RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under is back for another season. Who are the 10 queens competing to be the next Antipodean drag superstar? 

Just a week after the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 was crowned, the third season of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under is now hurtling towards us. This week RuPaul returns to host the southern hemisphere’s longest running Drag Race franchise, alongside judges Michelle Visage and Rhys Nicholson, assisted by special guest judges Rachel Hunter, Keiynan Lonsdale and Adam Lambert!

Will a New Zealand queen follow in the sky-high stilettos of Kita Mean and Spankie Jackson and bring the crown back to Aotearoa, or will an Australian queen finally nab the title of drag superstar? Only time (and eight episodes worth of competition) will tell! In the meantime, take a look at the ten queens who will sew, sing, dance, lip-sync for their mothertuckin’ lives.

Amyl (Australia)

This queen, named after amyl nitrate (if you don’t know, google it away from your work computer) hails from Colombia, but was raised in Sydney and has been part of the scene since 2019. She could very well be called this season’s “fashion queen”, having walked in Australian Fashion Week in 2021 and 2023, and featured in publications such as Gut Magazine, Astrophe Magazine and InStyle Australia.

Ashley Madison (Australia)

This queen named herself after the infamous dating service (currently the subject of a documentary on Disney+) due to her “stealing too many people’s boyfriends”. Madison, like many queens, has many strings to her drag bow, being a DJ and owner of her own 3D printed jewellery business, Miss Madison.

Bumpa Love (Australia and Aotearoa, Ngāi Te Rangi, Tūhoe)

Bumpa Love is not just the owner of this season’s best name, she’s been entertaining audiences all over down under for 25 years. While she hails from Aotearoa, she’s based in Melbourne and runs Australia’s only drag queen owned and produced venue, Vau d’vile Drag Cabaret, and performs to sold-out houses all year.

Flor (Aotearoa)

If you watched TVNZ’s House of Drag, the local drag competition which preceded the mothership that is Drag Race Down Under, you’ll remember Flor. She comes from Guatemala and takes her drag name from her mother. On House of Drag, her makeup looks were especially fierce, so look forward to her putting her best face forward this season.

Gabriella Labucci (Australia)

Three seasons in, and we’ve got our first Ballarat queen! She calls herself a “force to be reckoned with”, and a multi-talented queen – she sings, she dances, she hosts, she acts, she… roller-skates? We’ll take it! She also shares a birthday with Taylor Swift and Steve Buscemi, December 13. Again, we’ll take it!

Hollywould Star (Australia)

Bumpa Love might have been the best name, but Hollywould Star is the name that makes me chuckle, shake my head and mutter, “Oh you!” While she was born in America, this queen has resided in New South Wales for the past nine years, and is a classically trained singer. She’s even toured with the world with productions like The Book of Mormon, Kinky Boots and 2023 Domain Dance Party Sydney World Pride with Kelly Rowland (which I think is one of Shakespeare’s lesser-known works).

Isis Avis Loren (Australia)

The press kit says that Isis Avis Loren is “established nationwide”, which ranks her alongside such institutions as Delta Goodrem, bin chickens and Hungry Jacks. The queen took out Best Costumier and Miss Congeniality at the Melbourne Drag Awards in 2019, which is good for her, and also filmed this deeply hilarious unboxing video of a Heinz gift pack in 2023, which is good for me.

Ivanna Drink (Aotearoa)

Ivanna Drink – say it out loud, in your office, see what happens – is a recognisable face on K’Rd, being a Caluzzi Girl but now she can add the title of RuGirl to her resume. She also happens to be married to the legendary Anita Wigl’it from season one (and also RuPaul’s Drag Race Canada vs. The World). She also spoke to us for this feature on men in makeup last year! 

Ivory Glaze (Australia)

Her bio says she is “50% Chinese, 50% Dutch and 100% Gorgeous”. Even though she’s only been doing drag for four years, she’s worked on a hilarious and impressive variety of projects, including promo work for Mecca, Bridge Climb, ad work for Tooth Toner, and modelling work for InStyle Australia.

Rita Menu (Aotearoa, Ngāpuhi)

Hell yeah, we’ve got a Kirikiriroa queen everybody! Rita Menu – again, say it out loud – considers herself being “super competitive”, which is surely a boon for the show. Outside of wowing audiences across the country, she has also won Kita and Anita’s Drag Wars competition, one of the most contested prizes in Tāmaki Makarau drag.

Season three of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under premieres July 28, 7pm on TVNZ+, with episodes dropping weekly.