The Style and Shade of ‘Drag Race Thailand’ Is Officially Coming to American Audiences (Video)
We and pretty much every other fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race have been hoping to watch Drag Race Thailand ever since we found out about it. (We even interviewed its two co-hosts, Art Arya and Pangina Heals.) Until now all we had to go on was a clip of its sickening first episode runway looks, but now we know it’s set to premiere in the United States on May 4 via WOW Presents Plus. A hilarious (and thankfully subtitled) trailer for the Drag Race Thailand debut has also been released, complete with catty side-comments, hunky Pit Crew members and a few ‘WTF?’ moments.
As you may recall, the show features 10 fierce queens competing for the crown of Thailand’s next drag superstar. In the show, Art Arya and Pangina Heals serve as judges — kind of like RuPaul and her bestie Michelle Visage — along with special guest judges.
And from the look of the trailer below, there will be alcohol, rivalries, serious shade and one weird challenge in which the queens are doused in gallons of water. Plus, although the entire video is in Thai, there are at least two famous Drag Race catchphrases in English that you’ll surely recognize.
Watch the Drag Race Thailand debut trailer:
The show will be available on WOW Presents Plus, the streaming platform of World of Wonder, the production company behind RuPaul’s Drag Race.
According to Arya, Drag Race Thailand has already been granted a second season (with Arya and Heals returning as host and co-host). Arya hopes its popularity may eventually inspire a version of the behind-the-scenes show Untucked, and maybe even podcasts and the sort of drag ambassadorship that past performers from the American franchise have achieved.
All the same, Art Arya hopes English-speaking fans will judge the show on its own merits rather than expecting it to be exactly like RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“You have to be open. You have to come with an open mind, prepared that this is another culture,” he told Hornet. “This is another environment, and another cast, another crew and another title.”
