drag Archives - Kyler Alvord

Published on Thrillist on August 27, 2020

Before Canada’s Drag Race premiered in July, we feared it would lack a certain je ne sais quoi (i.e., drama) that its American cousin is known for. These are Canadian queens, after all. Imagine our surprise when we got a season full of feuding, tears, and online discourse about fans’ treatment of the judges and queens. One season alone produced four lip-sync assassins and infinite mentions of “mooseknuckles.” It’s been a rocky ride full of unusual twists and unforeseeable turns, but an end is near.

Now that the Top Three have been chosen, we gathered everything you need to know about next week’s finale, including how to watch it, what to expect, and who we think will become Canada’s first drag superstar.

Warning: This post contains spoilers for Canada’s Drag Race Season 1.

When and where can I watch the Canada’s Drag Race finale?

Canada’s inaugural drag superstar will be crowned on Thursday, September 3. The final episode begins at 9pm ET, and US viewers can stream it on WOW Presents Plus.

If you’re in Canada, stream the finale on Crave. If you’re not in the US or Canada, you still might be able to watch. Find out if Canada’s Drag Race is available where you’re at here.

Rita Baga in the Canada's Drag Race pageant — Rita Baga in the Miss Loose Jaw Pageant | COURTESY OF BELL MEDIA

Which three queens moved on to Canada’s first-ever finale?

Canada’s inaugural cast has dwindled from 12 to three as we gear up for the final challenge of the season. Still standing are Priyanka, Rita Baga, and Scarlett BoBo.

Scarlett BoBo was first to secure a place in the finale after winning the week’s Maxi Challenge, a winter-themed ball that forced her to conquer her fear of the sewing machine. Up until the runway, Scarlett was the underdog. Her win left three of the season’s frontrunners to fight for only two remaining spots in the finals.

Two of Priyanka’s winter ball looks slayed, but the messy bodysuit she made from scratch prevented her from getting the Maxi win. (A bold outfit choice for the week that Michelle Visage was guest judging.) Still, she got overall positive reviews and became the next queen to secure a place in the Top Three.

Jimbo and Rita Baga were left to battle it out for the last spot in the finale. They lip-synced “Closer” by Tegan and Sara in a naughty performance that, uh, definitely made things physical. Rita scissored her dress, Jimbo scissored Rita, and viewers reminisced on how things weren’t always so close between the two. In the end, the judges chose to keep Rita and send Jimbo home, neglecting to use a double shantay this entire season.

How will the final episode be structured?

Despite airing well into the COVID-19 pandemic, the Canada’s Drag Race finale was filmed last fall, meaning there won’t be a live virtual crowning like with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12.

Expect the finale structure to be more in line with Drag Race UK than the American version. We anticipate that the Top Three will be asked to write and record original verses for the RuPaul song “U Wear It Well.” If it falls completely in line with Drag Race UK, the top two queens will then lip-sync for the crown, determining who’s a runner-up and who’s a winner, baby.

Priyanka from Canada's Drag Race — Priyanka | COURTESY OF WORLD OF WONDER

Who is poised to snatch the crown?

If there’s one thing we’ve learned with Canada’s Drag Race, it’s that nobody knows what’s coming next… and not just because the judges’ critiques are all over the place. This season featured an all-star cast of queens, making it anyone’s guess who will land in the top and bottom each week.

For a majority of the season, Priyanka, Lemon, Jimbo, and Rita Baga were the frontrunners, with Scarlett BoBo trailing safely behind (as in, she was nothing but safe every single week). Now that Scarlett finally nabbed a Maxi Challenge win and outlasted Lemon and Jimbo, we’re left wondering if she’ll continue picking off her challengers. After all, she’s the only queen who hasn’t lip-synced yet, which has to count for something.

Rita Baga has three Maxi Challenge wins, the most of anyone this season, but she’s lip-synced the past two weeks, proving she’s not as untouchable as we once believed. We know she’s capable of pulling off a win, but if she doesn’t give the final competition everything she’s got, it may not be enough to impress the judges.

Priyanka’s journey has been somewhat shaky, but despite having as many Maxi Challenge wins under her belt as she has lip-syncs, she has a mostly glowing track record and a personality that makes up for her shortcomings. Remember also that Priyanka won the singing challenge in Episode 3. With Scarlett’s limited experience ranking high and Rita’s recent decline, it’s looking like Priyanka might walk away with the crown next week, as long as she doesn’t fuck it up.

