Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast last week Their Life. Welcome back
Speaker 1: to TV Reload. My name's Benjamin Norris, and on this
Speaker 1: podcast I go behind the scenes with the biggest players
Speaker 1: in television. Each episode you will get a front row
Speaker 1: seat with content makers like executive producers, writers, editors, and
Speaker 1: casting agents, plus the talent that we see on our screens.
Speaker 1: TV Reload reloads the shows that you are currently watching
Speaker 1: and gives you a better insight into our television industry
Speaker 1: and our streaming services. This week on the podcast, I
Speaker 1: have the top three queens from RuPaul's Drag Race down
Speaker 1: Under Season two, and on today's episode, I will hopefully
Speaker 1: give the fans a better idea of Queen Kong's resume
Speaker 1: and help you ask that question. Is Queen Kong our
Speaker 1: winner of the second Down Under series? This Saturday is
Speaker 1: already the finale, and while the series has been on
Speaker 1: a wild ride, I think the finale is going to
Speaker 1: be an excellent celebration of three very very popular queens
Speaker 1: who truly deserve to be there. Queen Kong is of
Speaker 1: Tongan and Samoan heritage. She originally hails from New Zealand,
Speaker 1: but is currently residing in South Australia and was probably
Speaker 1: the most established queen at the start of the series.
Speaker 1: Kong is known for her powerhouse performances and is also
Speaker 1: a professional dancer, which is why the fandom started off
Speaker 1: with huge high hopes for this awesome drag Queen. We
Speaker 1: will talk in a sabotur the clash with Beverly Kills,
Speaker 1: who she thinks could easily sit beside Rue Paul, and
Speaker 1: we will tackle the shady or Lady quiz with the
Speaker 1: very first official request to be a lady. However, let's
Speaker 1: get started with today's guest. I'd like to welcome Queen
Speaker 1: Kong from RuPaul's Drag Race down Under season two to
Speaker 1: TV reload.
Speaker 2: I feel like it's just giving people more power to
Speaker 2: feel seen, acknowledged and heard. First start.
Speaker 3: Queen Kong and sister can't.
Speaker 2: Personally, I've had a lot of violent depths my ego.
Speaker 1: Everyone knows who Queen Kong is. She is a legend
Speaker 1: in the drag scene.
Speaker 2: Well, I don't like it when someone raises their voice
Speaker 2: at me, are you cheam? Queen Kong and I knew
Speaker 2: they were going to do it to the tour of us,
Speaker 2: but they're going to make US rivals.
Speaker 1: Which Queen will be crowned down under next Drag.
Speaker 2: Superstar beyond more community development queens rather than TV personality.
Speaker 3: Hi there, Queen Kong, How the hell are you?
Speaker 2: I'm good? How are you doing?
Speaker 3: All the better for being able to talk to you
Speaker 3: this morning?
Speaker 1: Amazing, So condragulations on making it to the top three.
Speaker 1: I think that you had some of the strongest storylines
Speaker 1: of the season, making me think that you could win.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, I'll let you be the judge of that,
Speaker 2: because I'm not going to get my hopes up because
Speaker 2: if I lose, I'm coming for you. Ben.
Speaker 1: We'll look do that because then we could just have
Speaker 1: a commiseration drink and I'll be up for.
Speaker 2: That totally, many many, many drinks.
Speaker 1: Do you think, though, that having a journey in your
Speaker 1: efforts on a show show like this may give you
Speaker 1: a better shot of winning.
Speaker 2: I think watching it back, I definitely got a lot
Speaker 2: of screen time and also a lot of screen time
Speaker 2: for the audience to warm to me and feel like
Speaker 2: some love me. Majority of them loved me. Some of
Speaker 2: them are just like, oh, go to the therapist, and
Speaker 2: I'm like I am chill the fuck out with you.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I think watching the Bag, I definitely feel
Speaker 2: like people know me through and through. And the thing
Speaker 2: about it is walking in you saw it in episode one,
Speaker 2: or the queens are like, oh my god, Queen congs here,
Speaker 2: Queen Cong's. Yeah, the majority of these girls only have
Speaker 2: ever really met me through the lens of a screen
Speaker 2: or seeing me on stage. They see that monster performance
Speaker 2: fierce and fear as because they don't see the pile
Speaker 2: of shit in the dressing room that's transcrape it together
Speaker 2: to get on stage and you know, look like a
Speaker 2: warrior queen. And so I feel like this was a
Speaker 2: really good indication of who I am and what I'm
Speaker 2: about and my values and yeah, I'm silently confident. But also, hey,
Speaker 2: they can go either way. Both those girls are just
Speaker 2: icons in their own life.
Speaker 1: I kind of thought, you know, when it comes to
Speaker 1: therapy with Rue Paul, he played a therapist on the
Speaker 1: Brady Bunch movie. So that moment where he was given well,
Speaker 1: she was giving you some really good advice. It slipped
Speaker 1: me back to that Brady Bunch moment. I don't know,
Speaker 1: how do you ever seen RuPaul in the Brady Bunch
Speaker 1: movie with.
Speaker 2: The Black Wig. I remember that Black Wig, and I
Speaker 2: was like, how can we forget let's not remember that week.
