MEET THE KIWI QUEENS
WHO MADE RUPAUL’S DRAG RACE DOWN UNDER
T‘Now we get to show the world and RuPaul what Kiwi queens are made of. We’ve packed our No 8 wire, filled up on fush and chups and downed a can of L&P. We are ready!’
he 10 contestants in RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under were due to be announced last night at Sydney’s famous Mardi Gras parade. Spy got the inside word on the three Auckland drag queens who made the cast after filming of the reality show was moved to Auckland.
Partners in drag, crime and business Kita Mean and Anita Wigl’it, and dancer extraordinaire Elektra Shock are the three lucky stars who will go up against Australia’s finest in Vogue poses, attitude and, of course, the all-important lip-sync battles.
Mean and Wigl’it own the iconic Caluzzi Cabaret on Karangahape Rd. They are also famous for hosting two series of TVNZ’s House of Drag.
Shock was the runner-up in the second season of House of Drag — Spy is tipping her as the one to watch with her electric dancing skills. Spy understands she was part of the Dancing with the Stars, which was cancelled due to Auckland’s first lockdown last year.
Shock tells Spy that drag in Aotearoa has always been rooted in heart, determination and its own unique style.
“Now we get to show the world and RuPaul what Kiwi queens are made of. We’ve packed our No 8 wire, filled up on fush and chups and downed a can of L&P. We are ready! It’s going to be more tense than an Australia v New Zealand Rugby World Cup Final,” she says.
Mean first dressed up in drag for a New Year’s Eve party and wowed all her friends. She then found herself centre stage in Auckland’s nightlife and fiercely protects her position as resident queen at Family Bar on K Rd.
“It has blown my mind to have been given this amazing opportunity to present my drag in such an epic way,” says Mean. “Meeting RuPaul changed my life and the experience I had with her, Michelle [Visage] and Rhys [Nicholson] as judges on the show will stay with me forever. I can’t wait to share this experience with the rest of Aotearoa.”
Wigl’it has wiggled her way into the hearts of many over the past 10 years, winning both Vancouver’s Next Top Drag Superstar and Drag Entertainer of the Year in 2013, before returning to Auckland. She performed at Sydney’s Mardi Gras in 2016 and 2019, and at Adele’s world tour afterparty in 2017.