Here’s the tea: RuPaul’s Drag Race is going global! For the first time, international queens are facing off for the throne with a British Isles lean in Drag Race: UK Versus the World. Will the UK snatch the crown? We sure hope so.
In the spin-off series, Ru will reunite with the DRUK panel: Michelle Visage, Graham Norton, and Alan Carr. Nine queens from the UK, US, and international editions will get a chance to display their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent, earning RuPeter badges along the way.
“Nine international members of RuPaul’s Drag Race royal alumni will battle it out for the crown in the brand new series,” reads the series’ official tagline. “With the UK as the host nation, renowned queens from different franchises and cultures will compete in an international arena showcasing their country’s finest drag in their bid to become the ultimate Drag Race Superstar.”
While the cast is yet to be announced, the drag empire has literally hundreds of queens to pick from, including from the original US Drag Race, Canada’s Drag Race, Drag Race Down Under, Drag Race España, Drag Race Thailand, and more. So just making it onto the series means you’re a winner, baby.
The series is being shown by BBC Three, which is relaunching as a TV channel after five years of being online-only. Although an exact launch date is yet to be Ru-vealed, the BBC has said that the season will air during the channel’s first night back on terrestrial TV in February 2022.
Currently, Drag Race fans are gearing up for season 14 of the original US series, which is the first to include a cis, straight man, Arkansas’s Maddy Morphosis. While the latest UK season casted the show’s first-ever cis woman contestant, Victoria Scone.
Meanwhile, Michelle Visage has just released her Explant documentary, which follows the judge’s decision to remove her double-D breast implants after noticing health and immunity issues, plus the emotional testimonies of women who experienced medical problems after receiving augmentation surgery.