RuPauls Drag Race Australia: The Dream Cast

The frocks, shade and shocks have been nothing short of sickening on the current season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK but we can’t help but feel excited for the pending Australian version of the reality show - coming in 2020. 

While Drag Race down under, to be made by ITV Australia, is yet to announce cement plans for a host, TV network and streaming partner, it’s hard not to speculate who the contestants might be.  Australia has a broad range of incredibly talented queens after all. 

So who will be sashaying down the runway in next year’s all-Aussie drag bonanza?   

Here is our wish list: 

Cazeleon  

A triple threat talent, Cazeleon can sing, dance, and act.  Cazeleon is a graduate from the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts (WAAPA) and has toured her Movies In My Mind show at the prestigious Edinburgh and Adelaide Fringe festivals. 

Being a bearded gender fluid queen, she aims to debunk the myth that drag solely has to be about exaggerated femininity.

“Entertain, educate, story-tell, invigorate and stimulate is what I was put on this earth to do,” she said in an Instagram post. 

Along with her progressive and polished makeup looks, the Melbourne-born artist can be seen performing at London’s biggest drag events including the recent S.Q.U.A.D. GOALS with her Aussie sisters Seann Miley Moore and Gingzilla, a movement of “Strong Queer United Amazing Divas” tackling adversity. 

Vanity

How’s this for a gag-worthy CV: Oxford Street lip-sync legend, wig supervisor for Priscilla the Musical’s global tour and the genius behind Wigs By Vanity - the company co-owned by Drag Race season six star Courtney Act.  Vanity has toured with Les Girl legend and first Australian trans drag star Carlotta and said her drag journey nearly took a different path in her late teens. 

“When I was 19, not long after I first started drag, I thought that I was trans. I took hormones and lived and worked as a trans woman for a short time until I realised that wasn’t the journey for me, “ she said.  

“There’s always been a desire to be a trans woman.”

Many major Drag Race stars follow Vanity on Instagram where you’ll find her serving everything from Kath-and-Kim realness to wonder weave tutorials.  If there’s one Aussie queen we can count on for sky-high hair and quick-as-a-whip witticisms, it’s Vanity.  

Felicia Foxx

Runner up in 2018’s Miss First Nation, the only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Drag Queen Pageant, Felicia Foxx is a 19-year-old “FAboriginal Indigenous Deadly Fierce” artist who brings her political views to drag performance. 

“I deconstruct my drag on stage from taking the wig off to show my true self and the love that drag has made me have for myself, my figure, my identity,” Felicia told HuffPost Australia. 

“I am very political with my drag to educate people about the truth of our Indigenous history here in Australia and to bring to everyone’s attention the unfair treatment we still get here in our own country because of our Indigenous heritage and the colour of our skin.” 

Felicia’s mob is Kamilaroi from Coonabarabran and Walgett and she has called for Indigenous Australian queens to have more representation in the media.

“We definitely need more Indigenous, Aboriginal and Ethnic Queens to be more visible to showcase our styles of drag because it has broadened over the years and I am sick of people putting us all into one bubble and telling us there are these supposed guidelines and restrictions of what is right and what is wrong.”

Sunday Best

Hailing from Coffs Harbour in northern NSW, Sunday Best grew up twirling around picturesque paddocks in the bush “wearing dresses and headpieces.”

“Being transgender, I think I was always doing drag or dressing in a feminine way,” Sunday told HuffPost Australia. 

“I identify as a non-binary transgender woman and am currently on the long, expensive and ridiculous journey that some might call ‘transition’.”

Sunday has carved a niche in the market as an astrologer drag queen with her “Going Zodiac” event on Sydney’s famous Oxford Street, and while existing prominently in queer spaces as an emerging trans woman is important to Sunday, she said it’s not “always easy.” 

“I also really hope to see a greater representation of transgender women, cis women and an overall greater cross section of our community on RuPaul’s Drag Race in the future, because drag and queer culture aren’t something done just by and for the boys.” 

Etcetera Etc

If you’ve heard of the iconic Imperial Hotel Sydney, you’ve heard of Etcetera Etc. Yes, that’s the pub that was once an illegal cruise sex club in the 70s and where the ground-breaking Priscilla Queen of the Desert movie was filmed in the 90s.  Now, it’s home to a high-end Drag N’ Dine restaurant with Australia’s only “Rood Food” menu and ASMR eating experience - all hosted by one of Sydney’s most immersive drag artists Etcetera Etc.  If you’re not in Sydney, Etcetera’s Instagram is worth a look – certainly one of Australia’s most polished queens.

Cherylyn Barnes

Part time singer, part time talk show host and full time YouTuber, it’s hard to pinpoint this Aussie matriarch’s day job but some might say it could fall in the realm of drag performance. Her cult following, known as “chookie boys”, set their clocks to “5pm Campbelltown time” every Friday to watch her weekly video on her “Instagram Site” in the form of either a rant, story time or singalong.  She’ll most probably be the first queen booted from the Aussie series but Cherylyn has true-blue Aussie sass that RuPaul must consider - just don’t ask her to spell anything.

Yaz Qween

Who says you have to be clean shaven to be a drag star?  Yaz Qween is a Welsh lass known for her glitter moustache and onstage spicy jokes. The Brisbane-based performer describes herself as “the rugby playing DQ that handles all types of balls.” That’s surely got to get her brownie points with Mama Ru?

The latest episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK streams on Stan every Friday.