Get your Thai tea ready, it’s time for drama, glamor, and drag spectacle with the return of Drag Race Thailand after a five-year hiatus. The first episode of the show’s third season premiered worldwide on October 16 exclusively on WOW Presents Plus, introducing a cast of eleven fabulous queens.
As the first international spin-off of the iconic RuPaul’s Drag Race, the show’s revival and return in season three comes at the heels of multiple milestones in the “herstory” of Asian drag. This year Taiwanese American Nymphia Wind took the crown as the first East Asian queen to win RuPaul’s Drag Race. Other Asian queens, including Marina Summers, Eva La Queen, and Plastique Tiara, have made splashes in their appearances on international Drag Race stages. Following two seasons of resounding success, Drag Race Philippines is also returning for its third season this year.
Pangina Heals, known to many as the RuPaul of Thailand, is returning as this season’s host after hosting the first two seasons. In the interim, Pangina was certainly busy. She was a competitor on Drag Race UK vs. The World, appeared as a guest judge on the spin-off in the Philippines, and performed in Las Vegas as part of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! As if all that’s not enough, Pangina also opened four bars in Thailand, including the House of Heals, home to much of Thailand’s emerging drag talent.
With these experiences under her belt, Pangina describes herself as mature, returning to Drag Race Thailand ready to show the world how her drag, fashion, and glam has evolved. This transformation and evolution of the queens each week is part of what makes the Drag Race franchise exciting to watch for audiences, and even for experienced queens, the show’s global platform and viewership challenges their artistry.
“We’ve never had the chance to show the part of us being Thai or what our connection is to drag overseas,” Pangina told RADII. “So I think it’ll be great to see how these queens approach being on Drag Race versus just performing in their home bars and doing drag at home. Going on Drag Race is a huge pressure cooker, you really have to elevate your drag and I think diamonds are formed under pressure.”
Drag Race Thailand is an unique opportunity for Thai drag queens to bring their culture to an international stage. Drag is a relatively new concept in Thailand, but while Pangina noted that no Thai word exists for the artform, the country has a long history and culture of cabaret performed by transgender women. Lip syncing, an important component of drag and a competitive element on RuPaul’s Drag Race, is also found in Thai cabaret shows. In addition, Thailand is also a major exporter for showgirl costumes around the world.
Pangina for one, is heavily influenced by cabaret culture, having grown up watching cabaret shows. So it follows that Thai culture is sprinkled throughout Drag Race Thailand: in the stage design, costumes, and music. The judges on the show, Art Arya, Gus Setthachai, Metinee Kingpayome, and Niti Chaichitathorn, are also changemakers in the Thai entertainment industry.
“With Thailand, it’s in our blood to perform, it’s in our blood to lip sync, because we’ve seen these performances growing up. It’s been there for decades,” said Pangina. “And so how do we incorporate a sense of cabaret culture onto Drag Race? Not only is the costume, but also the body language of how we perform things has to make a story, and we love to tell stories with our bodies.”
Known for its nightlife in general, Bangkok also has a thriving LGBTQ scene in the Silom neighborhood, where drag queens are given a platform to express themselves. Pangina recommends bar hopping on Soi 4, where queens can feel completely safe. For those hoping to experience the energy of Drag Race Thailand for themselves, The House of Heals is hosting viewing parties of the show every Wednesday.
After five years, the Thai queens are certainly ready to bring on their A game and showcase the beauty and power of Asian drag.
“The queens are really hungry. So when there’s an international show like Drag Race, they all want to be on it, and they all are trying to push themselves to be better. So I think you can feel the fire within them,” said Pangina.
Banner image by Haedi Yue.
