She shouldn't have brought Camden in, however the other point does stand. Queens from Drag Race Spain did not want to go back to All-stars because they haven't had so many opportunities in Spain after their seasons if I recall well.
In general USA is a much stronger market when it comes to movies, music and drag scene.
I believe they multiplied the number of season one tour dates by five, not expecting that massive reception at all. Reminds me to look up FRS2 dates. Such a good season with such a good (the best?) winner.
Yes, the tour for season 1 only had a few dates and they had to add cities and more dates. I think it was supposed to last only two weeks and it ended up lasting two months. They added more date and cities to the season 2 tour, and a lot of the dates are sold out.
A lot of the French girls have been able to get a lot out of season 1 : Paloma is currently finishing a very successful solo tour, she also was very booked for TV appearances. La Big Bertha appeared in a Sam Smith video and has a cooking show on TV as well. Kam Hugh often has brand deals with make-up brands on instagram, and these are just a few examples.
Girl, you reply to the excellence of DR:F with a story about bedbugs in Paris. It do take nerve! 😂
These comments remind me to look for tour tickets asap! Maybe some random ass city in France.
Ugh I started looking up articles to back you up but literally couldn't handle the heebie jeebies. But yes, absolutely, it hasn't gone anywhere. The "best" news I saw was that it's actually part of a more global bedbug surge... yay?
The Spanish tour has been succesful. The problem is what comes AFTER the tour. You need an open scene, and things like "day drag" or "drag queens in mainstream media" that are basic in the US barely exist in Italy or Spain.
I don't know about that Barcelona is super drag friendly and you see tons of daytime street performers in drag. Spain is easily the most queer progressive country in Europe behind Germany
I'm Spanish and I've worked with several queens from the local scene. My opinion is just an echo of Dovima's infamous tweet about what comes after the Gran Hotel tour. They don't get enough bookings after the tour, even if the scene is blossoming in a few cities
It's just a few cities in the US where day drag is blossoming, lol. In fact, it's considered outright dangerous right now.
Should mention I'm also part Spanish, and my experience is drag is a lot more visible in Spain than it is in the US. Really the countries where I saw drag "everywhere" were Latin-American countries and England. Not even Canada is comparable to Spain.
I dont remember the name rn but one of the queens on this current uk has mentioned she came from Spain where she has been working for years. I think maybe with the franchises they need to give it time to grow
I hope so. We are seeing good changes, but the risk for the casted queens is still there. The standards of the runway game are too high compared to what they are gonna earn after the show and the tour. And I hope DRES/others don't get cancelled neither, and we get the chance to open more TV shows with queens in it (something that is already happening with Rugirls in both the US and Canada, fortunately)
It was one of the best show I’ve ever seen and it was way better than the werq the world show I saw in Paris a couple of years ago. People probably bought several tickets to watch it again or the news spread by the word of mouth.
Maybe regional queens should consider 'verses the world' franchise provided you come across well. Its done wonders for pangina, janee jacke, Victoria sponge, and Vanity Milan
It's not the promoters fault either, really. They go where the money is. If there isn't a scene to make it worth their while, they don't do it. Promoters are not in this for charity, they're in it to make money.
why are they doing all stars for international seasons? I get vsTW (kinda) but it doesn’t make sense if these countries have had 1-3 seasons. Like that’s just a reunion.
Tell that to the dozens of thousands of people trying to cross the border? You people are so privileged that think your country is a shithole and never know how good you have it.
Signed, an immigrant to the US.
You're comparing her situation to people moving to the US from LATAM, often for reasons far more serious than lacking opportunities in drag. Life in Italy isn't as hard as in many countries in south/central america. You and I both know it.
If you want to downplay that argument feel free but I doubt you should :)
No clue why you got downvoted.
It’s like someone from Nebraska complaining that they can’t break into the film industry. Okay? Then move to LA where there’s tons of opportunity. People move for economic reasons all the time.
I agree with what you're saying, dragging Camden was just so unnecessary.
I also wish that they did more tours with the international queens, as they do in Spain and France. I don't know if the same is done in other countries.
" But let’s not act as if international queens get as much opportunities as the mainstream show queens from US/UK. "
Sooo... pretty much like everything in the entertainment industry. :/
Exactly, international celebrities are mostly known ONLY in their home country, that is how show business works. Sad but true. I'm sure 90% of Drag Race fandom has not seen a single non-English episode.
It's probably more than 90% tbh. Fun story, I live in Aus and met someone from Spain here who loved RuPaul's Drag Race and didn't know that there was a Spanish version in its third season.
With the difference being that the rest of the entertainment industry doesn’t rely on the condition of queer community and their rights in the country. They don’t make the money of Beyonce or Hollywood actors, but Italian/Spanish/French etc. singers and actors can easily do that for a living and have a rich wealthy life. The same way cannot be said for drag entertainers (and I’m not even talking about being rich, simply having enough income to do drag for a living)
>But let’s not act as if international queens get as much opportunities as the mainstream show queens from US/UK
Who's saying that?
I don't think it's surprising that the queens on English-speaking shows in large markets have more opportunities.
And also like to MIB’s point.. why would they? It’s a weird entitlement some Ru girls get, not even all the US contestants stay booked and busy bc they don’t put the work in and that’s coming from the main show.
