Drag Race Down Under S1 E1

Marilyn

Marilyn

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Well I was ready to be mortified by this, but I thought it was a solid first episode, certainly on par with Canada if not off to the flying start of UK S1
 
The good:

- Art Simone, I'll be very surprised if she doesn't win the season. She reminds me of The Vivienne in terms of polish and professionalism
- Anita Wigl'it, what an absolute POOF :D
- Maxi Shield, Kita Mean and Coco Jumbo have a lot of potential
- Karen's entrance
- We got an Always Was, Always Will Be message on the runway

The bad

- Ru out of drag at the judges panel, even if, presumably, a real backstage issue caused it
- Taika Waititi, I just hate him
- Karen's win, I loathe the Melbourne cup and it's such a basic choice, also her "character" was just Kath & Kim in the episode where they go to the races
- It was a bit :square: that Karen, who used to have a golliwog collection and tattoo, won straight up while the queen who represented Indigenous culture on the runway was sent home first
 
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I quite liked it! I thought the nude runway was a bit of a mess but it was on Season 7 too so that wasn't a surprise. The most important thing is that they're all quite fun and it felt more UK than modern US on a scale of easy going to hyper produced.

Art Simone feels like the obvious winner from the outset, no? I was surprised that she lost to Karen.

I was sad JoJo went home; the looks weren't great, but they had a bit of substance and she seemed funny in the mini challenge and confessionals. LOL at the awkward half-joking blocking each other in the lip sync.

Electra didn't look great (hot out of drag though), but I rolled my eyes at Michelle's critique. She didn't read Auckland from it, but got all the other references right away I'm sure? Just be honest and tell her it's messy - it's OK to admit that you know nothing about these places.

Ru being out of drag on the runway through me but she's back in it in next week's preview so I'm presuming it was a one episode thing.

Surprisingly quite like third judge Rhys Nicholson. He felt less lifeless and more deadpan compared to the little MTQ clip. The judging panel felt a little empty without a guest judge but I suppose they can't really help it.
 
Snatch Game looks like a mess from the preview so excited for that.

And excited to spend all season hoping for a glimpse of Dannii (and Kylie) in the next week preview, only to end up with them having a little Zoom chat with the queens in Untucked. ❤️
 
I hope Anita Wigglit relaxes a little bit in future episodes. She was giving me all the worst elements of Bendelacreme in the confessionals.
 
Well this was fun. It’s a good crop of queens.

I am extremely over the editing people in with reactions as if they’re there. It’s offensive and stupid and ugh. Taika Waititi is annoying enough without the fake reactions.

I liked Anita Wiglet, there’s something endearing about him and that ram outfit was cute.

Electra Shock is crunchy when it comes to looks but that lipsync was quite good. It’s a shame that the first queen to go is the only First Nation queen.
 
Also I forget who it was now, but I distinctly recall one of the rubber nude bodysuits having extremely visible labia that we got a good look at from the back at one point :D
 
Which other one was the racist who did an apology crying?
 
This was better than expected. The girls are shady. It resembles Canada the most.

The right one went home; she was too shady at first then turned out to be one of the least polished.

The favourites were the two other bottoms. One I felt sorry for, he’s hot out of drag and that lip sync was fun. The other one was funny both in and out of drag and looks like a mix of Jiggly and Boa (Canada).
 
Meh.

No standouts. Some likeables of course, so I'm glad to accelerate straight to Snatch Game next week.

Ru's opening gambit about Australia's first drag superstar was intolerably obnoxious. The 2nd of the duo pair whose face is constantly got the look of someone pissing on it has the makings of being a fan fave. Terrible lip sync song, terrible lip sync behaviour. Karen was good, but fan of the tan (lines) aside, I'm not into mocking drunk people. 6/10 and of course I'm going to be watching. Maybe once it gets going episode 1 will become an interesting peice of it all. The ginger judge was very good.
 
It's on iPlayer now if anyone wants to watch it in HQ

www.bbc.co.uk

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under

Shantay, G’day! Aussie and Kiwi queens battle it out to make herstory as down under's next drag superstar - under the watchful eyes of Mama Ru and the fabulous Michelle Visage.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
Well l really liked it, much better than many US seasons. All the queens are very likeable.

And why did Michelle Visage have 4 eyebrows? Dear god.
 
Mm well that happened - not that into it so far, Canada got off to a much better start IMO.

The gag of Ru not in makeup for the panel, I thought this was a new normal, but it looks like she's back in it from next week from the preview.
I thought most of the queens were being a bit TOO shitty with each other for me to really like any of them (maybe Elektra was the most likeable).

