Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week.
Speaker 2: Are right. Hey guys, welcome back to TV Reload. I
Speaker 2: want to thank you so much for clicking and downloading.
Speaker 2: On today's episode with Sasha Colby, the winner of RuPaul's
Speaker 2: Drag Race season fifteen and special guest of Rupaulse Drag
Speaker 2: Race Down Under, which has already started on STAN Australia.
Speaker 2: I started watching RuPauls Drag Race around season five and
Speaker 2: this show has been such a huge part of my life.
Speaker 2: I would say, without making it sound very dramatic, We've
Speaker 2: had RuPaul's Drag Race parties at my home. I've covered
Speaker 2: down Under for four years on the podcast, so having
Speaker 2: an international queen on the show today is I guess
Speaker 2: the best way to describe that is magnificent. Sasha will
Speaker 2: talk about their relationship with Rupe Paul and what they
Speaker 2: think of him stepping back from hosting down Under.
Speaker 1: We will openly.
Speaker 2: Discuss Sasha's early connection with Michelle Visage and what it
Speaker 2: is like to sit beside her for her first season
Speaker 2: hosting an entire season without Rupe Paul. I will discuss
Speaker 2: some of the mantras Sasha Colby has and what they
Speaker 2: hope to install in the Australian New Zealand Queens. You
Speaker 2: will get everything from a discussion on who should have
Speaker 2: gone home in episode one, future plans to visit Australia,
Speaker 2: and even some insights on Australian drag versus American drag.
Speaker 2: There's actually so much to discuss, with so many inside
Speaker 2: revelations as per usual, So sit back and relax as
Speaker 2: we unpack the wonderful world of RuPaul's Drag Race down Under.
Speaker 3: Hi, Ben, how are you?
Speaker 1: I'm very well.
Speaker 2: I have to start this by saying congratulations on the
Speaker 2: win for season fifteen.
Speaker 3: Oh well, thank you so much. I was like, what
Speaker 3: do I win now?
Speaker 2: And it's such an achievement with that sort of being
Speaker 2: the master class of RuPaul's drag Race. I think we
Speaker 2: all turned to America and it's it's.
Speaker 1: The harder one to win.
Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask you about down Under. How did
Speaker 2: the opportunity come about? Like what was your reaction to
Speaker 2: being asked to come down and be a part of this.
Speaker 3: You know, I was in a let's say October. I
Speaker 3: was in Hawaii.
Speaker 4: I was the Grand Marshal of Junolulu Pride and the
Speaker 4: producers thereon give me a call and I was like,
Speaker 4: do what he.
Speaker 3: Wants and he's like, I have a great idea. What
Speaker 3: are you doing this day. I'm like, I think come free.
Speaker 4: He's like, we would love for you to be a
Speaker 4: guest judge on the first episode of POS Drag Race
Speaker 4: down Under. I'm like, down Under, that'd be amazing. He's like, yeah,
Speaker 4: you're gonna be one of the first like winners. We're
Speaker 4: going to start, you know, bringing on winners for the
Speaker 4: show and to judge, and we would love to make
Speaker 4: you the first one. And I'm like absolutely, as a
Speaker 4: Polynesian down Under like I live, because it showcases so
Speaker 4: many different cultures, not just you know Australian drag New
Speaker 4: Zealand and then that you know cultural Maui and Samoan
Speaker 4: and it's a great place to see my kind of
Speaker 4: you know, people that are my ethnicity.
Speaker 2: This is the first season we haven't had Rupe Paul
Speaker 2: as the host, and your presence had me turn around
Speaker 2: to my friend while we were watching it and we said,
Speaker 2: we're not noticing RuPaul not being here as much.
Speaker 1: And I think it had a lot.
Speaker 2: To do with the effort that you put into what
Speaker 2: it is that you do, and the care and the
Speaker 2: consider about the way in which you were talking to
Speaker 2: the contestants. I thought you should be really proud of
Speaker 2: being able to sort of step into that and do
Speaker 2: such a good job.