Speaker 2: I think she's forgotten it. Yeah, those moments were while like,
Speaker 2: you know, I think there were a couple of moments
Speaker 2: with Ru where she really gave me mama love, like
Speaker 2: and she you know, I've spent years going to therapist
Speaker 2: and you know, had so many people give so many
Speaker 2: different bits of advice, but she hit it on the
Speaker 2: head with a couple of those moments. There was a
Speaker 2: chat she had around shame, which is inherently built into
Speaker 2: most of us, but especially in the FIVEPOC communities, you know,
Speaker 2: when it comes to being queer, you know, and also
Speaker 2: with Dragon. So when she brought that up and we
Speaker 2: spoke about my father and all that kind of stuff,
Speaker 2: these are things that I for myself, you know, talking
Speaker 2: to another person of color who's also been through it
Speaker 2: and is now in a platform where she's God, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm going, you know, who has to listen to them
Speaker 2: this example of excellence. And so there was that moment.
Speaker 2: Also the moment in the workroom where she spoke to
Speaker 2: me about giving my inn a child permission to have
Speaker 2: fun you know, and I think I've never heard in
Speaker 2: those words before, but when she said, I felt something
Speaker 2: in my heart just like unlock and open, and I went, Wow,
Speaker 2: she's really good and this is why we call her
Speaker 2: Mama rou So I've got lots of love, love and
Speaker 2: respect for that black Wig from the Brady Bund.
Speaker 1: It's money can't buy therapy, you know, so it years
Speaker 1: to come when you say I learned this from my
Speaker 1: therapist RuPaul, you know, it's.
Speaker 2: Crazy, literally totally and hopefully she doesn't charge me your
Speaker 2: royalty fy for that.
Speaker 1: Well, throughout the series, I've been asking everyone if they
Speaker 1: are I've learned this from the Instagram lives that you
Speaker 1: will refer to it as your edit? But are you
Speaker 1: just happy with the way that you came across for
Speaker 1: how viewers got to see you?
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, like I'm one of the fortunate queens
Speaker 2: where you know, we obviously and you would obviously know this,
Speaker 2: like you give everything, you know, like the producers get
Speaker 2: everything from you, and you know, whatever gets chopped up
Speaker 2: and left on the dis floors really at their own liberty.
Speaker 2: But I feel like with my edit, they really did
Speaker 2: kind of capture my essence, you know, and the things
Speaker 2: that I that I face, the things that I struggle with,
Speaker 2: my values, all of it, and I feel very fortunate.
Speaker 2: You know, I think people got a good idea of
Speaker 2: who I am and what I'm about and what I
Speaker 2: will do if I win.
Speaker 1: What does it mean to you to have made it
Speaker 1: to the RuPaul's Drag Race down Under finale?
Speaker 2: Like?
Speaker 3: What does it mean to you personally?
Speaker 2: Ah? Personally? Like I just think, you know, thinking about
Speaker 2: that little child that really was talking about, Like I
Speaker 2: think about think back to then when I would watching
Speaker 2: TV and going, the only person that we look to
Speaker 2: that looked like me was the rock doing the rock, Johmpson.
Speaker 2: So I'm going, I definitely wouldn't want to be a
Speaker 2: wrestler like I want to be with the wrestler. So
Speaker 2: thinking about that child and also thinking about my niece,
Speaker 2: my nephews who you know who I'm raising as well, going,
Speaker 2: you know, this is the possibilities for us to exist
Speaker 2: in these platforms and spaces. I can only imagine what
Speaker 2: this impact will do for that generation. So even though
Speaker 2: it doesn't seem like it's about me personally, I know
Speaker 2: that's just a torch that I get to pass on
Speaker 2: to you know, my nephew and my niece when they
Speaker 2: succeed my lifespan, and so that means a lot. It
Speaker 2: means a lot to me.
Speaker 1: Powerful when I was growing up, it wasn't even the rock.
Speaker 1: The rock came around when I was in my twenties,
Speaker 1: so there was less. There was less than a rock.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm going to say to you. Right now.
Speaker 3: We've come a long way.
Speaker 2: We're moving forward and that's great.
Speaker 1: Does this final three feel right? Or had you expected
Speaker 1: there may be someone else in the final three?
Speaker 2: No, to be honest, this feels right. You know. I
Speaker 2: think walking in, I had ideas of who I thought
Speaker 2: was going to go forward, and to be honest, and
Speaker 2: I've said this to Spanky, like I think we all
Speaker 2: kind of like cut her out in the beginning in
Speaker 2: the first one two episodes, but really quickly she stood
Speaker 2: up and let us all know what time it was. Like,
Speaker 2: Spanky Jackson is a force to be reckoned with. And
Speaker 2: so I think when I walked in, I was like, Okay, Hannah,
Speaker 2: hopefully if I don't get cut out, and if I did,
Speaker 2: be humble about it, don't cry and maybe Mini or
Speaker 2: Yuri you know that there was definitely others that I
Speaker 2: thought were going to get just based on face value.
Speaker 2: So it makes sense now, like those two girls killed
Speaker 2: the competition, and I'm lucky that I got there at
Speaker 2: the end because there was touch and go for a minute.
Speaker 1: I don't know, because like I knew who you were before,
Speaker 1: I didn't think I think this is right. I don't
Speaker 1: think I knew anyone else and think it was just
Speaker 1: you that I knew as an established queen going into
Speaker 1: the show. So being such an established queen, do you
Speaker 1: think that RuPaul's is going to change much.
Speaker 3: Of your life?
