The premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under is fast approaching in Australia, which can only mean one thing: we’re perhaps weeks away from our very first Aussie edition of the show’s famous snatch game.
It’s literally the highlight of the whole show. The moment everyone’s always waiting for. And now it’s coming to Australia.
Australia and New Zealand have no shortage of icons to choose from, so some sacrifices had to be made when whittling them down to a workable list.
Here are our Aussie predictions – or, at the very least, our hopes – for the long-awaited snatch game in RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under.
Kath Day-Knight
The queen of spunk herself is a no brainer for an Aussie snatch game.
Kath Day-Knight is the kind of style icon who can just as easily pull off being slathered from head-to-shoulder in fake tan as she can strolling around Fountain Lakes with Nordic walking poles. In other words, she’d be right at home among the queens.
And hey, her one-liners against Kim might actually work a treat on the show.
Bindi Irwin
Bindi Irwin is – aside from Princess Mary of Denmark – the closest thing Australia has to royalty so it makes total sense to include her in a Drag Race snatch game.
Whether it’s baby Bindi rocking the pigtails and a python around her neck, or adult Bindi showing off her baby bump and… yet another python around her neck, the potential for reptile-induced chaos is endless.
Also: Americans absolutely adore her which will do wonders for for fostering intercultural Drag Race understanding.
Lee Lin Chin
Australia’s most iconic newsreader surely deserves to be honoured in our inaugural snatch game.
Lee Lin Chin‘s status as an iconoclastic fashionista provides ample creative freedom in the wardrobe department for any drag queen who has what it takes to embody her persona.
Her deadpan newsreader delivery comedic voice is also just waiting to be flexed on the show.
Gina Rinehart
The richest person in Australia and at one time the world’s richest woman, Gina Rinehart‘s public image is the ideal canvas on which to paint a memorable drag moment.
She’s also really leaned into the whole evil billionaire schtick, for example when she talked about Africans working for just $2 a day or considered setting off a nuclear bomb to create a harbour in Queensland.
Her voice also makes her an ideal candidate, and bonus points for any queen who’s able to shoehorn in a few lines from Rinehart’s cursed poem about mining.
Kylie Minogue
An unproblematic queen and an extremely talented one, at that! Kylie Minogue is not only a pop icon but a cornerstone of Australia’s repertoire of drag show backing tracks.
Oh, and imagine the contouring to recreate her iconic jawline. Pulling that off alone would solidify any queen’s spot in the drag hall of fame.
Perhaps we can even expect Kylie as a guest judge? Fingers crossed.
Melissa Leong
The breakout star of the utter dumpster fire that was 2020 turned out to be a food critic from Sydney.
Melissa Leong reinvigorated MasterChef with a unique blend of regality and unfettered kindness that we so desperately needed last year.
An Aussie Drag Race snatch game would be sorely lacking without her.
Cathy Freeman
Cathy Freeman has the joint honour of being Australia’s most iconic Olympian as well as being the most iconically-dressed Olympian.
Seeing a First Nations drag queen rock the green-and-gold running suit while draping an Aboriginal flag over their shoulders would be awesome.
Let’s just hope nobody tries to outsprint her and almost decapitate themselves in the process.
Tracy Grimshaw
Trace!!! Australia’s No. 1 purveyor of dodgy plumbers and laundry detergent bargains has rightfully earned a cult following for her no-nonsense TV presenting.
It’s one of those super niche Aussie references that’d just go down a treat in a Drag Race snatch game.
She also rides horses in her spare time and even had a cameo in the Australian edition of Shark Tale. Tracy Grimshaw may as well be our answer to Christine Aguilera.
Schapelle Corby
Schapelle Corby‘s 2020 redemption arc from convicted drug smuggler to epoxy resin clockmaker was truly heartwarming to follow.
Both in and out of prison, Schapelle has proven herself to be tough as nails but also, like, a genuinely fun and nice person.
Whether it’s her starch-white blouse in a Balinese courtroom in 2005 or her more beachy, clockmaker look from the present day, Schapelle’s place in the hearts and minds of all Aussies is surely enough for her to command attention and applause in a snatch game.
Rebel Wilson
She was raised by bogan dog trainers in Western Sydney and envisioned herself winning an Oscar while coming down with malaria in Mozambique. Just don’t say otherwise or else she’ll sue you.
All the drama aside, it’s been amazing to watch such a beloved Aussie comedian make the big time in America like she deserves.
In between being Toula in Fat Pizza and Jennyanydots in Cats, Rebel’s plain-old self is far from boring and would steal the show of any snatch game.
Julia Gillard
Julia Gillard might not be the woke queen some people make her out to be, but her misogyny speech was one of the most iconic (and important) pieces of parliamentary rhetoric in living memory.
The combo of her signature twang and a few quips of “not now, not ever” would be enough to catapult anyone brave enough to take on the former PM in drag form to the front of the pack.
Bonus points to any drag queen who can pull out a bloody dagger.
Marcia Hines
Perhaps the nicest, most wholesome judge of any Aussie reality TV show, ever. Aussie 2000s nostalgia would incomplete without a mention of Marcia Hines.
Just imagine the covertly sassy clapbacks. We wouldn’t be able to fully appreciate her answers until a few questions later because they’d be wrapped in to much politeness.
And hey, her music slaps, too. Her 2006 cover of “Stomp” featuring her own DAUGHTER Deni is surely enough to solidify her as a certified queen.
Jacqui Lambie
It’s hard to reconcile Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie‘s common sense takedowns in support of working class people with her weird fixation on Ebola-infected ISIS suicide bombers. She’s a walking, talking broken clock.
But not everyone in a Drag Race snatch game has to be a 100% unproblematic queen. Lambie’s attitude and outspokenness make her a perfect candidate to jostle for Mama Ru‘s attention. She is, after all, the loosest cannon in Aussie politics.
Let’s just keep the conversation focused on how we need more funding for essential services in rural Tasmania (or her extensive ball gown collection) and not any of that other icky stuff.
Honourable Mentions for a Drag Race snatch game in Australia
Kim’s second-best friend Sharon Strzelecki, Real Housewives of Sydney star Lisa Oldfield, comedian extraordinaire Hannah Gadsby, movie critic Margaret Pomeranz, OG Big Brother host Gretel Killeen, Brand Power spokesperson Sally Williams, fake cancer influencer Belle Gibson and… Renata Bliss.
Sincere apologies to anyone we might’ve missed. Hopefully they’ll make the cut for our season two predictions.
