Speaker 1: It's in the news today, but it was actually on
Speaker 1: TV Reload the podcast Can't Leap the Life. Hey guys,
Speaker 1: welcome back to TV Reload. I want to thank you
Speaker 1: for clicking and downloading on today's episode with Lucina Innocence,
Speaker 1: who was the third eliminated queen from Rupo's Drag Race
Speaker 1: down Under season four.
Speaker 2: This week we saw some really tough competition in the
Speaker 2: weekly challenge.
Speaker 1: While one queen was destined to win, others actually did
Speaker 1: better than they thought. I think moving forward, the queens
Speaker 1: are going to continue to fill the pinch, as there
Speaker 1: are only eight.
Speaker 2: Episodes in the season and that.
Speaker 1: Finale is already feeling like it's inching its way forward.
Speaker 1: Lucina will share her thoughts on the way in which
Speaker 1: the queens read each other and if some of the
Speaker 1: other queens were a little bit unfair at times. We
Speaker 1: will unpack the game within the game, and that is
Speaker 1: the rivalry between New Zealand and Australia. I will ask
Speaker 1: about the roses and if there were any regrets on
Speaker 1: how Lucina styled her gown. You will get everything from
Speaker 1: going into your own head in a competition like this,
Speaker 1: what was really going on? Behind the scenes with an
Speaker 1: onset romance and who were Michelle Vasage's eyes and ears
Speaker 1: during the weekly challenges. There's actually so much to talk about,
Speaker 1: with so many insign revelations. So sit back and relax
Speaker 1: as we unpacked the wonderful world of Rupol's Drag Race
Speaker 1: down Under.
Speaker 2: Hi, Lucyner, how are you?
Speaker 3: And good? Thank you? How are you?
Speaker 2: I'm very well? You know what?
Speaker 1: At my house there is never too many roses happy
Speaker 1: to hear that.
Speaker 2: Well.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on getting onto Rupoul's Drag Race down Under. It
Speaker 1: is such a hard show to get onto. You must
Speaker 1: feel so elated to be able to have had this opportunity.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely. It was my third time auditioning and I
Speaker 3: was like, finally got through and you're just getting on
Speaker 3: the show with such a big achievement in itself, So
Speaker 3: very grateful for that.
Speaker 1: What makes you think that you got through this time?
Speaker 1: Is there anything that you did? Did you do like
Speaker 1: an extra peal and revealed? Did you slip them some cash?
Speaker 3: That's between me and then No, I don't know. I
Speaker 3: think just it all comes down to timing sometimes, like
Speaker 3: what about looking for in a different season. So I'm
Speaker 3: glad I had a bit more time to really cook
Speaker 3: for it.
Speaker 2: Is it easier or harder than it looks?
Speaker 1: Because to me as a viewer and not as a
Speaker 1: drag queen, I think that this show looks like the
Speaker 1: most complicated reality show you could possibly sign yourself up for.
Speaker 1: But I guess you know, this is your industry, this
Speaker 1: is what you know how to do. What's it like
Speaker 1: now that you've done it?
Speaker 3: I mean, I knew it was going to be hard,
Speaker 3: especially based on what other people have said and knowing
Speaker 3: people that have done it before, but definitely harder than
Speaker 3: I thought. I don't think anything can really prepare you
Speaker 3: from it. You know, at the moment you get cast,
Speaker 3: sorting your looks like preparing everything, and then you go
Speaker 3: to the set and that's go, go, go, and no sleep.
Speaker 3: And just for people like us who are night owls,
Speaker 3: most drag queens are getting up early in the morning
Speaker 3: and getting into drag You're just like.
Speaker 1: There seems to be like a little bit of a
Speaker 1: competition within the competition with Australia versus New Zealand, and
Speaker 1: that has been instead of the background of all four seasons.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't know from your impression of that, is there
Speaker 1: that behind the scenes. What's it like for the queens, Not.