Speaker 2: I think, like, I don't think it's going to change
Speaker 2: the landscape in terms of what I'm doing, but I
Speaker 2: feel like it's going to broaden the outreach, which is
Speaker 2: the main reason why that was what I wanted to
Speaker 2: get out of it. You know, I wanted to again,
Speaker 2: you know, for the younger brown boy, black boy who's
Speaker 2: watching the TV to go, I'm going to be I'm
Speaker 2: going to be a glamorous drag warrior that has anxiety
Speaker 2: and depression. That's what I'm going to be when I
Speaker 2: grow up. So I wanted to be that. But I
Speaker 2: think moving forward, I think it is just going to
Speaker 2: amplify it. And I was just an Inner Borough for
Speaker 2: the Fringe Festival, and you know, you kind of underestimate
Speaker 2: how many people watch Drag Race across the world. It's
Speaker 2: the most watched TV show. You know, walking down the street,
Speaker 2: people recognizing me out a drag, Like there was a
Speaker 2: thing that I loved about the anonymity of drag, being
Speaker 2: able to do the show in the club and then
Speaker 2: walk out and people just think I'm the security guard
Speaker 2: that's completely gone, Like it's completely up the table now,
Speaker 2: and so it's wild people recognizing you down the street.
Speaker 2: And I think knowing that the way that I was
Speaker 2: portrayed on the show and how I help myself was
Speaker 2: seen and the people that also feel the same way
Speaker 2: are resonating with that, who don't feel like they can
Speaker 2: really do drag because they're not extrovert extroverts. Like I'm
Speaker 2: definitely an introverted extrovert. So I feel like it's just
Speaker 2: giving people more power to feel seen, acknowledged and heard
Speaker 2: and you know, feel like they have the possibility across
Speaker 2: the board to stand up and do the drag that
Speaker 2: they want to do, you know, might not necessarily be
Speaker 2: as polished or might not necessarily be as talented or
Speaker 2: funny or charismatic, but you know, it's a valid you know,
Speaker 2: if you have a purpose and a mission for your
Speaker 2: lifespan for your art, Like, who's going to tell you
Speaker 2: that you're wrong unless you're telling yourself you're wrong. So yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm excited for that aspect of what drag Race is
Speaker 2: going to do for me and what the plans that
Speaker 2: I have to use this platform to forward this kind
Speaker 2: of activism work, this movement that I've been doing before
Speaker 2: the show started.
Speaker 3: It's my favorite thing about you.
Speaker 1: You is that introverted, extrovert quality, and it kind of
Speaker 1: I'm people see me extremely extroverted, but I actually have
Speaker 1: a large part of my personality that it's introverted, and
Speaker 1: it's not something people understand very easily. I loved when
Speaker 1: you could see that one of the queens in the
Speaker 1: make of a Transformation thing was being really loud, and
Speaker 1: you were like, I'm so glad I didn't get that person.
Speaker 3: That would be too much for me. That's the same
Speaker 3: for me.
Speaker 1: People think because I'm really loud that they try and
Speaker 1: match me with loud people, or they thought I was
Speaker 1: sassy on Big Brothers. So they would sassy. People would
Speaker 1: come up and go, I'm the bitch of the group too,
Speaker 1: and I'd be like, what.
Speaker 2: Thank you, I loved you by the way, You're amazing.
Speaker 1: That's nice to say, but it's kind of funny because
Speaker 1: you know, people expect you to be a certain way
Speaker 1: and I'm not always as loud, which is, as I said,
Speaker 1: my favorite thing about you is just being able to
Speaker 1: be both.
Speaker 3: I think is important.
Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I guess too. I think
Speaker 2: the way that I thought because before Drag, I was
Speaker 2: going to a professional dancer and I'm a leo, so
Speaker 2: I've definitely got that like the show boating, like show
Speaker 2: pony aspect of my personality. But because I've always performed
Speaker 2: like professionally, like I've always used the stage to exercise
Speaker 2: all of those, like those egotistical, you know parts of me.
Speaker 2: And I think if you met me a year ago,
Speaker 2: you probably would have hated me, like, to be completely honest,
Speaker 2: because I like, not that I was a count, but
Speaker 2: I was a bit of an asshole because I thought
Speaker 2: I was it. I thought not like my shit did
Speaker 2: it's sting. Like the way that I did Drag was
Speaker 2: still the same way, but I feel like my approach
Speaker 2: was a lot more aggressive, and I feel like I've
Speaker 2: really like made my approach more sophisticated, and I've kind
Speaker 2: of bored my stuff down. I think personally, I've had
Speaker 2: a lot of like violent deaths to my ego, which
Speaker 2: has been so beneficial in the best way possible, and
Speaker 2: it's just really made me look at myself and go, well,
Speaker 2: you know, like what am I other than I can
Speaker 2: do these amazing things with my body now, But when
Speaker 2: I turn forty fifty, Like, I'm not going to be
Speaker 2: the backflipping drag queen at forty I'm not going to
Speaker 2: be the drag queen that's going that that people are
Speaker 2: coming to the club going ooh, Anti Kong needs to retire,
Speaker 2: Like I don't want that, Like I want to make
Speaker 2: sure that the impact that we're making sort of surpasses
Speaker 2: my physical capacity to be so I want to make
Speaker 2: sure that that sets up a space for others to
Speaker 2: push the envelope further. And so, you know, I've done
Speaker 2: a lot of self growth and the journey mentally and
Speaker 2: emotionally has been really rewarding, and drag has been the
Speaker 2: best way to do that. So yeah, it's exciting.
Speaker 3: It is so exciting.
Speaker 1: But I think that's kind of the hero's journey that
Speaker 1: we don't realize is that you prove to yourself that
Speaker 1: you can do something and you have a false confidence
Speaker 1: about yourself, and then the real journey is being able
Speaker 1: to work out what it means and how to do
Speaker 1: it well, you know what I mean. And that's where
Speaker 1: you pull back and you know it is a little
Speaker 1: bit harder, got to take take yourself down a few notches,
Speaker 1: and you've got to sort of musculate it. As I
Speaker 1: said to you, I think this is one of the
Speaker 1: reasons why I think you could win, is because we
Speaker 1: got to really go on this journey with you and
Speaker 1: see that this all means something to you.