So the winner gets a crown… what else?

You really didn’t pay attention to RuPaul’s little intro before each episode? On top of the crown, the winner will receive a year of hotel stays from Hilton and a cash prize of $100,000.

The cast of Canada's Drag Race Season 1 in the Werk Room — COURTESY OF BELL MEDIA

Will Canada’s Drag Race crown a Miss Congeniality?

Sadly, no, but if there was one, we have some ideas of who it might be.

We can start by ruling out a few queens (no tea, no shade). Jimbo was a fan favorite with plenty of talents, but biting her tongue wasn’t one. Ilona Verley was both sensitive and fierce, but not the most unifying. Same story with Scarlett BoBo.

Sure Priyanka and Rita Baga threw their share of metaphorical punches, but their positive attitudes and sweet souls would make them strong contenders were they not already finalists. BOA and Lemon were famously feisty, but they had a handful of shining shoulder-to-cry-on moments; still, they may have gotten into one too many tiffs to earn the title.

If we had to guess, we’d say that the title comes down to Anastarzia Anaquway and Tynomi Banks. Tynomi, the lip-sync assassin whose reputation preceded her, was the season’s figurehead of drag success, and Anastarzia was the Bahamian pageant queen who assumed the role of mother. They struggled to find their footing in the competition before ultimately sashaying away, but in their short time on the show, the oldest queens of the season carried a gentleness that we can only assume translated to the workroom. Let’s just say it’s a tie. If RuPaul can do it, so can we.

Drag Race UK contestants — “Drag Race UK” | COURTESY OF BBC

How can I get my hands on more Drag Race content?

There is literally so much happening in the Drag Race franchise. In addition to Canada’s Drag Race, 2020 brought RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12, All Stars Season 5, and new miniseries Secret Celebrity Drag Race.

WOW Presents Plus, World of Wonder’s streaming service for all things drag, houses the inaugural season of Drag Race UK, Season 2 of Drag Race Thailand, the BTS docuseries Werq The World, and other LGBTQ+ content. And if you’ve exhausted all those options, well, you have years and years of old Drag Race seasons to explore.

Published on Thrillist on June 11, 2020

By now we know not to underestimate HBO. The network ushered in the golden age of television dramas, marketed a medieval fantasy to mainstream audiences, gave Seinfeld comics a platform to build upon their legacy, and revolutionized the way TV talks about sex and relationships more than once. In April, ahead of its new streaming service debut, HBO quietly premiered We’re Here, a tearjerking reality show that’s taken real strides toward increasing queer visibility in rural communities nationwide.

We’re Here follows three drag superstars on their mission to nurture queer leaders throughout small-town America. There’s Bob the Drag Queen, a New York City icon and winner of Drag Race Season 8; Eureka O’Hara, the “Elephant Queen,” who nearly took the crown in Drag Race Season 10; and Shangela Laquifa Wadley, the three-time Drag Race contestant who landed a role in A Star Is Born. In each episode, the queens spend a week in a different conservative community, traveling to places like Farmington, New Mexico, and Ruston, Louisiana, where they adopt a few locals as their “drag children” and prepare them for a one-night-only drag show.

At a glance, We’re Here is a queer-led makeover show a la Netflix’s Queer Eye — an established queen takes a shy townsperson and puts them in drag for the first time to help them find their confidence — but makeup, wigs, and learning to walk in heels are far from the point. The drag transformation is simply a means to an end, with the end being a newly empowered queer community in every town that they visit.

Shangela and Eureka spoke to Thrillist about the impact that We’re Here has already made in its first season, which wrapped up on Thursday, June 4. “Interestingly enough, We’re Here is not a drag makeover show; We’re Here is a real-life series that happens to include a transformation,” Shangela clarified. “Drag’s not just about the performance. It’s being able to say, ‘I love myself so much, I have so much pride in who I am and what I’m able to deliver in this world, I’m going to put on this look and I’m going to strut because I don’t have to be ashamed. I don’t have to be shy. I don’t have to be closed off. I can live my life out loud and proud.'”