Taiki's ludicrous excuse for participation, I haven't seen a more obviously pre-recorded bit since... the S13 finale car park.

Lip Sync was good though!
And I thought Karen won too, even though I'm told she's evil.

Shame for Jojo, but I can't really argue with the result (and she had a pretty crappy attitude all episode)

Anita is driving me insane already, she's always gurning like she's being exorcised
 
Anita Wig’lit must be one of, if not THE, most irritating queens ever to have been cast on the show. Why is their face in a constant state of gurn.

QUITE SAD that the obviously poor first nation queen went home first. Whilst it was fair in regards to competition performance it wasn’t a GREAT LOOK for the show.

I really liked Coco Jumbo, but she needs a few more years to develop.
Scarlett is painfully trying to be Violet Chachki :D Having read up on her RACIST SIDE it’s really properly bad, to the point where I’m shocked she’s allowed to compete in the competition.
 
I quite enjoyed that. Many Queens with a lot of potential. Obviously Art Simone and the notably named Karen are immediate stand outs. Didn't Baga already do drunk faux posh bitch at the races? Anyway, this was probably better. Art's nude look was stunning.

I liked the other judge. Like a cruder twinkier Alan Carr.

Cracking first lip sync from both girls. What a fabulously bitchy bunch and no one seems offended. Can we move Moopy to Australia please?

The worst thing about Drag Race these days, has to be RuPaul. Make a fucking effort.
 
I’ve seen Coco Jumbo perform once when I was in Australia, she did a lip sync to Emotions by Mariah so obviously I Stan.

Good first episode, some very Priscilla entrance looks, actually good entrance looks all round really, but a massive decline in quality on the runway... here for a messy season
 
Ag said:
Didn't Baga already do drunk faux posh bitch at the races?
Click to expand...
I think someone else did that a bit more specifically. But she tried, along with drunk Brillo pad, drunk Liza Minelli, drunk umbrella and regular Amy Winehouse (drunk)
 
The show was a mess. The green screening of Ru during their first interactions was... almost a parody. They could have at least made fun of it. Cause, you know, it's drag.

The entrance looks were polished, but less said about the Born Naked runway the better.

I had forgotten how loud (obnoxious?) large groups of Aussie queens could be. And surprise, surprise, two of them are already caught up in blackface / racism scandals.
 
This was good fun but most of them do seem horrible on first impressions :D Art Simone was polished but I didn't much like her. Not that I especially care, just deliver and be funny please is all I need from them. It feels way below Canada and UK for me but likely to bring the entertainment value.

Why are we getting snatch game so soon? I feel like I don't know them enough yet. Maybe it's a new way to weed out the dross early on.

Also (and this applies to all seasons) why are the intro one-liners when they enter the work room so painfully dire? It's always been the case but I find it bizarre how terrible across the board it tends to be in comparison to the exit jokes. I know it's a minor thing, it just bugs me because they've had time to think these things up...for months. I think a lot of it is down to awkwardness though.
 
I guess this will take us nicely up to the end of June or so then, with All Stars 6 late summer or autumn? Plus the Spanish one.

More drag race than ever. I don't feel saturated yet though, they all feel different enough
 
Was it really that much ropier than Canada? I remember thinking Canada was dire for the first two episodes.
 
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Oh it probably was as ropey, but I just thought Canada had a stronger and more varied cast on first impressions especially with Jimbo/Rita/Priyanka/Lemon/Boa all being different among others. The mix was brilliant, but then I put it up there with the top 5 seasons. I'm sure this one will flesh itself out too
 
Watching on the Beeb, who really should start letting you watch a censored and uncensored version of shows (or just finally drop that license fee).

Simone and her Splaroon dress really does look like Morgan McMichaels with just a splash more imagination.

I guess Elektra is the best looking out of drag. They had the best opening line anyway.

The Mathew Wright of drag Anita is the obvious standout among the entrances.

Maxi's laugh is like the one The Vivienne does when she can't think of anything else to say on YouTube review shows.

Jojo can stay for the bitterness. Her reactions to Elektra are a scream. The shiffon.
 
Scarlet isn't so much Detox as she is the drop in.

Coco Jumbo to start a revival of 90s dance inspired drag if nothing else.

Kita. I've only just realized these two aren't Kiki and Herb :)

Oh well, I just wanted to type their names out to try and remember them all.
 
Oh shoot, I'd forgotten Jojo go-go's as I was enjoying her talking heads with that moody glare. Now I know why of course. Aww that's a shame.
 
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