Speaker 3: Do you know what I mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I feel you and I also think, like you know,
Speaker 2: in terms of what I represent like because it's across
Speaker 2: the board. I think, you know, you're never going to
Speaker 2: be physically, mentally, emotionally completely ready to go for your dreams,
Speaker 2: you know. I think that's the reality. I think so
Speaker 2: many of us, you know, will put us ourselves off
Speaker 2: of going for something at a time, going ah, you know,
Speaker 2: like I'll give myself maybe another year to go and
Speaker 2: lose some weight or to do this before I even
Speaker 2: go for it. I don't think for me walking to
Speaker 2: the competition, I went, is this the right time? Maybe?
Speaker 2: But if I wait and I'm going to miss it
Speaker 2: and I'm going to have to go with it, and
Speaker 2: rather than like thinking about what I used to be,
Speaker 2: I'm going to deal with what I am now, you know,
Speaker 2: gather it into the boat, push up the canoe into water,
Speaker 2: and just hopefully think that we like swim across that
Speaker 2: water and not sink. And so it's a humble approach.
Speaker 2: And I think the way that my journey went is
Speaker 2: definitely for myself what I needed and watching it back
Speaker 2: and going wow, like I'm really proud of of myself,
Speaker 2: and I feel like I wanted to let it all
Speaker 2: hang out, and there was actually something that like the
Speaker 2: reason why Roue always took time with me is because
Speaker 2: I would never project confidence. You always go, how are
Speaker 2: you feeling today, and I'd be like, horrible, I feel stressed,
Speaker 2: I feel anxious, I want to go home and up
Speaker 2: I want KFC.
Speaker 4: Like She's just like, you know, there was a degree
Speaker 4: of her trying to like not only give me confidence,
Speaker 4: just sort of like make me stand up in moments
Speaker 4: where I was just like just being honest and going,
Speaker 4: I'm not saying that I don't.
Speaker 2: Feel valued or valid or worthy. I'm just saying to
Speaker 2: you right now, you've asked me the question, and I'm
Speaker 2: just what I do is if I'm feeling it, I'm
Speaker 2: just going to talk about it. And it might not
Speaker 2: be the best thing that you want with this TV show,
Speaker 2: but that is the reality and if you want projection
Speaker 2: to badly.
Speaker 1: But it's also the expectation that I think a lot
Speaker 1: of people had on you as well, because, as I said,
Speaker 1: you know, you're an established queen. People knew who you were,
Speaker 1: and then you're then putting this huge expectation on yourself.
Speaker 3: And I could see that at the start.
Speaker 1: It seemed like you got into your head a little bit,
Speaker 1: and I felt like that might have been the biggest
Speaker 1: turtle of that might have been the inner saboteur, as
Speaker 1: RuPaul likes to say it, and then thinking well, I
Speaker 1: have to be this level above everyone else because I've
Speaker 1: been doing it longer. What was going on in your head?
Speaker 1: Like what was it for the first two weeks that
Speaker 1: sort of had you in the bottom.
Speaker 2: Even Yeah, it was, It's definitely exactly what you said, honey,
Speaker 2: Like I think, you know again, people had their preconceived
Speaker 2: ideas of what I am and who I am, and
Speaker 2: I think there were acting a degree of arrogance and
Speaker 2: also just someone that was really upper zone arts and
Speaker 2: I think and the best way obviously possible, but I
Speaker 2: think realistically, like the people that actually know me in
Speaker 2: my circle, because I keep my circle so tired, and
Speaker 2: people that know me know what I'm like, and they
Speaker 2: were just like they were mostly concerned about me because
Speaker 2: of that aspect, knowing that they knew that people would
Speaker 2: be expecting the world from me, and I don't really
Speaker 2: deal well with expectations. And so the first couple of
Speaker 2: weeks it was really difficult, especially in the acting challenge,
Speaker 2: like because I am an actor, you know, trying to
Speaker 2: deal hearing you know, Resko, you're a destroyer of worlds.
Speaker 2: You're like outside of this, like you need to prove
Speaker 2: this to her, And I'm sitting and going, I don't
Speaker 2: want to prove shit to any of you. I'm literally
Speaker 2: trying to live, like and also like like there were
Speaker 2: just so many things in my mind of just like
Speaker 2: trying to breathe through what was happening for myself, but
Speaker 2: also hearing the critiques and not taking them personally and
Speaker 2: just going, obviously, I'm not reading and so if there's
Speaker 2: something that they're not they're just not happy with what
Speaker 2: I'm delivering because that's not what they think I should
Speaker 2: be delivering. And I'm going, is that really on me?
Speaker 2: Or is that on you? Because you're expecting me to
Speaker 2: be something that you think I am, Because then if
Speaker 2: that's what you want, then like let's do a lip
Speaker 2: think and I'll show you. But like outside of that
Speaker 2: and be acting challenge, I'm probably not going to be
Speaker 2: able to access that this time around. But moving forward,
Speaker 2: I feel like if I was competing again, which I
Speaker 2: would love to, there's definitely things that I feel like
Speaker 2: I can I'll be able to access more now and
Speaker 2: have a bit more fun. But it was just a
Speaker 2: reality of being thrown into that pressure cooker and just going,
Speaker 2: oh my god, stop thinking on me like that, stop
Speaker 2: talking about me like that, stop saying there's like none
Speaker 2: of me, but just know me.
