor said. “It’s never a no, but I will think about it.”

Drag Race Down Under Vs The World is streaming on Stan in Australia.