Drag Race Down Under Episode Two: Aubrey Haive and the Metamorphosis Mishap
Image: Image: Mark Dickson
Episode two of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under ruvealed itself Saturday night, continuing season two of the New Zealand Australian drag competition for the crown.
In this week’s episode, the queens were separated into two teams and acted in a prison-themed dramedy called Caged Queens.
This was followed by an insect-themed runway.
Yuri Guaii, Kween Kong, and Aubrey Haive struggled the most with the acting challenge.
SPOILER ALERT
This week the drag gods (and RuPaul) chose Aubrey Haive for elimination.
The unfortunate mishap that got her eliminated: a reveal that failed to metamorphosise.
Speaking about the experience of making it into the competition from her “drag room,” a room overflowing with clothes and wigs, Aubrey talked with Star Observer about making it to the runway and what she learned from this adventure.
“Being someone who’s new to drag, I only had shit to learn from doing this. And so for me I just was able to just sap up all this information from all these other queens who are so incredible and so experienced,” she said.
“Even the process of getting ready for drag race is like a masterclass on how to do drag.
“I had never had a custom outfit made for me, in my dimensions, before I went on drag race. That was the first time I’d ever been to someone’s place and gotten a costume fitting and my dimensions and shit.”
Drag Created During Lockdown
Aubrey started doing drag at the height of COVID-19 while stuck inside and made the Melbourne lockdown work for her. With the help and encouragement of her partner, who also does drag, Aubrey Haive emerged.
Her first ever drag performance was in May 2021.
Aubrey Learned drag by watching online tutorials and through trial and error.
“Everything is online. Like everyone’s done a tutorial on how to do your makeup and because there’s so many different makeup tutorials you can take from different ones that work for your face… everything can sort of be learned at home,” she said.
“It took a while. I did not look good. Those first few times. Damn. I hope those photos don’t go anywhere,” Aubrey said with a laugh.
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Aubrey: I Love to do as Much as Possible and Try and do New Shit
When asked if she had any regrets from her time on Drag Race, she said, “My regret would be not practising reveals before going on the show.”
Aubrey went on to say, “I love to do as much as possible and try and do new shit that I haven’t seen other people doing as much and push the boundaries… Even my own boundaries of how capable I am. And I definitely do that and embarrass myself way too many times on stage.”
Moving forward, Aubrey would love to get more musical with her drag. Growing up in her hometown of Timaru, New Zealand, she would sing and dance and play guitar.
“I really want to bring that into my drag,” she says. “I’ve started writing some songs and things like that, which I’m hoping I’ll be able to record and get done by the time the season finishes.
“I want to sort of dive deep into that world of being a more musical drag artist.”
All of Aubrey’s unseen looks will debut on her Instagram in the near future.
Catch new episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under every Saturday on Stan.