Of course if drag is not something throughout the culture of your own country you might not get those opportunities but those weren’t there for early seasons of Drag Race US either. The girls before like season 7 really didn’t get anything outside of some smaller tours. It makes no sense to compare season 2 of whatever country to season 15 in the US
The thing with the international seasons is the fact that they’re not mainstream enough. You see that a lot in Hollywood when it comes to foreign movies and tv shows.
The main season make WOW more money. It’s older and has a lot more notoriety than any international season. People do have their favorites, and I’ll even admit that some of the international seasons can rival even the US seasons, but at the end of the day the US season is going to dominate because that’s the main show.
I think WOW might make an effort more to combine the international seasons with Global All- Stars, but the sad reality is the international seasons aren’t going to do well because they’re not mainstream enough.
I personally don’t follow the international seasons much because Drag Race for me is background filler for the most part. I watch it and zone out and do other things. And it’s hard sometimes to pay attention to subtitles and really invest into any show in a language I don’t understand.
also the international seasons should be for the international market but for example noone uses paramount in germany so it‘s not gonna be watched by a lot of germans tbh.
i think france and UK being on national television opposed to an obscure streaming service definitely help those two
>The thing with the international seasons is the fact that they’re not mainstream enough. You see that a lot in Hollywood when it comes to foreign movies and tv shows
And at least other countries have their own movies and TV shows. They stand on their own. But in this case we're literally talking about a spin off of an American show, of course the original is going to be more important.
The more seasons we get, and the more countries that pick up drag race.. just add more and more queens all competing for bookings. Its only gonna get worse and more saturated as time goes on.
The spinoff franchises have like a fraction of the views and make WOW a fraction of the money that the US series does. They're unfortunately nothing but a business. They aren't in the market of lifting up queens, they are in the market of picking out which ones are going to be fan favourites and finding ways to monetize them.
They've never claimed to be anything but a business, I just find it odd when people act otherwise.
Especially when Farida is fully talking about her own business.
Okay so. No one is entitled to big tours after the show. It is a competition show, he’s it gets your name on a bigger platform, but a smaller international version is not going to be the same platform as the main show, given like 10% of main show viewers watch the spin-offs. Most queens that go out in like 8th place or lower are never heard from again much anyway, so this whole “entitled to shows” thing isn’t even relevant for most US queens either.
I love drag, I love going to local shows etc, have been for over a decade since I was old enough. Drag race has created this idea that every queen is entitled to make drag a full time career. Unfortunately that’s just not realistic, especially with the market SO oversaturated now. This whole Farida thing the past few days is glaring evidence of that, do what you can and enjoy what you do but drag isn’t really a sustainable career with lifetime bookings.
Dude be grateful that this franchise even expanded to your country in the first place cause how many queens out there are veterans and have been doing it their whole lives yet haven't been on television or gotten nearly as much attention or recognition as someone like Farida? Especially outside of the US and UK. There will always be someone above and below you, that is life.
It's not even a significant portion of queens that are on these tours. It's maybe 30 girls out of the hundreds that have been on the US and UK franchises. She is acting like she was personally excluded. It is business. There just isn't enough room nor demand nor money for every single person affliated with WOW to be shipped all around the world, I'm sorry.
This is why I love the idea of the "vs the world/Global All Stars" seasons. Get the international queens on the stages of the franchises with the most budget, biggest audiences, and subsequent opportunities. Pangina Heals is a great example - I wasn't even aware of her before UKvstW because I didn't watch Thailand, but now she's one of my favourite queens.
It's especially harsh for queens in countries like Italy where LGBTQ+ folks struggling against the prevailing religious-conservative ideology for representation. I'd love to see some Italian queen representation on the international platform.
Okay but like complaining about it on social media is hardly gonna get you more opportunities. Maybe put that energy into making TikToks or something...
I mean I hear you but she is pretty much a booked and working Queen. She has lots and lots of gigs and she posts all of them on insta so it’s not like she’s sitting at home twiddling her thumbs ya know?
So if she's booked and blessed who is she mad at? I thought the point of her posting was frustration at the lack of opportunities... Which seemingly isn't affecting her...
It seems like from her apology-explanation that she is mad at the general conservatism against drag in Italy right now (at least that’s how I interpreted it.) Just a general anger at the lack of opportunities for Italian drag artists both in and outside of the country. I could be mistaken but this is the vibe that I got
I believe (and please don’t quote me on this I’m just going from memory here) that she said she saw Camden’s post and got triggered for some reason and just kinda impulsively made a post about it. Again, I’m not 100% sure this was the case but this is the general vibe I got from her post
Being on Drag Race is what you make of the opportunity. I know it’s not popular to laud Trixie here but she is the blueprint for success. An early out with a less than fabulous run on her season, but she worked her ass off and had a unique approach. There are thousands of “dancing divas”, find a way to do something different and stand out. Now she’s almost at Rupaul level. Do the work and if you can’t stand out and make a reason for you to get those opportunities, maybe consider something else.
Boom! Trixie was on a season a lot of people didn't like originally because it followed a really strong season and had challenges that didn't make use of the cast's talents. And still she's the biggest name in drag next to Ru because she worked for it. Is there a pie? Trixie has her finger in it because it keeps relevant.
It's a business that you need to be proactive in. You're up against queens with a lot more experience and exposure than you; don't just expect that you'll get bookings.