Speaker 3: That I can think of anything. I feel like it's
Speaker 3: maybe a bit more city versus city. So with then
Speaker 3: Australia or even in New Zealand, there's always been a
Speaker 3: little bit of like an Auckland and Wellington kind of
Speaker 3: friendly rivalry, so that nothing too serious.
Speaker 1: Of course, Why do you think that we've got to
Speaker 1: season four and we've found such top notch queens now
Speaker 1: on the show? Has something different happened or do you
Speaker 1: think we just sort of understand the brand more.
Speaker 3: Probably a combination of both. I think there deffinitely is
Speaker 3: like a lot of talent around Australia and New Zealand,
Speaker 3: and it's on even a small handful of queens that
Speaker 3: have gone to be on the show. So contrary to
Speaker 3: what certain people online they say, there's a lot of
Speaker 3: great drag talent here.
Speaker 1: If you're looking at it, sort of Brenda, Mandy and
Speaker 1: Lazy they kind of look like they're sort of leading
Speaker 1: the competition at the moment. Are they the ones that
Speaker 1: everyone feels a little bit more intimidated by? Were there
Speaker 1: certain queens that you felt intimidated by?
Speaker 3: I didn't really know of many of them. Before the show,
Speaker 3: I knew of Nikita and Olivia are from New Zealand,
Speaker 3: and then I had heard of Max, and so I
Speaker 3: knew I did not want to live think against Smacks.
Speaker 3: Other than that, I was kind of just learning about
Speaker 3: all of those queens as we went along, and I think, yeah,
Speaker 3: as it goes on in as Lazy Susan kept winning
Speaker 3: challenges and all that, you kind of figure out who
Speaker 3: are the ones to watch. But honestly, all of them
Speaker 3: so talented, and I don't know, it was such a
Speaker 3: well when it's hard to even remember.
Speaker 1: It seemed to me like you got into your head
Speaker 1: pretty early on in this series and then it was
Speaker 1: really hard to get yourself out of that. Is it
Speaker 1: right to say that as from a viewers perspective that
Speaker 1: we could see that, Is that how you felt?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Absolutely? I think it was. As soon as Michelle walked
Speaker 3: into the room and said that first challenge, I thought
Speaker 3: I was going to go home first because my outfit
Speaker 3: was not finished and and I knew that, and when
Speaker 3: they said that was a challenge, I thought, oh no.
Speaker 3: And then obviously I lip synced on the first episode,
Speaker 3: and which I hadn't expected to do before coming to film,
Speaker 3: and so yeah, it really just threw me off and
Speaker 3: sent me into a bit of a spiral. And I
Speaker 3: don't think I was able to a really speck from that.
Speaker 1: I think that's one of the things that it's so
Speaker 1: easy when you get home to think, oh, I could
Speaker 1: have done that differently, But like when you're in the moment,
Speaker 1: I think that viewers probably don't understand that very much.
Speaker 1: Getting into your head is almost impossible to pull yourself
Speaker 1: out of because the more you it's like when you
Speaker 1: start sweating, right, you know, if you say to yourself,
Speaker 1: stop sweating, you just start sweating more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, for sure, And it's definitely easier sit than done.
Speaker 3: And I feel like I pretty much every season of
Speaker 3: drag Race is someone who kind of goes through a
Speaker 3: similar thing. But then you watch it and you think,
Speaker 3: pullice off together, and watching myself back, I sort of
Speaker 3: think that, but knowing what it was like at the time,
Speaker 3: it's just no way around it. Really.
Speaker 1: I noticed that a few times that in this episode
Speaker 1: people were sort of maybe undermining you a little bit.
Speaker 2: Maybe that's the storyline.
Speaker 1: It gets put together, but sort of Mandy through some
Speaker 1: shade at your snatch game, and I kind of felt like, well,
Speaker 1: that's a big call to call someone out like that
Speaker 1: in front of everybody else. Did you feel like that
Speaker 1: maybe some of the stronger players in the game at
Speaker 1: this point are looking to pick off the weaker players
Speaker 1: to keep themselves in the competition longer, potentially.