Speaker 4: I took the like, the asking of me to be
Speaker 4: a judge, I take it very seriously.
Speaker 3: I you know, I've been in.
Speaker 4: The pageant world for years and I've been judging national
Speaker 4: pageants here, and I just have a way when I judge.
Speaker 3: You know, everyone has a perfect score. And I always
Speaker 3: when I.
Speaker 4: See a critique that I see needs fixing, you know,
Speaker 4: technical critique or something that they could that would help
Speaker 4: enhance them, I always like to give the critique and
Speaker 4: then give a construction, a construction of criticism or a
Speaker 4: solution to that. You know, like I love this silhouette,
Speaker 4: but if you've pulled this up higher and make this
Speaker 4: it's to help the girl grow.
Speaker 3: And a lot of times, you know, I just don't
Speaker 3: like a judge. It's like I just take that. I
Speaker 3: don't think it look good on you.
Speaker 4: Okay, that's just preference, Like what are you doing to
Speaker 4: help her her craft?
Speaker 3: And that's what judging should be.
Speaker 2: Had you watched any of the Rupholes drag Rice down
Speaker 2: on the seasons before, because I was thinking if I'd
Speaker 2: been ask to do something like this, I'd be like,
Speaker 2: I mean, I'll sound old when I say this. I like,
Speaker 2: get me all the Davy Days, but that's not what
Speaker 2: we're talking about. I feel like, get me all the episodes.
Speaker 3: I actually have.
Speaker 4: I've watched them all. I really fell in love with
Speaker 4: Spankie Jackson's season. I just thought, Thankye and Queen Kong
Speaker 4: and Hanaconda or like, just among all of them, there's
Speaker 4: just so amazing. We were so fun, and then I
Speaker 4: got to do a tour last year with Anitra and
Speaker 4: all of Australia.
Speaker 3: We did a whole tour and.
Speaker 4: We're actually coming back in twenty twenty five, so keep
Speaker 4: an eye out for that in April.
Speaker 3: But yeah, we're really excited.
Speaker 4: I got to hang out with the girls that I
Speaker 4: would watch them on Drag Race, and this is before
Speaker 4: I was going to be a judge, So just actually
Speaker 4: just getting to know the Aussy girls was so much fun.
Speaker 3: And then being able to be a.
Speaker 4: Part of the franchise by judging and seeing the up
Speaker 4: and coming girls and seeing like you know, different queens.
Speaker 4: Also being able to reunite with them has been really cool.
Speaker 2: Can you say like a big difference, because I mean
Speaker 2: you've com paid it in the US version and I
Speaker 2: can tell you watch a lot of them, a lot
Speaker 2: of the franchises around the world. So what the big
Speaker 2: differences between say America and Australia.
Speaker 4: I would say obviously like budget and like quality.
Speaker 3: America just has more money.
Speaker 4: We have like a bigger studio here and so it's
Speaker 4: like kind of just one spot where it's a little
Speaker 4: more makeshift, you know, we do what we do in
Speaker 4: Australia and in New Zealand when we're filming, so there's
Speaker 4: a little bit more of like a scale down quality,
Speaker 4: but it's still an amazing like production and the people
Speaker 4: are always so great. But honestly, I just think it's
Speaker 4: the resources of drag that we kind of get a
Speaker 4: lot more in America that to have different points of
Speaker 4: views and different styles where it's a lot when you're
Speaker 4: in you know, a smaller country, like you know, a
Speaker 4: smaller continent where you don't have a lot of resources
Speaker 4: except like trying to order online and then trying to
Speaker 4: make them your own so it's much more difficult to
Speaker 4: source you know, like already great drag or like drag designers,
Speaker 4: but it does help. What drag is is making it
Speaker 4: yourself and figuring out your own style and really you know,
Speaker 4: working in And that's what I think I love about
Speaker 4: watching the down Undergirls is they're really good at being
Speaker 4: crafty and make shifting and working with the resources that
Speaker 4: is available to them, which is really really commendable.
Speaker 1: One of my favorite things about watching you when you did.
