RuPaul’s Drag Race judge Michelle Visage says she is “really freaked out” trying to adjust to New Zealand’s freedoms, coming from Covid-19 locked-down Los Angeles.
“Being an American, it’s like, ‘I can breathe in public!’ It’s really crazy and scary,” Visage told Breakfast ahead of the Emmy Award-winning series’ 13th season, which will be filmed entirely in New Zealand.
Fresh out of managed isolation, Visage said the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic in the US was an “absolute disaster”.
“I’m so grateful to this country for doing what it had to do and continues to do to keep its beautiful people safe.”
She said the prospect of filming RuPaul’s Drag Race in New Zealand is “exciting”.
“It’s more than just simply ‘drag queens’. There’s so much to this show. It’s about the tenacity of the human spirit.”
She said the competition showed drag was a “valid art form”, and helped “parents understand their children, queer or otherwise”.
It also gave young people a community to belong in that was accepting of everyone, Visage added.
Hosted by executive producer RuPaul, the new season "Down Under" will see the fiercest Kiwi and Aussie queens go head-to-head, in the hopes of taking home the title of Down Under’s first Drag Superstar.
RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under will premiere on TVNZ OnDemand later this year.
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