Canada’s Drag Race: Start Your Engines

Written By Eilidh Clague @Eilidh_Clague

Drag Race fans, the exciting new international rendition of RuPaul’s Drag Race has started in Canada! A fantastic opportunity to highlight the amazing talent in Canada and crown their first drag superstar. While we patiently await the much anticipated RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2, Canada’s Drag Race is the perfect show to tune into.

The show is hosted and judged by the following stars: Drag Race Season 11 finalist Brooke Lynn Hytes, actor Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and model Stacy McKenzie, who will be spilling the tea and throwing the shade on the contestants of the show.

Much like the Drag Race that we are familiar with, they will be joined by celebrity guest judges throughout the season. As you may know, among the various Canadian twists to the season and its theming, there is a difference to the typical US & UK Drag Race format that fans may be familiar with – RuPaul is not a judge in the series and neither is Carson Kressley, Michelle Visage or Ross Matthews. Instead, Mama Ru will be present when she hints at each episode’s challenge in her ‘Ru-mail’ announcement (*whoop* ‘Oh Canada! She done already done had herses’). The hosting role usually performed by RuPaul alone is now split between the three main judges and the guest judges, giving fans a breath of fresh air when it comes to the much-beloved series.

So, the first episode has aired and we have been treated to a series of gag-worthy werkroom entrances. This debut season of Canada’s Drag Race is sure to be a success as every queen is a very strong contender for the crown. These fabulous queens have established their own talents and unique aesthetics that will hopefully help them to thrive in the competition. Key contenders for the crown include Jimbo, Priyanka, Rita Baga and Tynomi Banks but we’ll have to see what the season has in store for us.

Following the typical, fun kiki, the queens and us the audience are greeted by RuPaul on the werkroom TV who welcomes the queens and cleverly hints to the chilly challenges they will be facing. Full of anticipation, the queens turn to see the trio or ‘threesome’ of judges emerge from the familiar entrance and the first mini-challenge is explained. Winter is coming and the queens are challenged to take part in the fiercest photoshoot on top of a mountain!

A staple of every first episode of Drag Race is the ‘Drag on a Dime’ challenge and Canada’s Drag Race does not disappoint. Following the thrilling first mini-challenge, each queen is tasked with creating runway eleganza from the random Canada-themed materials provided. These main challenge lewks are then showcased on a new and exciting runway, which will also be the stage of the iconic lipsync battles, where the bottom two queens of each episode will battle it out in a lipsync for their life in order to stay in the competition.

Canada’s Drag Race has a fantastic cast of very talented queens, who have showcased extravagant lewks that convey their Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent and we’re sure that everyone has fallen in love with the fantastic judges that have also served us absolutely stunning lewks. We are in such support of this show and we hope you are too.

We’d love to hear from you! 

Spread much needed positivity in the world and support your favourite queens on Canada’s Drag Race. Who do you think will snatch the crown, $100,000 and of course the title of Canada’s first ever drag superstar?

A new episode will be released each week, available for you to watch on any of the following platforms: BBC Iplayer in the UK

To catch up on more of the hot T on the season, Manila Luzon and Latrice Royale are hosting ‘The Chop’, which is a series on the RaceChaser podcast dedicated to diving into and discussing the episodes. There are also many reviews and summaries of each episode on YouTube.

Canada’s Drag Race is a season consisting of 10 engaging episodes and we cannot wait to see what happens in each of those episodes and fall even more in awe of these incredible queens.