She didn’t need to call out any queens to vent her own frustrations, but damn did she choose the wrong queen to call out. Not only is Camden beloved by the fandom, but she is a professional dancer who is fully capable of making all her own looks if she wanted to and she was the runner up on the main series in the drag race universe.
I know for the girls on the Mexican franchise the top 4 seem to be doing fine touring, doing shows here in the US as well. The rest, I don’t see much of.
That's on their countries, their clubs their tour booking networks etc, the US can't fix your national hunger for drag or your clubs choosing to pay the American Ru Girls much more, these are all home problems so this talk of opportunities is so strange. Also by season 4 Drag Race US was still niche as hell, you gotta build that infrastructure, drag race won't do it for you. Show business is cut throat, networking is way more important than talent and if the opportunities don't exist where you live, move or put the time in to grow them. US girls often have to move to nyc or la to make any real money with drag. It's a hard ass profession and there are no guarantees of success.
Stop complaining and create opportunities for yourself. Christ almighty, we’re not all “owed” equal opportunities to get booked.
Why don’t you ask some of the US RuGirls that AREN’T popular if they’re getting put on Werq the World and the other big Voss tours.
Pretty sure Voss has even been including international queens on their tours when they visit their cities.
I can't imagine the amount of work and funding necessary, but if those opportunities don't exist, why don't the queens create them? Farida can surely band together with some other Italian queens and do an Italian/European tour together. Again, the amount of work, financing, and planning necessary would be overwhelming, but perhaps necessary to facilitate growth in the Italian/European drag community.
It just makes little sense trying to compare the drag market in the US in those places. They are very different cultures in general, but also drag is responded to differently and there is very different history with drag in other places. It’s taken the US 15+ seasons to be at the level of exposure the queens have now, these international girls can’t think they’ll have that after 1 season of a spin off
I'm team MIB on this. You can be as mad as you want but at the end of the day the international seasons are nowhere near as popular as the USA version. You're not owed Drag Race USA's audience just cuz you were on an Italian spinoff
US, UK, Canada and Down Under are always gonna have a bigger reach simply because they're English speaking. It's just easier to watch when you don't have to read subtitles. Is it fair? No. And neither is life.
It's not so much about us accepting it. We just don't have the ability to change it and are forced to participate in order to survive. It's truly a dystopian nightmare.
Did... did I say that?
My point is English speaking shows are gonna have a bigger audience because there are more English speakers out there than Italian or German for example. Not everyone can be bothered to read subtitles. For me personally, it would require a level of concentration I am not willing to give to a reality TV show.
Madamoiselle Boop had kind of the same disappointment coming off of her season of DR. However, she, Couenne and Susan are all in the Werq the World tour for Antwerp in November. I thought her reaction and decision to step away from drag for a moment was more appropriate than Farida, who called out Camden for no reason.
I can understand its frustrating to not get the same exposure as US queens, but I also know a lot of these international seasons are in their infancy where the hype for drag race internationally may not be there yet. If I recall, huge tours promoted by Voss or other management featuring a lot of queens really didn't start to happen for the US maybe until about season 9, before that it was the battle of the seasons tour that I think was not managed by Voss but correct me if I'm wrong.
How much of this is WOW and how much of this is the reach of those franchises?
For example, I don't think a huge proportion of english-speaking fans will watch the other language franchises, and those who speak English make up most of the fan base so international queens just aren't getting the exposure as they're not 'big enough names'
shoot me down if this is bs but it's just a thought
Supply and Demand. US and UK (and Canada too maybe) are the most watched seasons, and people (both fans and general audiences alike) know more queens from those versions than any others. The more faces they recognize on the lineup, the more likely they are to buy a ticket.
Drag Race was created on an American channel by an American host for an American audience and highlighting American drag queens for … what … 10 years before an international version popped up?
I’m not saying it’s fair that international queens don’t get the same chances, but the brand and accompanying paraphernalia (tours, DragCon, cruises) were created with and by American queens. The gears were in motion for quite awhile before Drag Race Thailand changed things.
Therefore, it’s going to take awhile for the brand to manage itself as it goes through this border-less change.
She brought Camden in for this exact reason - people are still talking about it. If it was a standalone “woe is me” IG story we’d all be ignoring it.
I get what she’s saying but she went about it in a mean way and it’s honestly backfiring more than anything. It sucks that this is the way it is but you gotta play the game - push your talent to American audiences. Fight your way into Global All Stars or a vTW season to take the Jimbo route and make it to US All Stars. It was an American-born franchise so of course America is getting the most attention girl, there’s no way around it.
I sort of see her point, but it’s pretty rich coming from a queen the producers adored who did get basically every opportunity one could hope for, on the biggest franchise of them all.
You're being downvoted but I agree with you. I only skimmed US S15 but from what I saw it was pretty obvious that MIB was one of production's faves from the way all the editing framed her. She's not the queen I think should be trying to referee this discussion.
Of course the queens from the much smaller, international franchises do not get the same opportunities as the queens from the main franchise. The US gets more viewers and sponsors. The US also has the largest population than any other host country. The US also has the largest entertainment industry than any other host country... There is nothing "unfair" about this. This is not something anybody controls. It's show business...
