Last year’s series of ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ began with the return of Eureka and ended with a butterfly massacre and “the dawning of the age Aquaria”, with divisive rows, emotional revelations and show-stopping lip syncs thrown in along the way.
But let’s be honest, the whole thing could probably be summed up with just two words…
“Miss Vanjie!”
Yes, she may have only been in the show for all of one episode, but Vanessa Vanjie Mateo’s immediately-iconic backwards-walking exit hung over the series like a fabulous pink cloud.
Well, for any ‘Drag Race’ fans who felt like they didn’t get their “Vanjie” fix first time around, we’ve got some good news, as the series 11 line-up has now been revealed, and look who’s back for another throw of the drag dice…
In her ‘Meet The Queens’ entrance video, Vanessa teased: “People got to meet Miss Vanjie [on series 10], I want to introduce everyone to Miss Vanessa Vanjie Mateo. Get into that.
“I got a second opportunity so I came back by popular demand… of course there’s going to be pressure to come back and do better, but to be honest, y’all ain’t seen much. Except for a hot glue gun, some flowers and a Barbie. So bitch, really, after that, anything’s going to look good.”
Vanessa is the drag daughter of former finalist Alexis Mateo, and she isn’t the only one of this year’s contestants to come from a popular drag dynasty.
Not one, not two, but three of the series 11 queens are from the Davenport drag family, from which former contestants Kennedy Davenport and the late Sahara Davenport also came.
What’s more, Plastique Tiara is from the House Of Edwards (headed up by ‘Drag Race’ royalty Alyssa Edwards), while Kahanna Montrese is the drag daughter of series 5 star Coco Montrese.
Also on the line-up are Soju, who has a popular YouTube series reviewing ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’, and Scarlet Envy, who previously danced with Katy Perry when she performed ‘Swish Swish’ on ‘Saturday Night Live’, along with a host of other drag stars.
But before we get to the new season – which is expected to air on Netflix here in the UK, as previous series have – we need to crown a winner for ‘All Stars 4’, with seven queens still in the competition.