Rhys Nicholson is returning for season four of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under – but even as the first season without RuPaul, the comedian has teased a ‘different form of connection’ with the contestants.
There’s a lot of Drag Race out there at the moment. All Stars 9 has crowned a winner, baby, the All Stars 10 cast list is already kicking about, Canada Vs. The World season two is underway, and Global All Stars is on the horizon – and that’s just the spin-offs for returning queens.
Globally, the Drag Race mega machine now has instalments in over fifteen countries. As of 2024, only the British (Drag Race UK) and Australasian (Drag Race Down Under) franchises were hosted by RuPaul, outside of her main duties as flagship and All Stars host.
That changed earlier this year, when it was announced that RuPaul would, for the first time, be stepping down from a franchise, and leaving right-hand-woman Michelle Visage as head judge alongside non-binary comedic powerhouse Rhys Nicholson.
Speaking to PinkNews to promote their hilarious Edinburgh Fringe show and subsequent European tour for their show Huge Big Party Congratulations!, Nicholson has exclusively teased exactly what we can expect from season four.
“There is a difference,” Rhys says on the lack of RuPaul, “And I struggled to put my finger on what it is. Even the process of filming it was a little bit different. Michelle’s in the middle, I stay the same – though I think I now have a little bit more power, but I am the levity. And we now have a rotation of winning queens on the panel, that fill the previous ‘Michelle’ spot.”
The ‘Michelle’ spot is traditionally for the harshest critiques, and it was previously confirmed that Drag Race Down Under alumni would be taking turns on the panel to, politely, read these b*tches to filth – something that Rhys feels passionately about.
“I was very vocal about that at the beginning … like, you need to have a person on the panel that knows about drag! Which Michelle obviously very definitely does.”
To really get into the non-RuPaul of it all, Rhys also teases a “different form of connection” with the queens for round four.
“Michelle has this really disarming nature, which Ru does as well, but Michelle just has this hustle to her, that is so incredible and wild, and like, she’s not old, but I’m tired now! And she really loves it.”
Then, conversation turns to the calibre of Aussie drag one can expect on season four – and we’re in for a treat.
“I’m not talking shade about past seasons, and I’m not just saying this in a press tease kind of way; the cast is bonkers and off the charts, and the lipsyncs are f**king incredible.
“I remember on the first design challenge, which I always think is a kind of sink or swim situation, and every single one of them blew it out the water. To the point where we finished the runway and Michelle and I sat there in silence and she went: ‘Okay. This is a good cast.’”
The comedian adds that the woman who started it all, RuPaul, was a delight to work with – and yes, she was actually there.
“There’s this idea of Ru, having got to sit next to him for hours at a time, for weeks at a time, but Ru is genuinely like… within a minute of talking to him, you kind of forget that he’s the most famous person in the world,” they say.
“And I think there’s this idea that he’s a bit aloof, and I always put that down to that person [interacting with Ru] being on a film set for the first time, and doesn’t understand that there’s quite a bit of work to do, and there’s someone talking in his ear.”
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Rhys does add that they “have no idea when it’s coming out”, admitting that the show probably has to fit between the “1000 new franchises” and “Drag Race Guam“.
For any Drag Race fans starved for content until then, though, Drag Race Down Under finalist Kween Kong is set to appear on Global All Stars, alongside Alyssa Edwards, Kitty Scott-Claus and more.