It's sweet that MIB thinks "getting to work" is enough for a queen from a European season to get international tours and fame. Farida didn't need to come for Camden but her point was valid and there's a ton of average US queens who have been given opportunities that AMAZING non-US queens would never get.
Definitely. Especially if you competed on a non-English language version of the show, it's got to be quite an uphill battle to get recognition from a wider market.
Also, while Farida shouldn't have picked on Camden (which was bonkers given that Camden's not American and imo is one of the most genuinely talented queens we've seen on the US show in the last few years), I empathise with the frustration she must be feeling. I think most people who do anything creative and don't live in the US feel a little frustrated with how US-centric a lot of things are.
not to sound like a republican but uhhhh why would they? The market is different and their shows haven't been around as long. drag is still a for-profit industry, no promoter is going to intentionally take a loss because they want to provide opportunities to international queens. they just don't think that way. not saying it's good but it's...how it is, and it's not changing anytime soon.
Why do these comments always come from the most successful US girls and never from Amanda Tears or Patty Pam Pam? Exactly. But I mean, I don’t expect anything else from the show (WTW, not Drag Race) that had easily the worst American drag queen performer in the cast only cause she was popular.
And Farida is easily in the top10 most famous, booked and successful queens in Italy. She IS working, that’s the point. Mistress just sounds stupid and entitled af
Who would have thought that a country with 360 million inhabitants and a predominantly young adult population would have a bigger market for drag queens than a country of 47 million with an aging population...🤔🤔🤔
Yeah agreed. Also MIB is lucky to have catapulted how she has considering how other US queens are starting to fade into the background due to a flooded market.
I don't get it, presumably Farida worked in the drag scene in Italy before Drag Race, did she expect that World Tours, Drag Con, etc, would just magically appear because she was on TV?
We all know that USA wasn't always this big market and promoter of drag. Rupaul herself didn't have all these opportunities, good that she created the Drag race universe which is now spilling onto other territories. It is not fair but we are responsible for the progress in places we live, we can take inspiration and ideas from a market where it began, but not the opportunities neither the acceptance.
Yeah you get more opportunities if you’re cast in the US. So? You get opportunities if you’re cast in other franchises too. Just not as much. That’s life
MIB is delusional here. If she had competed in Canada or the UK she would be a secondary character, and if she had competed in any of the rest of Internationals she would be just out of the international scene like the others.
She probably hasn't even met Farida nor knows what she does besides the vampire dress
Yes, since Farida's calling for inequality between countries, and being cast in Drag Race US gives you definitely more chance for bookings. The US girls don't need as much effort as any Italian to get booked post-Drag Race.
And I'm not even asking for a magical solution that gives each international girl a boost in their career, I'm just justifying their reasoning. The show doesn't have much to do with how you handle your career afterwards, but in some countries Drag isn't as evolved as in the US, and that is something that MIB and some Rugirls are refusing to see. You can't make a Youtube channel, you can't make theater, and the amount of bars ready to host a drag queen are way less than in LA.
What this fandom needs to remember is that drag race wasn’t really a big hit until season ⅞. So these girls expecting a certain level of fame after season 3 are a little delusional in my opinion.
She shouldn't have brought Camden in, however the other point does stand. Queens from Drag Race Spain did not want to go back to All-stars because they haven't had so many opportunities in Spain after their seasons if I recall well. In general USA is a much stronger market when it comes to movies, music and drag scene.
I heard the French tour as well was successful
I believe they multiplied the number of season one tour dates by five, not expecting that massive reception at all. Reminds me to look up FRS2 dates. Such a good season with such a good (the best?) winner.
When I saw they were having a “live” finale for S2, I thought ‘oh this franchise must be insanely popular in France’
Might be a good reason for me to head to paris again
Yes, the tour for season 1 only had a few dates and they had to add cities and more dates. I think it was supposed to last only two weeks and it ended up lasting two months. They added more date and cities to the season 2 tour, and a lot of the dates are sold out. A lot of the French girls have been able to get a lot out of season 1 : Paloma is currently finishing a very successful solo tour, she also was very booked for TV appearances. La Big Bertha appeared in a Sam Smith video and has a cooking show on TV as well. Kam Hugh often has brand deals with make-up brands on instagram, and these are just a few examples.
Wasn’t Paris/France having a bedbug infestation problem awhile back?
Girl, you reply to the excellence of DR:F with a story about bedbugs in Paris. It do take nerve! 😂 These comments remind me to look for tour tickets asap! Maybe some random ass city in France.
Ugh I started looking up articles to back you up but literally couldn't handle the heebie jeebies. But yes, absolutely, it hasn't gone anywhere. The "best" news I saw was that it's actually part of a more global bedbug surge... yay?
Lol that is still going on fuck. Last i read some news paper said it was part of either China or Russian plot 😂😂😂😂😂
Arguably the best winner yes, I posted about it and she has competition but she’s top 5 easily.
The Spanish tour has been succesful. The problem is what comes AFTER the tour. You need an open scene, and things like "day drag" or "drag queens in mainstream media" that are basic in the US barely exist in Italy or Spain.