Speaker 3: Don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1: I thought if I ran into Queen Kong in the
Speaker 1: middle of the night, I'd be a little bit scared
Speaker 1: of the person who I might have been a little
Speaker 1: bit scared, but I feel like getting to know you
Speaker 1: throughout the show, I know that there's that little bit
Speaker 1: of warants, that little bit of insecurity, and those are
Speaker 1: the things that people relate.
Speaker 3: To, you know.
Speaker 2: But in the club too, like I'm the first person
Speaker 2: that will greet peop because I because also physically, like
Speaker 2: I'm massive, so I know that it can be really
Speaker 2: intimidating when when I walk into a space and it
Speaker 2: was just like oh, go hi. But like I always
Speaker 2: like make the conscious effort, and I've always been this
Speaker 2: way to like, you know, to greet people, to hug people,
Speaker 2: to make them feel welcome, because you know, I don't
Speaker 2: want to feel uncomfortable. I also don't want people to
Speaker 2: just you know, and I think our drag our drag
Speaker 2: community is really unriddled with like this idea of you
Speaker 2: have to be a bit, you have to be shady,
Speaker 2: you have to be really pretty, you have to be nasty.
Speaker 2: And I've always hated that because, you know, because I
Speaker 2: don't want to feel like my impact on someone is
Speaker 2: going to make them upset for the rest of the night. Ruin.
Speaker 2: Then I will make them scared of drag you know,
Speaker 2: it's been the opposite for me. All the drag queens
Speaker 2: for me growing up made me feel safe. You know,
Speaker 2: there were big seven Polynesian drag queens that would chase
Speaker 2: men down the street. You know, there was no bodybuilder
Speaker 2: drag queens. I'm going you definitely felt safe when you
Speaker 2: were in their clubs. And so, if anything, that's been
Speaker 2: my approach to trying to, you know, affward that way
Speaker 2: of being is to create that physical safe space for
Speaker 2: people because I can't. It's something that I try to
Speaker 2: hold me and make people feel loved, you know, because
Speaker 2: essentially that's what you want to feel. I want to
Speaker 2: feel loved and cared for and safe. Well.
Speaker 1: I quite liked you in confrontation. I thought you handled
Speaker 1: yourself really well. I mean you had a few run
Speaker 1: ins with people. I think the world with Beverly really
Speaker 1: stood out for me. Where did that clash come from?
Speaker 1: It kind of was a bit of a surprise that
Speaker 1: you guys went head to head. I didn't see that coming.
Speaker 2: It was a couple of things, you know, And I
Speaker 2: think watching it back, like I can see how people
Speaker 2: are taking it. I also feel like people don't necessarily
Speaker 2: understand why my response was the way that I responded.
Speaker 2: There's one thing that I don't deal well with because
Speaker 2: I tried to always give respect, you know, and I
Speaker 2: felt like some of the and the thing is like
Speaker 2: Beverly was at the time, you know, being trying to
Speaker 2: be shady and trying to throw a dust and I
Speaker 2: think because she doesn't really know how to throw dust
Speaker 2: in a way that is like funny, you know. The
Speaker 2: way that was coming up to me was really disrespectful.
Speaker 2: And I don't like it when someone raises their voice
Speaker 2: at me. And it was one of the things where
Speaker 2: she was like no, no, no, no, no, no, you need to
Speaker 2: come here and show me. And I'm like, listen, girl,
Speaker 2: listen really quickly, Like you know, you don't like I'm
Speaker 2: a pink color. Like where I come from, it's different,
Speaker 2: and when you put your finger in someone's face, it
Speaker 2: means a different thing. So like there was that trying
Speaker 2: to navigate that hit space and go don't take it personally,
Speaker 2: She's just in her feelings. But then there was also
Speaker 2: the boundary being crossed of her disrespecting me, and so
Speaker 2: I was trying to have this conversation and then when
Speaker 2: it switched to me not being the maternal mama coong
Speaker 2: that she was expecting. I'm going, this is a microaggression
Speaker 2: because it's not my job to be your mum. We're competing,
Speaker 2: Like you've also been antagonizing me for the past few episodes.
Speaker 2: You keep coming at me like, oh but we're If
Speaker 2: we're in the bottom, I'm going to send you home.
Speaker 2: And at no point has any of my reads in
Speaker 2: the season been like discrediting other people, Like they're all
Speaker 2: playful things that are like throwing dust that people can
Speaker 2: we can all up about, like rather than going I'm
Speaker 2: better than you, you know, and if we would head
Speaker 2: to head, we would be this. And so I feel
Speaker 2: like there was just a build up of that kind
Speaker 2: of disrespect where I really let her us know what
Speaker 2: time it was, and it came out in probably a
Speaker 2: really harsh way, but yeah, it was. It was. It
Speaker 2: was a real big lesson, I think for the both
Speaker 2: of us, and we The beautiful thing about that situation
Speaker 2: when we did do the lip sync, which was absolute chaos.
Speaker 2: I think at the end of it, hugging her, oh aye,
Speaker 2: it was absolute chaos. You know. I was like, well,
Speaker 2: you want to do you want to go.
Speaker 3: Have you seen the video, the meme or whatever. I
Speaker 3: don't know what water combat one, No, the one.
Speaker 1: Where they're in where they bought the barbies in the
Speaker 1: dryer and the dryers going around.
Speaker 3: Have you seen it? It's so funny. I could not
Speaker 3: stop laughing.