Speaker 2: Your series was your ability to do the work for yourself,
Speaker 2: but it also felt like you were able to help
Speaker 2: others and I thought that to me showed real character.
Speaker 2: And then I wondered being over here giving your impression
Speaker 2: of what it takes to win the show like this,
Speaker 2: Were you able to say to the Aussie queens at
Speaker 2: that stage of the competition, like this is what you
Speaker 2: need to do to stand out?
Speaker 4: Yes, I mean I talked to each and every one
Speaker 4: of them when I would give their critique as if
Speaker 4: I wanted them to win and encourage their eye, but
Speaker 4: also push your eye further to give it that winners
Speaker 4: you know, that winner over one two, like you know,
Speaker 4: kind of checked things that really you know, put an
Speaker 4: outfit from like a seven to ten, and that's you know,
Speaker 4: with work and practice and exercising your drag, I to
Speaker 4: know how to put something together really quick and how
Speaker 4: to make it work for your body, you know, and
Speaker 4: how to make it work for you and then sell
Speaker 4: it because you got to fucking feel it. You can't
Speaker 4: sell it if you don't feel it. So you can
Speaker 4: tell the girls like not comfortable in her outfit, or
Speaker 4: like she's like mad because maybe something didn't work out right,
Speaker 4: and it's all over her face, so you gotta fake it, mama.
Speaker 1: I think we saw that with Listen to Innocence.
Speaker 2: I was like she could say that there was something
Speaker 2: about what was happening that might feel uncomfortable, and then
Speaker 2: it was that you picked up on that and explained
Speaker 2: that because like as the viewer, you know, that's all
Speaker 2: wastele and you kind of ah the voice of the
Speaker 2: people at that point, you know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, which is also too. I'm like if I don't
Speaker 3: say it.
Speaker 1: Twitter, don't say it, and then they're coming for you.
Speaker 4: So it's like, let me just tell you now and
Speaker 4: let it out and like hopefully it'll just like pass on.
Speaker 2: One of the things that I think that you would
Speaker 2: always be asked for the rest of your life is
Speaker 2: about Rue Paul. You know, I always asked this to
Speaker 2: people like yourself when I've met sort of more the
Speaker 2: internationals than anyone else. But did you walk away with
Speaker 2: something like was there something specific to you that Rup
Speaker 2: Paul taught you? Because I know he has a lot
Speaker 2: of values and a lot of mantras that we know,
Speaker 2: but I just wondered about you particularly, was this something
Speaker 2: that he taught you.
Speaker 4: The wild thing was that this felt like so at ease.
Speaker 4: I kind of, you know, was really nervous. It's like,
Speaker 4: don't meet your idols, you know, of the highly likely
Speaker 4: to disappoint you.
Speaker 3: But Rue didn't.
Speaker 4: And what I like talking to Rue is like, I'm
Speaker 4: a pretty, you know, metaphysical kind of person. Like I'm
Speaker 4: a spiritual person and I believe in you know, meditation
Speaker 4: and yoga. You know, I got crystals and like candles
Speaker 4: and do all those things. It's my form of spirituality.
Speaker 4: And like I believe in manifestation and the art of
Speaker 4: you know, the law of attraction.
Speaker 3: And so does Rue.
Speaker 4: And Rue will say certain things to me sometimes that
Speaker 4: I can tell that he obviously.
Speaker 3: Like listens to like the same self help and self
Speaker 3: work books or teachers.
Speaker 4: So it kind of made me feel really like, oh,
Speaker 4: she's she definitely gets me when I say certain things
Speaker 4: like there's just you know when she talks about she
Speaker 4: talked about connection to source and nobody really says source
Speaker 4: energy when they refer to like God energy or like
Speaker 4: the universe, And that's such a specific teaching of like
Speaker 4: this one guru named Abraham Hicks, and I was like, oh,
Speaker 4: she like listens to Abram Nicks. It was like the
Speaker 4: founder of like law of attraction and things, and it
Speaker 4: just made me feel at easy, like Okay, all my
Speaker 4: all my fun spirituality that my you know, certain people
Speaker 4: might think is like hokey, the best drag queen the
Speaker 4: entire world does the same thing.