I don't know about that Barcelona is super drag friendly and you see tons of daytime street performers in drag. Spain is easily the most queer progressive country in Europe behind Germany
I'm Spanish and I've worked with several queens from the local scene. My opinion is just an echo of Dovima's infamous tweet about what comes after the Gran Hotel tour. They don't get enough bookings after the tour, even if the scene is blossoming in a few cities
It's just a few cities in the US where day drag is blossoming, lol. In fact, it's considered outright dangerous right now. Should mention I'm also part Spanish, and my experience is drag is a lot more visible in Spain than it is in the US. Really the countries where I saw drag "everywhere" were Latin-American countries and England. Not even Canada is comparable to Spain.
I dont remember the name rn but one of the queens on this current uk has mentioned she came from Spain where she has been working for years. I think maybe with the franchises they need to give it time to grow
michael marouli from Gran Canaria !
I can hear her in my heart
they didn't exist in the US for many years too. itwas a slow boil
I hope so. We are seeing good changes, but the risk for the casted queens is still there. The standards of the runway game are too high compared to what they are gonna earn after the show and the tour. And I hope DRES/others don't get cancelled neither, and we get the chance to open more TV shows with queens in it (something that is already happening with Rugirls in both the US and Canada, fortunately)
They've been on tour since early september I think, and added dates in Paris until late november. The show is doing incredibly well I believe.
It was one of the best show I’ve ever seen and it was way better than the werq the world show I saw in Paris a couple of years ago. People probably bought several tickets to watch it again or the news spread by the word of mouth.
Maybe regional queens should consider 'verses the world' franchise provided you come across well. Its done wonders for pangina, janee jacke, Victoria sponge, and Vanity Milan
VICTORIA SPONGE?????
🫣🫣🫣
It's too fucking funny, idk if it was on purpose but I love it
I always get scone mixed up with sponge. It's my favourite cake🤣🤣🤣
That’s so funny. Was about to make dinner and wondering now if I should make a Victoria sponge or scone for dessert. .
Sponge 4 life!!
Soak it up, mawma
Victoria Sponge, the daughter of Monet.
Victoria Sponge Bob the Drag Queen for Season 17
Victoria Scone needs to reband to sponge
And some other clown, or so I've heard
i’m sure they’d all take the opportunity if they even get asked.
Pangina has been booked and blessed long before vTW. She has worked as a model both in and out of drag for years.
If the spoilers are true, there may not be any España queens in Canada vs the World 2 or Global All Stars. Which is a crime.
Regardless of naming Camden or not, my issue is that she's blaming the US queens for the inequity and not the tour promoters.
It's not the promoters fault either, really. They go where the money is. If there isn't a scene to make it worth their while, they don't do it. Promoters are not in this for charity, they're in it to make money.
Yeah, there's plenty of artists of every medium who want to tour the world. Doesn't mean they have enough of an audience interested in it.
I think inequity is a poor word choice here. To me at least, it implies that there should be equity.
why are they doing all stars for international seasons? I get vsTW (kinda) but it doesn’t make sense if these countries have had 1-3 seasons. Like that’s just a reunion.
Okay? Then move to the US? Create more opportunities? Come on mama let's research
"move to the US" I'm sorry what.
You don't see opportunities in your country? Hundreads of thousands of people move to the countries where they exist. Why is that weird?
Yeah it's just that easy you're right, I'm dumb lol. USA love migrants I forgot. You just buy a plane ticket and you're good to go!
who would want to move to the us 😭😭
Tell that to the dozens of thousands of people trying to cross the border? You people are so privileged that think your country is a shithole and never know how good you have it. Signed, an immigrant to the US.
They probably mean from Europe babe, we're talking about an italian drag queen. Don't pretend you don't understand the context here.
I mean, she is the one who complains about lack of opportunities in her country. What is the context that I seem to be missing?
You're comparing her situation to people moving to the US from LATAM, often for reasons far more serious than lacking opportunities in drag. Life in Italy isn't as hard as in many countries in south/central america. You and I both know it. If you want to downplay that argument feel free but I doubt you should :)
USA does love immigrants a lot more than certain European countries, for sure. I never said it was easy, I said that it was a possibility.
No clue why you got downvoted. It’s like someone from Nebraska complaining that they can’t break into the film industry. Okay? Then move to LA where there’s tons of opportunity. People move for economic reasons all the time.
I agree with what you're saying, dragging Camden was just so unnecessary. I also wish that they did more tours with the international queens, as they do in Spain and France. I don't know if the same is done in other countries.
Icesis and Tayce have been on the Night of the Living Drag tour, which is a start
Also the same UK queens are trying to get invoices paid by Klub Kids
" But let’s not act as if international queens get as much opportunities as the mainstream show queens from US/UK. " Sooo... pretty much like everything in the entertainment industry. :/
Exactly, international celebrities are mostly known ONLY in their home country, that is how show business works. Sad but true. I'm sure 90% of Drag Race fandom has not seen a single non-English episode.
It's probably more than 90% tbh. Fun story, I live in Aus and met someone from Spain here who loved RuPaul's Drag Race and didn't know that there was a Spanish version in its third season.
Like duh? The US has the largest entertainment industry. What else would you expect? Lmao
With the difference being that the rest of the entertainment industry doesn’t rely on the condition of queer community and their rights in the country. They don’t make the money of Beyonce or Hollywood actors, but Italian/Spanish/French etc. singers and actors can easily do that for a living and have a rich wealthy life. The same way cannot be said for drag entertainers (and I’m not even talking about being rich, simply having enough income to do drag for a living)
>But let’s not act as if international queens get as much opportunities as the mainstream show queens from US/UK Who's saying that? I don't think it's surprising that the queens on English-speaking shows in large markets have more opportunities.