Speaker 1: It's like, because it's so true. That was kind of
Speaker 1: how it was. But interestingly enough, you mentioned something there
Speaker 1: about putting your finger in someone's face. What would you
Speaker 1: say is the biggest difference in the culture of drag
Speaker 1: between Australia and New Zealand.
Speaker 2: Well, I think you see it reflected in me spanking
Speaker 2: and Yuri, you know, I think like you see the
Speaker 2: difference in the way we carry ourselves, but also the
Speaker 2: way we talk to people. You know, at no point
Speaker 2: do we ever really there's a There is like a
Speaker 2: it's not even a casual racism element, but there is
Speaker 2: definitely casual racism and down the under specifically Australian humor
Speaker 2: that gets really tricky to navigate sometimes, but it is.
Speaker 2: It's that the physical boundaries because where we come from
Speaker 2: a New Zealand it's a different hill of fish. Because
Speaker 2: there are the vast majority of queens in New Zealand
Speaker 2: or the ones that run the scene anyway are of color.
Speaker 2: You know, so our values already embedded in the way
Speaker 2: that we operate and we deal with each other. Where
Speaker 2: here in Australia there's only like a handful of us
Speaker 2: that are really in the clubs, let alone a few
Speaker 2: of us on one hand that is, you know, being
Speaker 2: a leader in the communities. And you know, up until
Speaker 2: me getting on the show, there hasn't really been any
Speaker 2: really other representation of that kind of value system in
Speaker 2: Australia and so therefore those kinds of boundaries of this
Speaker 2: where I come from, that means straight up combat, you
Speaker 2: know what I mean, like you know, physically, but I'm
Speaker 2: not saying that I wanted to hurt her or physically
Speaker 2: like fire her. But it was the trigger. It's a
Speaker 2: trigger where you go, oh, you're just you're now just
Speaker 2: suspecting me, and now you're not only standing up, you're
Speaker 2: raising your voice and you're yelling at me, and then
Speaker 2: you're putting your finger on my face. Like there's just like,
Speaker 2: we don't do this where I come from because it
Speaker 2: means a completely different, different thing. So there's a cultural
Speaker 2: aspect to it that that was a bit of a
Speaker 2: clash and so this conversation me and Devli have had
Speaker 2: then we hugged it out after our lip sync and
Speaker 2: I love her and my little sister. She's twenty one,
Speaker 2: you know, at the time, she was twenty one and
Speaker 2: she was very young, and I'm so excited to see
Speaker 2: what she does, you know, with their career to start
Speaker 2: her career really, you know, with this level of drag
Speaker 2: and to you know, she's going to find yourself and
Speaker 2: find herself and find herself. And by the times she
Speaker 2: gets to me my age, Spanky's age, in the mini's age,
Speaker 2: you can only imagine, you know, the impact is going
Speaker 2: to make for the people that you know feel seen
Speaker 2: by her. So yeah, lessons will learn. And I think
Speaker 2: for the drama aspect of reality TV, they really turned
Speaker 2: that up to make it look really, really uncomfortable, which
Speaker 2: it was uncomfortable, but yeah, I think we resolved things.
Speaker 2: And I can't wit to see her on the road
Speaker 2: and Kiki, and we're actually working on a little duo
Speaker 2: number now, a Mortal Kombat jew and people love it.
Speaker 3: I have seen that Mode Kombat one as well. It's
Speaker 3: very good.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 1: My interpretation of Beverly was that she bought the RuPaul's
Speaker 1: Drag Race showbag and put everything on. While she was
Speaker 1: acting it out and being able to be sassy, she
Speaker 1: probably didn't understand, you know, that there's more to it
Speaker 1: than just being shady, do you know what I mean?
Speaker 3: Like I just felt like.
Speaker 2: I feel you, but I also feel like, you know,
Speaker 2: for for Bib like at that time, like she was
Speaker 2: being really like in her If I think about the
Speaker 2: headspace that I was in with all the circumstances that
Speaker 2: we were under, you know, like my headspace was my headspace,
Speaker 2: I can only imagine what that was like for Beverly,
Speaker 2: because you know, she was she was definitely feeling like
Speaker 2: she was right to her feelings like I did. And
Speaker 2: also the way that she was responding was like there
Speaker 2: was definitely prompting happening, you know what I mean, Like
Speaker 2: she was getting whispered years and told to say certain things.
Speaker 2: And I think the difference between the older queens were
Speaker 2: whenever someone one of the producers would say something to us,
Speaker 2: and if I didn't agree with it, I'd be like,
Speaker 2: I didn't say that, and I'm not saying that. It's
Speaker 2: not what if I say that I'm gonna look like
Speaker 2: a dig here because like it's so inconsistent to everything
Speaker 2: else that I've spoken about, Whereas I feel like Beby
Speaker 2: was still navigating that space, and so I think this
Speaker 2: was a big lesson for her. And I think already
Speaker 2: now I'm looking at a dragon Nowlan three starting to evolve,
Speaker 2: Like no, not only just by physical physical transformation, I
Speaker 2: feel like she's starting to grow, which is really exciting.
Speaker 2: And again, I can't wait to see the impact she's
Speaker 2: going to make. She's a fucking force and she made it,
Speaker 2: you know, to the top five, and when she gets
Speaker 2: on All Stars, all the drag races down under the
Speaker 2: versus the world, I feel like she will be one
Speaker 2: to watch, Like, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think you're right, And you know, even you
Speaker 1: saying that says a lot about your character as well,
Speaker 1: so it's quite nice to hear.