Every participant in the six-part season brings a different perspective and goal to the drag show stage. Some wanted to perform in drag to show acceptance for their family members; some got in drag to explore their own identities; and some LGBTQ+ allies performed to help break down stigmas for other straight folks in the community. The complicated relationship between religion and sexuality is addressed, race-related struggles are put in the spotlight, toxic gender roles are challenged, and every speck on the rainbow gets airtime.

Shangela gives her new drag children, Brandon and Mikayla, a wedding do-over in Twin Falls, Idaho. | Christopher Smith/HBO

For example, in episode 3, Bob, Eureka, and Shangela went to Branson, Missouri, the “Live Entertainment Capital of the World” and home to many quietly queer performers because LGBTQ+ people don’t have adequate protection against discrimination in the state. They met three men each grappling with muddied views of masculinity and identity that their community had instilled in them. Charles, an openly gay dancer, found himself suppressing his sexuality because of the town’s intolerance; Chris, a straight man with a young daughter, fell into depression after bottling up his emotions like he was raised to believe he should; and Tanner, a young guy who previously came out of the closet, then withdrew his queer identity after turning to Christianity and feeling like the two lifestyles weren’t compatible.

Eureka believes there’s a moral code in today’s society that informs how people should look, feel, behave, and love at a young age. “There’s a lot of stereotypes, and at the same time there’s a lot of people who don’t fit that mold,” they said. “What’s so special about the show is that it’s giving voices to people who don’t normally get heard.” The queens aren’t just grooming drag children, they’re grooming community leaders who can continue breaking down gender stereotypes and providing queer safe spaces long after the HBO crew packs up.

“It’s one thing going into these towns and then leaving,” Shangela said. “People see that with makeover shows — in and out, and then you hope that they feel better.” We know by now that upgrading someone’s wardrobe and giving them a fancy haircut doesn’t do much to make the world a better place; in some cases, it does more harm than good by sending a message that looking polished is the key to unlocking self-love. That’s not the case with We’re Here. The genuine impact the queens had on not only their drag children, but the town as a whole, is why HBO’s take on a “reality makeover show” feels bigger than its more narrow-sighted competitors — and why it’s already been nominated for a Critics’ Choice Real TV Award.

Eureka rehearses with Lynn, a double amputee and soon-to-be drag king, in Ruston, Louisiana. | Jake Giles Netter/HBO

“A lot of times small towns get a bad rap like, ‘Oh my god, you poor queer person living in a small town, I’m sure you can’t wait to grow up and move to the big city where you can be you,” said Shangela, who grew up in Paris, Texas, with a population of around 25,000. “But there are people who live in small towns who love living in their small town, and a lot of times, there just isn’t a space for queer people and queer allies to come out and be together and say ‘I support you.'”

Of course, this is a real, unscripted series, and not everyone in each town responded so openly. As the queens go around passing out flyers promoting the drag shows, they run into plenty of people who show no interest, and in Branson, a business owner called the cops to have the queens kicked off the property, forcing them to leave peacefully despite not breaking any laws. But none of those negative run-ins prevented the drag moms and their children from doing what they set out to do.

“In the first episode I remember telling Bob as she was setting up the stage area, I’m like, ‘Baby, you don’t have to leave all that standing room, this isn’t a regular drag show it’s not going to have tons of people standing and jumping and screaming,'” said Shangela. However, when showtime rolled around, there were so many people from Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, lined up to watch that they couldn’t get everyone inside the historic distillery-turned-gay club. That’s when it became clear that We’re Here was going to do some real good.

Shangela and Jose test out a wig in Ruston, Louisiana. | Jake Giles Netter/HBO

Even through a screen, viewers can see that the connections formed are genuine, a byproduct of mutual openness that doesn’t disappear when the cameras do. “I didn’t expect to be that vulnerable, you know, in doing this show, and it’s just been really beautiful,” Shangela said. “Those are all my children now, and I feel like I had a little part in seeing them grow to that place they were at, that level of happiness, the freedom.”

For a number of reasons (e.g., COVID-19, Drag Race Season 12, the launch of HBO Max, nationwide protests), We’re Here aired all six episodes mostly under the radar, but the people who watched are already demanding more. “It’s not the kind of show that you can pick apart. It’s not about drama, it’s not about shade, it’s really about love and telling stories that people get emotional to and can relate to,” Eureka said. Luckily, HBO’s already confirmed that they’re here to stay — at least for another season.