Con-dragulations To Canada’s First Ever Drag Superstar!
By Alex Osborne
Yass, hunty! Source: GiPHY
OK so SPOILERS.
Con-dragulations to Canada’s first ever Drag Superstar, what’s her name? And…drumroll…
Priyanka!
The 2020 Canada's Drag Race Superstar. Source: World of Wonder.
Having only been doing drag for two years, and beating out runner up Rita Baga with 13 years experience, Priyanka is an inspiration for us all. Employers take note: experience isn’t everything, cos this queen is bringing some natural-born talent!
While we are in a con-draugulatory mood, well done to you, reader! You sat through the first, somewhat awkward, but loveable Rupaul’s Drag Race Canadian spin-off. The new format and hosts took some getting used to, but at the end of the day, it’s about talented queens, and not about who critiques them (did I just make my own article a cow's opinion?)
Damn it, Joey. Source: NBC
The Canadian Season Overall
So, SPOILERS! I know some of y’all just skim articles, so feels like it needs to be said again before reading on.
Admittedly, Canada’s Drag Race overall was clunky and uninspiring until the Top Five. Lemon vs. Rita Baga for the final Top Four battle was the first time I found myself leaning out of my homeboy slump on the couch into an upright perfect posture on the edge of my seat as if my tuck depended on it, unsure of where I wanted the Lip Sync battle to go. Rita was the season’s front runner, but I don’t think she showed enough growth over the season to finish as strong as she started, so she deserved her runners up position. Her fellow-runner-up sister Scarlett Bobo (or as I like to call her, the Steven Bradbury of Drag, just did what she does and sprung to the winner’s circle when the other queens fell) was just as deserving.
The Best Contestants
Every season I pick my own personal ‘Hottest out of Drag’, ‘Best Energy’ and ‘Best Makeup,’ and that’s how I decide who to ‘root’ for (in both sense of the word). I had high expectations for Canada’s queens after the UK seasons and Crystal in RuPaul Season 12 (heart eye emoji!) This season, my winners were:
Best Energy- Priyanka
Best Make-up- a tie between Jeffery Bowyer-Chapman (yep, the judge! He had his own tops and bottoms) and Priyanka (that signature blue… ooh wee!)
Hottest out of Drag- Jeffery Bowyer-Chapman. I know he’s a judge, but that means he won’t get voted off, and for ogling purposes, that’s ideal:
I mean...I'm not blind. Source: TV and Chill
The Finals
In Lemon vs. Rita Baga for the Top Four, Lemon gave us such infectious energy with wonderful looks all season, and her lemon-coloured accents on every outfit she wore just gave me life, so, yep, still not sure who I wanted to win. I think Lemon would have killed the final ‘Rumix’ challenge. With her amazing dance abilities and sharp wit, she could have given our sister Priyanka a big challenge for Drag Superstar.
Our winner Priyanka went from being the first queen to walk into Canada’s Werk Room in a bodysuit that would have had Michelle Visage livid, to her jaw-dropping finale runway lehenga:
Kweeen! Source: Bell Media
Priyanka’s personality shone through in every challenge and her gloriously high energy confessionals so that when she found herself in the bottom two, you found yourself cheering for her to stay. All hail the deserving Queen of the North!
“I’m living proof that hard work pays off, and that even when you make mistakes, you can still be a winner,” she said as she accepted her crown and sceptre. “To the kids who are watching, I know you used to watch me somewhere else, but now I’m home. I’m Canada’s first-ever Drag Superstar! I’m rich! And I get to represent the country all around the world. I’m so thankful, I’m so proud to be Canadian. I’m going to make this country so proud.”
Final Thoughts
It’s easy to get lost in what didn’t work overall in Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race. Most noticeably, no Rupaul, no Michelle Visage (except for the one episode), and the weird three-judge format with the queens. Side note: I am super proud and happy for former Queen Brooklyn, look at her go, world stage baby!
Judge Queens. Source: Pink News
All three judges were perfect in their own way, but I think they struggled with that harsh-critique-helpful-feedback line that Michelle Visage does so well in the OG series, and were often portrayed as mean over helpful, prompting toxic OG Rupaul fans to take to Twitter to judge the judges themselves.
I, too, am guilty of toxic behaviour as I get caught up in the reality tv drama aspect of the competition and bully queens from my couch in my Kmart eyeliner. But it’s hard to legitimately hate on a season full of wonderful and talented queens who gave us nothing but love and respect for one another and are out there paving the way and putting Canadian drag on the world stage.
Can’t everyone just take a few leaves from our Canadian Queen, Priyanka and just “be gay!”
Canada's Drag Race airs in Australia on Stan.
For more reality tv recaps, click here.