Speaker 2: I think it was really emotion and I think it
Speaker 2: was emotional too, because like what I didn't want to do,
Speaker 2: and I knew they were going to do it to
Speaker 2: the two of us, but they were going to make
Speaker 2: us rivals because we're both like performance queens. And there
Speaker 2: was a couple of times when I was whispering to baby.
Speaker 2: I was like, they're literally trying to make us rivals
Speaker 2: stop taking the bait. Stop at you know, it's really
Speaker 2: not good for us. But you know, then once many left,
Speaker 2: they needed drama and they get that episode when we
Speaker 2: had that massive to they were like, Okay, Maty, go one.
Speaker 2: We need the drama. And I'm like, what's not going
Speaker 2: to be me next minute.
Speaker 1: It's interesting that you say that, though, because you know,
Speaker 1: when we are younger, we are looking for approval more so.
Speaker 1: And I say to a lot of people going into
Speaker 1: reality television, it's so easy to look for approval out
Speaker 1: of the people making this show. But don't lose who
Speaker 1: you are, because if you're trying to be something for
Speaker 1: someone else, you're not truly being yourself.
Speaker 3: And it's a dangerous game to play.
Speaker 2: So dangerous. Yeah, And I think that's the that's probably
Speaker 2: the biggest lesson I think he's had. And I think
Speaker 2: she's also received a lot of love and all of
Speaker 2: us Season two girls were there for her, for everyone,
Speaker 2: like we all love each other, you know, And I
Speaker 2: think coming out of it, and you would notice too,
Speaker 2: no one understands that experience and what it's like other
Speaker 2: than the people that you experienced it with, you know,
Speaker 2: and I think again, looking at it now, we've all
Speaker 2: had a few months away from the show and now
Speaker 2: watching it back. You know, we have a season two chats,
Speaker 2: so when everything's happened, we're like, how you feeling, girl,
Speaker 2: how are you feeling? Like, how's it going? What do
Speaker 2: you need? Like we get on chats and we just
Speaker 2: make sure that we're checking in because you know, the audience,
Speaker 2: they get so involved, and you know, I've definitely had
Speaker 2: many a Beverly fan come to my comments and go,
Speaker 2: you're so mean and you're a bully, and how do
Speaker 2: you treat Beverly like this? And like rather than taking
Speaker 2: the high road like I take the low road and
Speaker 2: themselves you don't even know meally like.
Speaker 1: True though, with the negativity, you just block and ignore
Speaker 1: what people say unless you have a strong backbone and
Speaker 1: you're bored. If you've got a strong backbone and you're bored,
Speaker 1: you can go all day with the trolls.
Speaker 3: But otherwise just block and ignore. You ain't getting anywhere,
Speaker 3: not going anywhere.
Speaker 2: But it's so well, you know, like I think the
Speaker 2: troll thing, like it's so funny, how invested people get
Speaker 2: and I love it because it means that they're engaging
Speaker 2: with the show. You know, they're watching, they're getting our
Speaker 2: views up even though they're sending hate. I'm just going,
Speaker 2: man a, go and touch grashs b go and work
Speaker 2: at the cinemas and be a projector because that's what
Speaker 2: you're doing. And see, you don't even know the present.
Speaker 2: So each you know, what so wild how people feel
Speaker 2: so driven to get online and you know, go to
Speaker 2: bat for the queen that they support, but again that's
Speaker 2: support for that other queen, and we just laugh about it,
Speaker 2: you know, towards each other. I'm like, I'll send Beby
Speaker 2: a screenshot going, look, you know, stop ghost like, get
Speaker 2: off your Brainer account and writing horrible messages to me
Speaker 2: on my page. Girl, like that can happen.
Speaker 1: I always say to people though, it's just I like
Speaker 1: to put a positive spin on things. And yourtrols are
Speaker 1: your biggest fans because people who are bothered totrol you
Speaker 1: are passionate people who must be so invested in the show.
Speaker 1: You know, they're closer to being your fans than they
Speaker 1: really are being your enemy. So you just don't take
Speaker 1: it too personally and touch grass funny. Just have been
Speaker 1: getting a lot of I've got to ask everyone who's
Speaker 1: made it to top three, everyone's been asking you to
Speaker 1: ask this. What can future queens do to stand out
Speaker 1: when it comes to auditioning? Like, is there anything that
Speaker 1: you did to make people take notice of you? What
Speaker 1: advice do you have for people you know who would
Speaker 1: want to be.
Speaker 3: Where you are?
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's everything we've been talking about, baby, you know.
Speaker 2: And I think the biggest thing I could say is
Speaker 2: take your time. As much as it feels like you're
Speaker 2: being rushed, I feel like, take your time, not only
Speaker 2: with decisions you're making, take your time with things that
Speaker 2: you're going to say. You know, also like and the
Speaker 2: way that you respond, Like, I think it's always important
Speaker 2: to respond rather than react, and like, obviously sometimes you know,
Speaker 2: moments get the better of us. But I think the
Speaker 2: biggest thing for me was taking my time and allowing
Speaker 2: myself to just like do the thing that I needed
Speaker 2: to do and go through what I needed to go
Speaker 2: through and not speed up that process. Because I also,
Speaker 2: coming out of it, I feel like such a better
Speaker 2: human being before being a bit of drag queen. And
Speaker 2: so I would say, yeah, take your time and definitely
Speaker 2: try to be yourself and let the floors hang out,
Speaker 2: you know, flaws and all, so well, what's in all?
Speaker 2: It's important.
Speaker 1: I've also been asking because race is are so fat.
