Bend over boys! The pit crew sporting their fine Box Menswear undies
It’s that time of the year again when we are graced with not just one series of RuPaul’s Drag Race but two which are running concurrently. One is on the BBC and the other on WOW Presents Plus depending on where you are in the world.
British fans were slightly irked it must be said as whereas before they could watch the show on Netflix, season 14 of the main show is being shown exclusively on WOW Presents Plus which is ANOTHER streaming service that you have to fork out for if you want all things Drag Race.
One stop drag shop
Admittedly there are the odd other thing on the platform like The Eyes of Tammy Faye which is an award-winning documentary about the American religious singing superstar narrated by RuPaul. So beloved is the documentary that it has been made into a Hollywood blockbusting biopic starring Jessica Chastain as the titular Tammy and erstwhile Spider-verse webslinger Andrew Garfield.
Oof, thats a fine package! Have it sent to my room please.
While the movie itself didn’t set the box office alight, Chastain has just been nominated for an Oscar for her performance which has to be seen to be believed. In the meantime, check out the documentary as she really was quite the camp character and put her neck on the line for the gays which is no mean feat in the word of Evangelical Christianity in the USA.
Draggin' all over the world
Other than that, it’s literally the iterations of the Drag Race family of shows so that’s (deep breath…) Thailand, Spain, Italy, Down Under, Canada, UK, Holland, All Stars, Celebrity and alllll the spin-offs with the specific queens. RuPaul is part owner of World of Wonder so it’s not a huge surprise and some fans have accused the producers of forcing them into getting a subscription after 14 years of loyal viewing.
Either way, if you’re a fan of the show then it’s worth getting, even for just a few months so you can binge on the shows you want to see. More on that later however. For now, we are rather pleased to see that the latest episode not only features the lovely pit crew in the mini challenge but they are resplendent in Box Menswear black and white undies. The game itself is the muscly lads but bend over and ‘present’ while the distinctly un-butch queens have to thrust their behind, popping a big black balloon that is pinned to the back of the fabulous well backed briefs. POP!
Brazilian Bruno sure fills out a pair of pants
Things aren’t quite so rosy (cheeked) on the other brand-new version however through no fault of the show but actually due to the ‘fans’. On Tuesday February 1st, the BBC relaunched their ‘youth’ channel BBC 3 and the jewel in the crown of the evening was the first episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK versus The World.
It’s the very first Drag Race that features queens from across all the franchises and it gives the show a huge shot in the arm. It must be hard to keep a format fresh over the years and this is exactly what Drag Race needed. Happening right at the same time as the Winter Olympics (yes, we didn’t see that comparison coming either), there is a sense of national pride and comradery amongst the racers that you don’t usually get.
Messy mechanics?
It’s not really that fair as there are three UK queens from season one of Drag Race UK. It was filmed over here as the host nation, hence the number of British contestants and the title of the show. It was filmed over a year ago which is why there are only queens from the first season of UK, namely Baga Chipz, Cheryl Hole and Blu Hydrangea.
Ginger crew member Bryce LOVES his sexy get up
There are two queens from the USA (who have a LOT more to choose from) in the shape of Monique Heart and Jujubee, two from Canada (Jimbo and Lemon) and one each from Thailand and Holland.
Where things went a bit awry is in the first episode (SPOILERS!) when after a hard-fought talent show, and then a somewhat lacklustre lip sync, the Thai queen Pangina Heals has to pick which of the worst performing contestants give the chop and sadly she picks Canadian fan favourite Lemon.
Quelle surprise this did NOT go down well with some of the fans and seeming to forget that this was not only a game show but a game show about DRAG queens, decided to troll Pangina on social media. Good old social media! Racist slurs and death threats came winging their way to Pangina’s DMs which is not just horrific but should be illegal. Yes, death threats are a dime a dozen these days but nevertheless Lemon had to take to Twitter and castigate those responsible saying no real fan of hers would ever do such a thing. Moral of the story here is PLAY NICE whatever version you may be watching, this is supposed to be fun.