Speaker 3: I think at the time, after doing Snatch hom and
Speaker 3: having my first safe week, I was, you know, sort
Speaker 3: of on a high, and then to hear other girls
Speaker 3: say that put me back in that place. And I
Speaker 3: don't think it was necessarily malicious or trying to throw
Speaker 3: me off, but I feel like they should be coming
Speaker 3: for the people who they think are competition.
Speaker 2: I agree with you.
Speaker 1: I would say you want to try and take out
Speaker 1: some of the stronger competition and maybe leave some of
Speaker 1: the girls that maybe if you think are not as
Speaker 1: strong as others, keep them to the end. I think
Speaker 1: they called the goats in other like in Survivor and
Speaker 1: things like that, you know you've got to save a
Speaker 1: few goats around. It just seemed like there was a
Speaker 1: few digs at you this episode, and so I wondered
Speaker 1: whether or not you felt sort of undermined at all
Speaker 1: with that.
Speaker 3: I think I knew that the other girls were under
Speaker 3: estimating me at that point, because you know, they only
Speaker 3: had seen what I'd shown so far in the competition,
Speaker 3: and I knew that wasn't my best and so if
Speaker 3: that's all they know of me, then of course they're
Speaker 3: going to think I maybe not as much of a
Speaker 3: threat as I could have been pulled myself together a
Speaker 3: bit more. But it is what it is.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's a tough competition. The mini challenge gave
Speaker 1: you the opportunity to sort of say something shady about
Speaker 1: everyone else. Do you worry about insulting the queens in
Speaker 1: real time or do you try and play to the
Speaker 1: audience at home?
Speaker 3: Yeah, because I think people forget that when you're in
Speaker 3: that moment and saying those things, you are doing it
Speaker 3: face to face, unless you're obviously in the confessionals. But
Speaker 3: it's not even so much of the audience. It's like,
Speaker 3: because you're going to go in on someone, it's knowing
Speaker 3: that they're going to see it. So I'm just not
Speaker 3: the type of person that will unnecessarily try to bring
Speaker 3: someone down or like I have to. You have to
Speaker 3: notice someone's vibe to be able to be shady and
Speaker 3: know that they're not going to be you know, take
Speaker 3: it personally and get upset.
Speaker 1: Something about RuPaul in general is like over the seasons,
Speaker 1: if you put the reading glasses on, you're allowed to
Speaker 1: be shady. But then sometimes being shady like that seems
Speaker 1: like it's a bit harsh. I think I'd struggle with
Speaker 1: understanding the values in determining when you're allowed to be shady,
Speaker 1: when you're not, and when it's going to upset someone
Speaker 1: and when it's not.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I feel like it's just something you learn over
Speaker 3: the years of doing drag and like all these queens
Speaker 3: have spent time in dressing rooms, they know the Bible
Speaker 3: that the more experienced queens know that. But it's funny
Speaker 3: because I'll often meet baby queens who are just starting
Speaker 3: out and they think drags shade sort of come up
Speaker 3: and throw out some insults, and you just think, maybe, girl,
Speaker 3: that's not how we do it around here.
Speaker 2: I remember doing it once.
Speaker 1: I got asked to be a guest, and so I
Speaker 1: came along as a guest to this drag show that
Speaker 1: was in front of I think it was like a
Speaker 1: thousand people that were there, and everyone was being really shady.
Speaker 1: So I said something really mean spirited someone in the audience.
Speaker 1: There was two people that were dressed up as Kath
Speaker 1: and Kim characters, and to me at the time, they
Speaker 1: looked like they weren't doing such a great job. And
Speaker 1: I said something like, you know, your poor excuse for
Speaker 1: Kath and Kim or something, thinking I was leaning into
Speaker 1: saying something shady because that's the culture of it. And
Speaker 1: then I remember going backstage and people were like, that
Speaker 1: was bad.
Speaker 3: You learn got to have some moments like that to
Speaker 3: figure out what not to do.