Speaker 1: Reasoning Will sounds so good on the show, but it
Speaker 1: kind of feels like I'm thinking there's more room on
Speaker 1: that panel when we need someone from Australia.
Speaker 3: Or New Zealand to join.
Speaker 1: Who do you think would be someone from the queer
Speaker 1: community that would be perfect to be sitting alongside Michelle Vassage,
Speaker 1: RuPaul and Reyes Nicholson.
Speaker 2: Ooh, like we have obviously the comedian aspect of Reese.
Speaker 2: I would like to see your First Nations like Australian
Speaker 2: or First Nations New Zealand counterpart, someone who's crow. I'd
Speaker 2: like to see, you know, there's well like I want
Speaker 2: to see someone like Ben Gratz, who's miscellaneous. She's like
Speaker 2: the First Nations drag mother of Australia. Not very well known,
Speaker 2: but she's the creative director of World Pride. Like queens
Speaker 2: that are like doing it actually in the industry, that
Speaker 2: are actually like uplifting our community. I want to see
Speaker 2: more community development queens rather than TV personalities on a
Speaker 2: TV show, and that's just because of who I am.
Speaker 2: So yeah, more color, more color on the panel would
Speaker 2: be great.
Speaker 1: And I've also been asking a recommendation if there is
Speaker 1: a series three for down Under, do you have someone
Speaker 1: that you've worked alongside over the years or someone that
Speaker 1: you think would do well on the show.
Speaker 2: Oh, yes, a couple. I think top of my list
Speaker 2: would probably be Chocolate Box, who was most personations. She
Speaker 2: is a Brisbane queens and queen, and I think everything
Speaker 2: that I lacked Chucky has in terms of the fine aspects,
Speaker 2: in terms of like reacting, I'd be like, she's another
Speaker 2: prime example of First Nations excellence and I would love
Speaker 2: to see a queen like that get onto that TV show.
Speaker 2: So she's probably the top of my list.
Speaker 1: You normally ask like a behind the scenes question, but
Speaker 1: you know, we're keeping that on the down low because
Speaker 1: we don't want to ruin too many of the Ruphole's secrets.
Speaker 1: So I've been playing this game shady old lady. So
Speaker 1: I'm just going to ask you a series of questions.
Speaker 1: If you don't want to answer the question, you can
Speaker 1: say lady, or just answer the question and you could
Speaker 1: be shady. It might not even be shady. You might
Speaker 1: just be you know, you might just be speaking your truth.
Speaker 2: Okay, cool.
Speaker 3: Who was the most talented this year?
Speaker 2: Oh? Oh, spank you? Jackson was like, was Bealy the
Speaker 2: most talented? Because she just surpassed all of our expectations
Speaker 2: in every aspect?
Speaker 3: Who was the funniest queen?
Speaker 2: Ah? This is the thing they didn't air. They didn't
Speaker 2: air as much of Hannah's personality as they should have.
Speaker 2: But Hannah is a funny cook dog. She's hilarious. I
Speaker 2: would say, Hannah, Hannah, maybe we're all in stitches. Backstage,
Speaker 2: you just take the purse out of everything. It was
Speaker 2: so funny.
Speaker 3: Oh what a cook dog? What was that?
Speaker 2: Yeah? Yeah, she was such a cook dog just do
Speaker 2: stupid things in that backstage and also in the challenges,
Speaker 2: So Hannah conduct Yeah.
Speaker 1: Okay, who did you maybe not like or maybe didn't
Speaker 1: get enough time to get to know?
Speaker 2: Oh I wanted to get to know Aubrey more. Yeah,
Speaker 2: because like Aubrey, I think was the newest to Drag
Speaker 2: general and I think seeing what she was doing after
Speaker 2: a year in Drag, I was just like, who was
Speaker 2: this little girl? She's amazing? Like Aubrey, I wanted to
Speaker 2: get more time to know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, who was the messiest queen?
Speaker 2: Like in like as in sea as in shady like
Speaker 2: or messy as in like dirty.
Speaker 3: I think it's a bit of both. Really.
Speaker 1: It's like, you know, the messiest queen to me is
Speaker 1: the person who probably is a little bit unpolished with
Speaker 1: their shadiness and you know, probably leaves the most amount
Speaker 1: of makeup on the bench.
Speaker 3: I think those two kind of go together.
Speaker 1: True.
Speaker 2: True, I'm going to be a lady because I can't drink.
Speaker 3: One just all of them. It's the most shame Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 3: that's great.
Speaker 1: No one, no one in the entire time I've been
Speaker 1: doing this podcast for this season has said ladies. So
Speaker 1: I'm very excited about it. I'll have to dust out that.
Speaker 3: Sound effect to make it work. I don't know if I'm.
Speaker 1: Allowed to ask this, but you know, if it's not you,
Speaker 1: who do you think deserves to win?
Speaker 2: Oh? Babe, Look, they both deserved to win, I think
Speaker 2: and Paul because all three of us are such champions
Speaker 2: for what we represent. I think Spanky is like you know,
Speaker 2: on paper, she's blown the accomplishment out of the water.
Speaker 2: So I would say thank you and then Hannah is
Speaker 2: also just equal. She's perfect, and she's head to time perfect,
Speaker 2: and she's polished. She is an amazing human being. Like
Speaker 2: both of them equally. You know, I would not be
Speaker 2: mad at either of them one. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Well, Quen Kong, I have been in your audience for
Speaker 1: longer than RuPaul, and I will continue to be in
Speaker 1: your audience. Good luck in the finale. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of people rooting for you, and just enjoy the experience.
Speaker 2: Thank you, my love, thank you so much for having me.