Kylie & Dannii Minogue, Taika Waititi To Appear On RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under
Guess, who’s coming to RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under?
Streaming platform Stan Australia on Thursday announced that ‘Princess of Pop’ Kylie Minogue, her sister, singer Dannii Minogue, and Academy Award winning Kiwi director and actor Taika Waititi, will be special guests on season one of the show that premieres on May 1.
“I’m SO excited to finally be a part of RuPaul’s Drag Race for the first series Down Under. It’s such an iconic show and I can’t wait to watch the contestants perform their hearts out to win the title of Down Under’s first Drag Superstar!” Kylie Minogue said in a statement.
.@TaikaWaititi, @kylieminogue and @DanniiMinogue are the first guest stars announced for the brand new Stan Original Series RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under. Premiering Saturday, May 1 – only on Stan. #DragRaceDownUnder #StanOriginals pic.twitter.com/5bjnKvPgvu
— Stan. (@StanAustralia) April 21, 2021
Guests Ru-vealed
Dannii Minogue revealed more details about her appearance on the show. ““I got to have a cheeky ‘Untucked’ chat with the girls on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 1. They had come straight from the runway challenge so it was exciting and tense all at the same time, not knowing who was going to have to lip sync for their life!”
Stan wouldn’t reveal if the Minogue sisters and Waititi were going to judge the runway looks or appear virtually, as many celeb guests had done on the other pandemic era editions of RuPaul’s Drag Race this past year.
What we know for sure is that the Minogue sisters are in Australia for some time now. Kylie had arrived in Australia in January 2021 and had undergone a 14-day secret hotel quarantine. She had performed with Ed Sheeran last month in Melbourne at the memorial concert for late music mogul Michael Gudinski.
Dannii Minogue arrived in the country July 2020 and her quarantine arrangements had invited controversy after it was revealed that she was given a hotel quarantine exemption and had isolated at a private Gold Coast residence when she returned from the United States.
Waititi, is currently in New Zealand filming Thor: Love and Thunder.
For Kylie Minogue, the announcement of her appearance on Rupaul’s Drag Race Down Under comes in the same week as the 35th anniversary of her debut on TV in the long-running Australian drama Neighbours.
“My first TV role was when I was 11. This was my first big job after finishing school,” she said on Twitter in a post to mark the anniversary. Fresh from the success of her 2020 album, Disco, we can’t wait to watch what this long-time LGBTQI+ ally and diva brings to the werk room.
35 YEARS since my first ep on #Neighbours 💙 My first TV role was when I was 11. This was my first big job after finishing school. Well, it turned out to be. Initially it was between one and twelve weeks work… wow! #Charlene! pic.twitter.com/xyf1T0BpSV
— Kylie Minogue (@kylieminogue) April 18, 2021
Season One Premieres On May 1
Season 1 of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under drops on Saturday, May 1 on Stan in Australia, TVNZ in New Zealand and WOWPresentsPlus in the US.
RuPaul will host the Down Under edition of the show with BFF/singer/TV host Michelle Visage and Australian comedian Rhys Nicholson joining him on the judge’s panel.
The 10 Drag queens who will be part of the first season are First Nations drag queen JoJo Zaho, Karen From Finance, Coco Jumbo, non-binary drag artist, Etecetera Etcetera, Maxi Shield, Art Simone, Scarlet Adams and New Zealand queens Elektra Shock, Anita Wigl’it and Kita Mean.
Check out our profiles of RuPaul Race Down Under Queens