Speaker 1: Absolutely and you can own that. You know. It's interesting.
Speaker 2: I always think about you, and I think about your
Speaker 2: currency being similar to rue in lots of ways. With
Speaker 2: your vulnerability, I think, you know, you've been able to
Speaker 2: share your story in a way that makes you so accessible,
Speaker 2: and I think that is far more challenging than people realize.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's far more brave to be able to
Speaker 1: do that.
Speaker 4: Oh yeah, I mean I also was, you know, being
Speaker 4: from Hawaii, IM just a very We have the love
Speaker 4: of spirit instilled in us. You know, we're taught to
Speaker 4: always care about our neighbor and always offer help whenever
Speaker 4: it's needed to even people you don't know. So I
Speaker 4: just have this natural like mother energy. And I'm also
Speaker 4: hyper aware because my drag mother told me when I
Speaker 4: first started dragg like, hey, you look like a bitch
Speaker 4: on stage, so you've better read nice when you're off.
Speaker 4: And I've just kind of always kept that idea, like,
Speaker 4: you know, be nice off stage. It's it never hurts
Speaker 4: and it's kept. Nobody wants to rebook a meani, you know.
Speaker 1: Like no, no, no, I never took.
Speaker 3: You're not getting booked again.
Speaker 4: So I mean they can see how many hair whips
Speaker 4: I do, or like how fierce I am. But I
Speaker 4: just love when I hear a booking like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 4: she was so fun behind stage, Oh my gosh, she
Speaker 4: was so much fun to the girls.
Speaker 3: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 4: She hung out with the drag queens like no one
Speaker 4: ever hangs out with the local queens. It's those things
Speaker 4: that make my heart happy, and then it makes them
Speaker 4: want to rebook me. And make more memories, and that's
Speaker 4: all life is, especially as a drag queen like I guess,
Speaker 4: to be so lucky to make the craziest memories and
Speaker 4: how the funds of stories to look back when I'm older.
Speaker 3: It's such a gift.
Speaker 2: It's important to you. I think, you know because you remember,
Speaker 2: like you know, because you've done. I was listening to
Speaker 2: probably about four podcasts this morning while I'm on a
Speaker 2: road trip, so I listened to like four podcasts that
Speaker 2: you were on talking about your story, and I just
Speaker 2: was like, the more and more I heard about the
Speaker 2: work that you did and the pageants that you did,
Speaker 2: and how you can collected things along the way. That
Speaker 2: was the take home for me was that you really
Speaker 2: collected things and watched the way that other people treated you,
Speaker 2: and you thought about how you wanted to be treated.
Speaker 1: You know, you put yourself from their shoes.
Speaker 3: I didn't.
Speaker 4: That's amazing that you noticed that. Thank you, Yeah, I did.
Speaker 4: I'm a teacher, I'm a learner. I'm a mirror of
Speaker 4: the people around me, and I really value when people
Speaker 4: just are themselves around me when they don't think anyone's looking,
Speaker 4: and you really understand, like how they are, and you
Speaker 4: learn what you like and you learn what you don't like,
Speaker 4: or like, oh, I don't want to treat people like that.
Speaker 4: I'm going to remember that, or oh I like how that,
Speaker 4: I'm gonna remember what that person did to me, you know,
Speaker 4: and I like to pass on that knowledge and not
Speaker 4: ever be somebody. You know, I met my hero and
Speaker 4: she had a bad day and it kind of ruined
Speaker 4: my whole idea of her. And I never want to
Speaker 4: be like that to somebody. So I wish trying my
Speaker 4: hardest to put my best forward.
Speaker 2: For sure, you could easily have like a really big
Speaker 2: ego as well. That's what I kept thinking. You know,
Speaker 2: last night I was watching some old episodes just to refresh,
Speaker 2: knowing that I was talking to you today, and I
Speaker 2: was saying, how good you are, And I think to myself,
Speaker 2: just chatting to you, now, you consciously remove ego from yourself.
