RuPaul’s Drag Race Australia has been announced
Drag Race Australia is coming. (PH)
Drag Race Australia has been confirmed as the latest spin-off of the TV phenomenon.
Drag Race is going Down Under, with an Australian version of the Emmy Award-winning show set to hit screens next year.
ITV’s Australian production arm confirmed that it has secured the local rights for the show, which CEO David Mott said is “arguably one of the biggest formats globally at the moment”.
“We are set to shantay onto Australian screens in 2020,” Mott told TV Tonight.
“Drag Race has moved on to being a series that captures the imagination of everyone, no matter their age or gender,” he said.
Drag Race captures the imagination of everyone, no matter their age or gender.
“It will be one of the most talked about and noisy shows of next year.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars both stream on Stan in Australia. ITV said it will soon enter discussions with “potential broadcast and streaming partners”.
Who will host Drag Race Australia?
Drag Race Australia joins the upcoming UK spin-off, hosted by RuPaul and Michelle Visage, as well as the previously-announced Canadian edition, which RuPaul has confirmed will have a “panel and judges from the Great White North, representing Canada’s very best”.
The franchise has also extended to Thailand, where hosts Art Arya and Pangina Heals recently crowned their second winner.
Notably, the Drag Race Australia announcement came without a statement from RuPaul herself, suggesting that a local queen may front the show.
Courtney Act presented The Bi Life. (NBC)
While some have suggested Courtney Act as a shoe-in, the season six runner-up has been frank about her frosty relationship with the original drag superstar.
“RuPaul is there in the room, what you see on TV is all of what you get, there is not anything beyond that,” she told LGBT+ radio station JOY 949 in 2018.
When asked if a friendship formed after the show, she replied bluntly: “No.”
RuPaul reportedly blocked Act on Twitter after she criticised a controversial mini-challenge titled “Female or Shemale”.
Courtney told Joy 949 that “for [her], that was it” in terms of their relationship.
