Stream It or Skip It: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’ on WOW Presents Plus Continues the Winning Streak

RuPaul’s Drag Race continues to conquer the globe with another brand new international spinoff—RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under! Ru and Michelle Visage travel across the globe to highlight the best queens werking it in Australia and New Zealand today. By their side is new regular judge Rhys Nicholson, and parading before them are 10 performers hoping to be crowned queen of the outback. But how does the first episode of this new edition compare to its international sisters? And how many kangaroo puns are we gonna get this season?!

RuPAUL’S DRAG RACE DOWN UNDER: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: No matter where in the world this show travels, it makes us feel at home by keeping the main stage and Werk Room consistent but different. They’re cousins, not sisters. And after we get a glam glimpse of our digs for the next 8 episode, RuPaul proves that puns really are a universal language by saying that these queens “gotta have the right koala-fications.”

The Gist: It’s RuPaul’s Drag Race exported to Oceania and featuring a cast of drag queens from Australia and New Zealand. We’ve got mini challenges, maxi challenges, runways, and lip syncs (oh my). It’s the competition show you already know and love, just with a lot more perth-onality. Yes, that’s a pun from the episode.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? RuPaul’s Drag Race, obviously. But let’s drill down a bit more, because by now there have been so many spinoffs that each one has its own sub-vibe. Down Under’s queens have the scrappiness of Canada and the WTF-inducing slang of UK. No, seriously, the first entrance line is “Well, I’m not here to fuck spiders.” Okay! Living!

Our Take: During the pandemic alone, I’ve watched Seasons 12 and 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, All Stars 5, Canada’s Drag Race, Drag Race Holland, and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2. Now here comes Drag Race Down Under, another stamp on the franchise’s crowded passport. And it was while watching the premiere episode of Down Under in such close proximity to the finale of Drag Race Season 13 that it really hit me: this franchise is currently having it both ways.

One way is what we just saw at the end of Season 13, which included a ball comprised of some of the most exquisite and expensive looks that have ever walked the runway. That’s to be expected, though, because the bar for what’s acceptable on the main stage of America’s flagship series has been raised to to to to the moon. Just saying, Elliott with 2 Ts’ mall walker chic would have gagged the judges on Season 2! But for audiences that miss the way the show used to be, back before every queen walked into the Werk Room with an arsenal of catchphrases ready to deploy and corresponding t-shirts ready to drop, these international editions are where it’s at. This franchise can be high gloss Emmy-winning perfection and also revisit its rowdy origins at the same time.

Truly, something about this formula just works—and werks. Down Under is no exception; the queens enter this competition with the same mix of pride and giddiness seen in the first seasons of other international spinoffs. They’re gagged to be on the biggest drag stage in the world, and the excitement translates. The rivalries are already there, coming from years of working the same gigs, as are the reputations. Everyone’s a bit gagged when Karen From Finance enters the Werk Room, as US icons Trixie and Katya drop her name on the reg. And we get a new regular judge in Aussie comedian Rhys Nicholson, the youngest person to hold down a permanent seat of any Drag Race franchise. He fits right in with the vibe and, while he doesn’t get as many runway puns in this time, he still gets laughs with one of the bluest riffs I’ve heard.

What Down Under really highlights, though, is this franchise’s tenacity. Of course it’s tenacious. Drag queens are tenacious. This is a show filmed in New Zealand during a pandemic, made possible only because of NZ’s completely responsible and reasonable reaction to the coronavirus. There’s social distancing in effect between the judges and, like a drag queen in a bodysuit, Taika Waititi taped his bits ahead of time. That’s the only real gripe I have with the show so far, by the way. I got all worked up dreaming of Taika Waititi interacting with RuPaul on the judges’ panel, maybe for a superhero or Norse-themed runway. Instead, he just Dropbox’d a (professionally done!) video from the Thor: Love and Thunder set. Let’s go on and green light Season 2 so these Aussie-lebrities can get up close to the action! And make one of them Sam Neill!

But back on the topic of tenacity—hilariously of all, RuPaul has to judge the episode out of drag because her makeup got lost in transit. Does the show try to hide or excuse this? No. They spotlight the goof and turn it into a running gag, similar to how UK reacted to Rita Ora’s last minute cancellation by just putting a mannequin on the judges’ panel. Touches like these keep the show grounded in its camp roots, no matter how many Emmys it snatches or how far the franchise spreads.

Sex and Skin: Actually, quite a lot more that you usually get on Drag Race! The first episode features a “Born Naked” runway challenge and, unlike Season 7’s take on the prompt here in the US, a few of these queens actually go for it. Apparently you can show lifelike rubber genitalia on TV in Australia!

Parting Shot: Do you think World of Wonder is foolish enough to give out screeners that reveal who goes home first? I can only assume we get a lipstick message from a departing queen, and maybe they get a Drag Race… boomerang? Truly no clue, but I can’t wait to find out.

Sleeper Star: Every Drag Race season has to have an underdog, the queen that everyone counts out until it’s time for them to stunt. Think Tia Kofi or Heidi N Closet or Shangela 1.0. This time around, that role goes to Elektra Shock from Auckland. Not only does every other queen clock her thirsty wig, she’s competing against her two bosses (Kita Mean and Anita Wigl’it)!

Our Call: STREAM IT. This is Drag Race. No rules. Just right.

Stream RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under on WOW Presents Plus