Speaker 3: Thank you, thank you. I mean, I got it. I'll
Speaker 3: get a big oldhead.
Speaker 4: I would be a monster, But luckily my friends all
Speaker 4: keep me in.
Speaker 2: Lovely check my partner whenever he thinks that I'm getting
Speaker 2: out of control, he tells me to do the dish.
Speaker 1: He's like, do the dishes.
Speaker 2: We've got a dishwasher, but he tells me you handwashed
Speaker 2: those dishes.
Speaker 1: Girl, I want them hot hot.
Speaker 2: Before we go, I want to ask you, like the
Speaker 2: reunion of Michelle Visage, like what sort of a relationship
Speaker 2: or friendship have you been able to keep going?
Speaker 3: It's been so nice with Michelle.
Speaker 4: We've known each other as acquaintances before I got on
Speaker 4: the show, like we've known who each other are. I've
Speaker 4: never like hung out with her, met her before the show.
Speaker 4: But my best friend is was her makeup artist for
Speaker 4: a long time on the show, and he was my
Speaker 4: best friend that would help me for the for the
Speaker 4: package for drag Race. So she kind of also knew
Speaker 4: that my best friend President was helping me and she
Speaker 4: could see like his little hand in my package was
Speaker 4: very you know by the book and you know was
Speaker 4: doing her judge's duty. But after I won, Jess was
Speaker 4: just so lovely, just so such mother energy, such like
Speaker 4: mothering the mother, which is so nice, you know, because
Speaker 4: the mother needs to be mothered as well. But she
Speaker 4: was great, like she has always been so like welcoming
Speaker 4: and really encouraging and just like I just love everything
Speaker 4: you're doing and being able to sit there with her
Speaker 4: in her first episode, as you know, holding the reins
Speaker 4: of drag race down under. It was really nice to
Speaker 4: be by her side and be a sense of support
Speaker 4: and even just walking her and on like encouraging her.
Speaker 4: Like they're moments you know when I'm like, you're doing great, girl,
Speaker 4: this is amazing, like you know, like really really making
Speaker 4: memories with her. And then we got to hang out
Speaker 4: for the premiere, which is so much fun. Got to
Speaker 4: watch it together. Was so happy at the.
Speaker 3: Edit, so we were we were really happy.
Speaker 1: I have to let you go.
Speaker 2: But I just wanted to say I always finished my
Speaker 2: podcast with it behind the scene sacred, and I was
Speaker 2: wondering about it. If you can help me with this.
Speaker 2: We had two queens that did not go home in
Speaker 2: episode one?
Speaker 1: Is it bold of me?
Speaker 2: Is it bold of me too? If you had to
Speaker 2: send one of those girls home? No, who would you
Speaker 2: have sent home?
Speaker 3: Honestly, I can't say. I was literally the whole time you.
Speaker 1: Say can't afford you said, can't say? Is that is
Speaker 1: that a clute?
Speaker 4: I cannot say.
Speaker 1: Okay, it's just because.
Speaker 3: Like I was, that was an actual thing.
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, this is going to be hard,
Speaker 4: and I looked at Michelle and I'm so glad I'm
Speaker 4: not I'm not the one who wants to make the decision.
Speaker 2: And then you get stuck on a podcast with me. Okay,
Speaker 2: all right, can.
Speaker 1: I just tell you I am I'm in your audience.
Speaker 1: I am such a fan of you. I think that
Speaker 1: you are so brilliant.
Speaker 2: I look forward to coming to Australias to buy my
Speaker 2: ticket and be in your front row to watch you.
Speaker 3: Yes, well, let us know that.
Speaker 4: Let me let me pr no, we can make sure
Speaker 4: to say hi at whatever city we're at.
Speaker 1: That would make my years.
Speaker 3: So thank you, Yes, Ben, absolutely thank.
Speaker 1: You for being so generous with your time and chatting
Speaker 1: with me. I'll let you go.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, We're gonna have so much fun you in
Speaker 3: Australia soon