After spawning 14 seasons, numerous spin-offs and international franchises, the first season of Drag Race Philippines has fashionably arrived, and the show itself didn’t disappoint.
On Tuesday, August 16, the highly anticipated reality competition series was launched at an exclusive advanced screening party in XYLO at The Palace in Uptown BGC. From the casts, judges, and special guests, challenges, and runway looks, to confrontations and funny confessionals, the pilot episode showed how promising and exciting Drag Race Philippines is.
Of course, all of the 12 drag queens—composed of Brigiding, Corazon, Eva Le Queen, Gigi Era, Lady Morgana, Marina Summers, Minty Fresh, Precious Paula Nicole, Prince, Turing, Viñas DeLuxe, and Xilhoutte—were present, bringing eleganza extravaganza on the rainbow carpet.
The queens have also had the chance to flaunt their charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent through a series of lip sync performances, making the event the night that truly everyone will remember.
The 12 queens then described the first season of Drag Race Philippines as legendary, astonishing, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, bongga, palong-palo, puso (love/heart), fiesta, world-class, showstopping, pasabog, fresh, and full of drama.
Aside from the queens, main judges Kaladkaren and Jiggly Caliente were also at the event, where the two shared about the things that make a good drag queen.
“To be a good drag queen, you have to be original. You have to have conviction and a strong point of view,” Caliente said.
On the other hand, Kaladkaren said that drag queens should have a purpose as this will help them to find their true selves. “[Having a purpose] can form her creativity, talent, and her message to the people. I think having a purpose will help a drag queen to find her true self.”
Caliente then expressed how proud she is of the show itself, as well as the 12 competing queens. “We’re the first franchise to have two trans women at the judges’ table. We’re the first franchise to also have Untucked because we all know they’re dramatic as f*ck.”
She added: “[These] girls are talented, amazing, and they’re all beautiful human beings. I couldn’t have made it to a better franchise […] I love every one of you.”
Drag Race Philippines host Paolo Ballesteros was also in attendance and joined the queens and main judges on the center stage. Ballesteros also shared her excitement that Drag Race now has its Filipino version.
“We’ve been watching RuPaul’s Drag Race ever since, and now, we have Drag Race Philippines! So, I’m super excited,” Paolo gleefully said.
The series is hosted by Paolo Ballesteros, with Jiggly Caliente and Kaladkaren as the main judges, and BJ Pascual, Jon Santos, and Rajo Laurel as the rotating judges.
Drag Race Philippines premieres on August 1, while Drag Race Philippines: Untucked premieres on August 19 both on discovery+, HBO GO, and WOW Presents Plus.
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