Speaker 1: So Mandy Mooves was known for the sewing Challenge. Do
Speaker 1: you think that if Mandy had not have won this
Speaker 1: week that she may have rioted because the outfit was
Speaker 1: amazing and the compliments were great and is is getting
Speaker 1: up and that Mandy got that moment. But what do
Speaker 1: you think that Mandy would have done had it had
Speaker 1: been won by someone else?
Speaker 3: She probably would have got out those sewing shears and
Speaker 3: threw them directly at Michelle's throat. Yeah, I can understand
Speaker 3: why she would be upset if she had it won,
Speaker 3: But I mean with the look she made, there's no
Speaker 3: way she couldn't have It was just incredible.
Speaker 1: She really did deliver you know Freyer and Max as well.
Speaker 1: We got a little tease about something that was going
Speaker 1: on behind the scenes, and because the episodes are so
Speaker 1: tightly packed, ped I've really get to explore much of
Speaker 1: that kind of stuff. So I want you to spill
Speaker 1: the tea on this What was going on behind the
Speaker 1: scenes with those two.
Speaker 3: Well, all I can say is that it's probably a
Speaker 3: good thing that we were all kept in separate hotel rooms.
Speaker 1: Are you allowed to go into the other because I
Speaker 1: guess they're trying to keep you separate so storylines can
Speaker 1: be all for camera, So that means you're not allowed
Speaker 1: to go into each other's rooms.
Speaker 3: No, we're not, keep separate, keep everything fresh for the cameras,
Speaker 3: and make sure they don't miss any stories and that
Speaker 3: kind of thing.
Speaker 1: Is that like school camp where there's like a teacher
Speaker 1: sitting outside the bunks and making sure that no one
Speaker 1: goes into the other rooms, pretty much like tight security?
Speaker 1: Well what have they got to stop you from doing that? Though?
Speaker 3: I think it's more of a case they're not going to,
Speaker 3: you know, physically stop you, but if you were to
Speaker 3: try and break the rules during you're going to sabotage yourself.
Speaker 1: And then also the fact that Michelle Visage asked that
Speaker 1: loaded question meant that someone had reported back to Michelle
Speaker 1: that these two something might have been going on. Are
Speaker 1: there spies watching for those sorts of things being passed
Speaker 1: on to Michelle?
Speaker 2: And are you guys all aware of that.
Speaker 3: I don't think they were very subtle about it. I'm
Speaker 3: pretty sure, you know, they had a little kiss on
Speaker 3: the first episode runway, but then there was another one,
Speaker 3: I don't know which episode it was, where they had
Speaker 3: a little smooch in the work room. So I don't
Speaker 3: think that being that subtle.
Speaker 1: Really, I was going to ask you about the dress,
Speaker 1: so we sort of talked about it at the start,
Speaker 1: about how many roses you put on it.
Speaker 2: You know, there was some.
Speaker 1: Commentary about whether or not it might have been better
Speaker 1: to just leave the roses around the neck and around
Speaker 1: the sleeve. I actually just thought it looked really beautiful.
Speaker 1: I thought the dress was beautiful. I thought the arrangement
Speaker 1: of flowers was beautiful. But do you think that you
Speaker 1: would have got away with that dress if it was
Speaker 1: just very plain like them?
Speaker 3: It's hard to say, because, you know, I think some
Speaker 3: of the other outfits were more simple, But because they
Speaker 3: were nicely made, they maybe got more praise. I think
Speaker 3: when I originally started it that I was doing, I
Speaker 3: was trying to do like a gradient from the bottom
Speaker 3: of the dress to sort of fade up. But then
Speaker 3: I started realizing how long it was taking to cut
Speaker 3: up those flowers and sort of just started slapping them on.
Speaker 3: If I were to do it again, I would wouldn't
Speaker 3: have touched the roses in the amount of time and
Speaker 3: tried to just make something more interesting out of the
Speaker 3: black fabric.
Speaker 2: Eive it was me.