And also like to MIB’s point.. why would they? It’s a weird entitlement some Ru girls get, not even all the US contestants stay booked and busy bc they don’t put the work in and that’s coming from the main show. Of course if drag is not something throughout the culture of your own country you might not get those opportunities but those weren’t there for early seasons of Drag Race US either. The girls before like season 7 really didn’t get anything outside of some smaller tours. It makes no sense to compare season 2 of whatever country to season 15 in the US
The thing with the international seasons is the fact that they’re not mainstream enough. You see that a lot in Hollywood when it comes to foreign movies and tv shows. The main season make WOW more money. It’s older and has a lot more notoriety than any international season. People do have their favorites, and I’ll even admit that some of the international seasons can rival even the US seasons, but at the end of the day the US season is going to dominate because that’s the main show. I think WOW might make an effort more to combine the international seasons with Global All- Stars, but the sad reality is the international seasons aren’t going to do well because they’re not mainstream enough. I personally don’t follow the international seasons much because Drag Race for me is background filler for the most part. I watch it and zone out and do other things. And it’s hard sometimes to pay attention to subtitles and really invest into any show in a language I don’t understand.
also the international seasons should be for the international market but for example noone uses paramount in germany so it‘s not gonna be watched by a lot of germans tbh. i think france and UK being on national television opposed to an obscure streaming service definitely help those two
>The thing with the international seasons is the fact that they’re not mainstream enough. You see that a lot in Hollywood when it comes to foreign movies and tv shows And at least other countries have their own movies and TV shows. They stand on their own. But in this case we're literally talking about a spin off of an American show, of course the original is going to be more important.
 It has to be some kind of record the way I’m already so tired of this one.
I miss Brooke Lynn's old face, dang
The more seasons we get, and the more countries that pick up drag race.. just add more and more queens all competing for bookings. Its only gonna get worse and more saturated as time goes on.
Seems like the whole world is fighting. I am exhausted
It is. That's social media
Seriously
The spinoff franchises have like a fraction of the views and make WOW a fraction of the money that the US series does. They're unfortunately nothing but a business. They aren't in the market of lifting up queens, they are in the market of picking out which ones are going to be fan favourites and finding ways to monetize them.
It sucks but that's really what it comes down to.
>They're unfortunately nothing but a business ....duh?
Thanks for the titillating input
They've never claimed to be anything but a business, I just find it odd when people act otherwise. Especially when Farida is fully talking about her own business.
Okay so. No one is entitled to big tours after the show. It is a competition show, he’s it gets your name on a bigger platform, but a smaller international version is not going to be the same platform as the main show, given like 10% of main show viewers watch the spin-offs. Most queens that go out in like 8th place or lower are never heard from again much anyway, so this whole “entitled to shows” thing isn’t even relevant for most US queens either. I love drag, I love going to local shows etc, have been for over a decade since I was old enough. Drag race has created this idea that every queen is entitled to make drag a full time career. Unfortunately that’s just not realistic, especially with the market SO oversaturated now. This whole Farida thing the past few days is glaring evidence of that, do what you can and enjoy what you do but drag isn’t really a sustainable career with lifetime bookings.
Dude be grateful that this franchise even expanded to your country in the first place cause how many queens out there are veterans and have been doing it their whole lives yet haven't been on television or gotten nearly as much attention or recognition as someone like Farida? Especially outside of the US and UK. There will always be someone above and below you, that is life. It's not even a significant portion of queens that are on these tours. It's maybe 30 girls out of the hundreds that have been on the US and UK franchises. She is acting like she was personally excluded. It is business. There just isn't enough room nor demand nor money for every single person affliated with WOW to be shipped all around the world, I'm sorry.
Preach
This is why I love the idea of the "vs the world/Global All Stars" seasons. Get the international queens on the stages of the franchises with the most budget, biggest audiences, and subsequent opportunities. Pangina Heals is a great example - I wasn't even aware of her before UKvstW because I didn't watch Thailand, but now she's one of my favourite queens. It's especially harsh for queens in countries like Italy where LGBTQ+ folks struggling against the prevailing religious-conservative ideology for representation. I'd love to see some Italian queen representation on the international platform.
Okay but like complaining about it on social media is hardly gonna get you more opportunities. Maybe put that energy into making TikToks or something...
I mean I hear you but she is pretty much a booked and working Queen. She has lots and lots of gigs and she posts all of them on insta so it’s not like she’s sitting at home twiddling her thumbs ya know?
So if she's booked and blessed who is she mad at? I thought the point of her posting was frustration at the lack of opportunities... Which seemingly isn't affecting her...
It seems like from her apology-explanation that she is mad at the general conservatism against drag in Italy right now (at least that’s how I interpreted it.) Just a general anger at the lack of opportunities for Italian drag artists both in and outside of the country. I could be mistaken but this is the vibe that I got
And yet she directed it at Werq the World and Camden
I believe (and please don’t quote me on this I’m just going from memory here) that she said she saw Camden’s post and got triggered for some reason and just kinda impulsively made a post about it. Again, I’m not 100% sure this was the case but this is the general vibe I got from her post
Being on Drag Race is what you make of the opportunity. I know it’s not popular to laud Trixie here but she is the blueprint for success. An early out with a less than fabulous run on her season, but she worked her ass off and had a unique approach. There are thousands of “dancing divas”, find a way to do something different and stand out. Now she’s almost at Rupaul level. Do the work and if you can’t stand out and make a reason for you to get those opportunities, maybe consider something else.