Speaker 1: I could imagine that I would have just kept making
Speaker 1: roses and putting on it as well, and it was
Speaker 1: just adding some more color to.
Speaker 3: It, yeah, you know, something to give it a bit
Speaker 3: of life. And that the fabrics in the box were
Speaker 3: not something I would particularly wear myself. Had to make
Speaker 3: do with what I had.
Speaker 1: Absolutely the song choice for the lip sync for me
Speaker 1: was really a strange choice because moving pictures what about me?
Speaker 1: I love that song and I think it's a it's
Speaker 1: a classic Australian but it's a hard song to do
Speaker 1: a lip sync too.
Speaker 2: Were you a little bit did you know that song?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 3: So the song was actually used in one of the
Speaker 3: past audition tapes for Joe Grace. Remember hearing it and thinking, okay,
Speaker 3: it's you know, a male vocal, should it normally do?
Speaker 3: And when I auditioned that side, they tried to take
Speaker 3: more of like a funny sort of version of my performance.
Speaker 3: When I had to lip sync it, I just thought,
Speaker 3: you know, I was feeling all the emotions and just
Speaker 3: sort of channeled them all into the number.
Speaker 2: In the moment.
Speaker 1: It would be really easy to sing it realistically, but
Speaker 1: I think it might have been bigger to amplify it
Speaker 1: and try and make it more than it was. So
Speaker 1: you're saying that in the audition process you did try
Speaker 1: and sort of amplify it a little bit more.
Speaker 3: Yeah, maybe I'll put the video one day. But it
Speaker 3: was just me like frollocking down the street and doing
Speaker 3: silly things while I look sink to it because I
Speaker 3: was like, I cannot take the song seriously. But when
Speaker 3: I loop sync did, I was not in the mood
Speaker 3: to be silly, so I took it there.
Speaker 1: Most people would know that song from being Shannon. Shannonole
Speaker 1: sung that song quite well, But then I was wondering,
Speaker 1: do you know who Shannonole is? Over in New Zealand.
Speaker 3: I do not. I'm pretty sure Guy Sebastian did a
Speaker 3: version of it though that I heard.
Speaker 1: Guy Sebastian and Shannonole were in the finale of an
Speaker 1: Australian idol back in the day that was very iconic
Speaker 1: and Old did choose to sing that what About Me song?
Speaker 1: And I think it went to number one for something
Speaker 1: like fifty weeks, so it was like an interesting rendition
Speaker 1: of that song that it was sort of revitalized. And
Speaker 1: I don't think many people of my generation even knew
Speaker 1: the Moving Pictures version.
Speaker 3: Well I certainly didn't.
Speaker 1: Did you think at that point that you were going home?
Speaker 1: What was your thoughts when it came down to the
Speaker 1: lip sync?
Speaker 3: I didn't think I was going to be lip syncing,
Speaker 3: but as soon as I was called to be in
Speaker 3: the bottom, I was like, wow, it's over.
Speaker 2: Well before you go.
Speaker 1: Something I ask everyone who joins the pod is what
Speaker 1: is something from behind the scenes, something that we maybe
Speaker 1: did not get a chance to see. How much money
Speaker 1: did you spend on your drag preparing all your time
Speaker 1: on the fourth season?
Speaker 3: Oh? I think it was around tim Ky. Some people
Speaker 3: might do it weird. Did that money go? But you
Speaker 3: know things aren't cheap.
Speaker 1: Well, can I just say congratulations again on being able
Speaker 1: to be picked on this show.
Speaker 2: I think you did a great job.
Speaker 1: I think it's a very tough competition this season, so
Speaker 1: it's going to be very hard to see who takes
Speaker 1: this out. But yeah, I just think you did a
Speaker 1: great job and I really enjoyed watching you this season.
Speaker 3: Crazy experience and can't wait to see what comes next.
Speaker 2: Well, I enjoy chatting with the media today.
Speaker 1: Look after yourself and again, thank you for being so
Speaker 1: generous with your time.
Speaker 3: Thank you, it's been a pleasure.