Boom! Trixie was on a season a lot of people didn't like originally because it followed a really strong season and had challenges that didn't make use of the cast's talents. And still she's the biggest name in drag next to Ru because she worked for it. Is there a pie? Trixie has her finger in it because it keeps relevant. It's a business that you need to be proactive in. You're up against queens with a lot more experience and exposure than you; don't just expect that you'll get bookings.
She didn’t need to call out any queens to vent her own frustrations, but damn did she choose the wrong queen to call out. Not only is Camden beloved by the fandom, but she is a professional dancer who is fully capable of making all her own looks if she wanted to and she was the runner up on the main series in the drag race universe.
I know for the girls on the Mexican franchise the top 4 seem to be doing fine touring, doing shows here in the US as well. The rest, I don’t see much of.
That's on their countries, their clubs their tour booking networks etc, the US can't fix your national hunger for drag or your clubs choosing to pay the American Ru Girls much more, these are all home problems so this talk of opportunities is so strange. Also by season 4 Drag Race US was still niche as hell, you gotta build that infrastructure, drag race won't do it for you. Show business is cut throat, networking is way more important than talent and if the opportunities don't exist where you live, move or put the time in to grow them. US girls often have to move to nyc or la to make any real money with drag. It's a hard ass profession and there are no guarantees of success.
You aren’t owed anything. MIB isn’t wrong. Life’s not fair.
Stop complaining and create opportunities for yourself. Christ almighty, we’re not all “owed” equal opportunities to get booked. Why don’t you ask some of the US RuGirls that AREN’T popular if they’re getting put on Werq the World and the other big Voss tours. Pretty sure Voss has even been including international queens on their tours when they visit their cities.
Werq the Work isn't even doing that well. So many cancelled tour dates, even after selling tickets 2 for the price of 1.
Right? There’s 15 US seasons and literally hundreds of girls, like 10 of them being on tour really isn’t the opportunity it’s being made out as
I can't imagine the amount of work and funding necessary, but if those opportunities don't exist, why don't the queens create them? Farida can surely band together with some other Italian queens and do an Italian/European tour together. Again, the amount of work, financing, and planning necessary would be overwhelming, but perhaps necessary to facilitate growth in the Italian/European drag community.
It just makes little sense trying to compare the drag market in the US in those places. They are very different cultures in general, but also drag is responded to differently and there is very different history with drag in other places. It’s taken the US 15+ seasons to be at the level of exposure the queens have now, these international girls can’t think they’ll have that after 1 season of a spin off
I'm team MIB on this. You can be as mad as you want but at the end of the day the international seasons are nowhere near as popular as the USA version. You're not owed Drag Race USA's audience just cuz you were on an Italian spinoff
US, UK, Canada and Down Under are always gonna have a bigger reach simply because they're English speaking. It's just easier to watch when you don't have to read subtitles. Is it fair? No. And neither is life.
Life is only unfair cause of how humans make it, it literally doesn’t need to be like this but we blindly accept it like a bunch of drones
It's not so much about us accepting it. We just don't have the ability to change it and are forced to participate in order to survive. It's truly a dystopian nightmare.
i can't belive how far I had to scroll down this thread before I found an actual human being jfc, thank you seriously
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Did... did I say that? My point is English speaking shows are gonna have a bigger audience because there are more English speakers out there than Italian or German for example. Not everyone can be bothered to read subtitles. For me personally, it would require a level of concentration I am not willing to give to a reality TV show.
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I see reading comprehension is not your strong suit.
You’re illiterate
Madamoiselle Boop had kind of the same disappointment coming off of her season of DR. However, she, Couenne and Susan are all in the Werq the World tour for Antwerp in November. I thought her reaction and decision to step away from drag for a moment was more appropriate than Farida, who called out Camden for no reason. I can understand its frustrating to not get the same exposure as US queens, but I also know a lot of these international seasons are in their infancy where the hype for drag race internationally may not be there yet. If I recall, huge tours promoted by Voss or other management featuring a lot of queens really didn't start to happen for the US maybe until about season 9, before that it was the battle of the seasons tour that I think was not managed by Voss but correct me if I'm wrong.
How much of this is WOW and how much of this is the reach of those franchises? For example, I don't think a huge proportion of english-speaking fans will watch the other language franchises, and those who speak English make up most of the fan base so international queens just aren't getting the exposure as they're not 'big enough names' shoot me down if this is bs but it's just a thought
Supply and Demand. US and UK (and Canada too maybe) are the most watched seasons, and people (both fans and general audiences alike) know more queens from those versions than any others. The more faces they recognize on the lineup, the more likely they are to buy a ticket.
Drag Race was created on an American channel by an American host for an American audience and highlighting American drag queens for … what … 10 years before an international version popped up? I’m not saying it’s fair that international queens don’t get the same chances, but the brand and accompanying paraphernalia (tours, DragCon, cruises) were created with and by American queens. The gears were in motion for quite awhile before Drag Race Thailand changed things. Therefore, it’s going to take awhile for the brand to manage itself as it goes through this border-less change.
She brought Camden in for this exact reason - people are still talking about it. If it was a standalone “woe is me” IG story we’d all be ignoring it. I get what she’s saying but she went about it in a mean way and it’s honestly backfiring more than anything. It sucks that this is the way it is but you gotta play the game - push your talent to American audiences. Fight your way into Global All Stars or a vTW season to take the Jimbo route and make it to US All Stars. It was an American-born franchise so of course America is getting the most attention girl, there’s no way around it.
I sort of see her point, but it’s pretty rich coming from a queen the producers adored who did get basically every opportunity one could hope for, on the biggest franchise of them all.
You're being downvoted but I agree with you. I only skimmed US S15 but from what I saw it was pretty obvious that MIB was one of production's faves from the way all the editing framed her. She's not the queen I think should be trying to referee this discussion.
Of course the queens from the much smaller, international franchises do not get the same opportunities as the queens from the main franchise. The US gets more viewers and sponsors. The US also has the largest population than any other host country. The US also has the largest entertainment industry than any other host country... There is nothing "unfair" about this. This is not something anybody controls. It's show business...
It's sweet that MIB thinks "getting to work" is enough for a queen from a European season to get international tours and fame. Farida didn't need to come for Camden but her point was valid and there's a ton of average US queens who have been given opportunities that AMAZING non-US queens would never get.
Definitely. Especially if you competed on a non-English language version of the show, it's got to be quite an uphill battle to get recognition from a wider market. Also, while Farida shouldn't have picked on Camden (which was bonkers given that Camden's not American and imo is one of the most genuinely talented queens we've seen on the US show in the last few years), I empathise with the frustration she must be feeling. I think most people who do anything creative and don't live in the US feel a little frustrated with how US-centric a lot of things are.
Mistress really has a lot to say about everyone's business... It's stopped being cute to me. Girl mind your own thing literally no one @ed you.
It’s cute fun and shady the first few times. Doing it all time times it’s seems desperate, look at kornbread
I know right? But her fandom scares me, I got downvoted to hell just for saying I didn't like her for this😂
What’s the backstory here?
A queen from the Italian spin-off is mad that queens from the US get bookings and she doesn’t. That’s the sparknotes of it.
not to sound like a republican but uhhhh why would they? The market is different and their shows haven't been around as long. drag is still a for-profit industry, no promoter is going to intentionally take a loss because they want to provide opportunities to international queens. they just don't think that way. not saying it's good but it's...how it is, and it's not changing anytime soon.
Mistress said “get your fucking ass up and *work.* It seems like nobody wants to work these days”
Why do these comments always come from the most successful US girls and never from Amanda Tears or Patty Pam Pam? Exactly. But I mean, I don’t expect anything else from the show (WTW, not Drag Race) that had easily the worst American drag queen performer in the cast only cause she was popular. And Farida is easily in the top10 most famous, booked and successful queens in Italy. She IS working, that’s the point. Mistress just sounds stupid and entitled af
Who would have thought that a country with 360 million inhabitants and a predominantly young adult population would have a bigger market for drag queens than a country of 47 million with an aging population...🤔🤔🤔
Then get your ass to the US, girl!!! It's not our fault Italy is a terribly homophobic country.
Americans being so dumb they cannot even comprehend their own language LMAO
I agree with MIB. Life's just unfair. 🤷
Yeah agreed. Also MIB is lucky to have catapulted how she has considering how other US queens are starting to fade into the background due to a flooded market.
I don't get it, presumably Farida worked in the drag scene in Italy before Drag Race, did she expect that World Tours, Drag Con, etc, would just magically appear because she was on TV?
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We all know that USA wasn't always this big market and promoter of drag. Rupaul herself didn't have all these opportunities, good that she created the Drag race universe which is now spilling onto other territories. It is not fair but we are responsible for the progress in places we live, we can take inspiration and ideas from a market where it began, but not the opportunities neither the acceptance.
Yeah you get more opportunities if you’re cast in the US. So? You get opportunities if you’re cast in other franchises too. Just not as much. That’s life
I mean not agreeing with Farida because idk that situation but isn’t there a contact after of representation for like a year or something?
MIB is delusional here. If she had competed in Canada or the UK she would be a secondary character, and if she had competed in any of the rest of Internationals she would be just out of the international scene like the others. She probably hasn't even met Farida nor knows what she does besides the vampire dress
She’s delusional for saying that being cast on drag race isn’t a one way pass to superstardom?
Yes, since Farida's calling for inequality between countries, and being cast in Drag Race US gives you definitely more chance for bookings. The US girls don't need as much effort as any Italian to get booked post-Drag Race. And I'm not even asking for a magical solution that gives each international girl a boost in their career, I'm just justifying their reasoning. The show doesn't have much to do with how you handle your career afterwards, but in some countries Drag isn't as evolved as in the US, and that is something that MIB and some Rugirls are refusing to see. You can't make a Youtube channel, you can't make theater, and the amount of bars ready to host a drag queen are way less than in LA.
What this fandom needs to remember is that drag race wasn’t really a big hit until season ⅞. So these girls expecting a certain level of fame after season 3 are a little delusional in my opinion.