Meet the local drag queen representing Aotearoa on one of drag’s biggest stages.  

The fourth season of Drag Race Down Under premieres tonight on WoW Presents Plus, once again bringing with it a small group of queens from Aotearoa battling against their Australian counterparts for the title of next drag superstar. With Michelle Visage stepping into the main hosting role (where is RuPaul?), the series will also feature a range of thrilling guest judges including G Flip, Ladyhawke, and Love Island host Sophie Monk. 

This season is also the first time that previous Down Under contestants will be returning to mentor the new Down Under queens, including local legends such as Spankie Jackzon, Kita Mean, Kween Kong and Anita Wigl’it. So without further ado, who are the new local queens looking to make Aotearoa proud on the Drag Race runway? And how many of them would choose The Briscoes Lady for a NZ Icon Snatch Game? The answer may shock you. 

Lucina Innocence (Tāmaki Makaurau, 28)

Auckland queen Lucina is serving Sky Tower as the tallest “drink of water” in the competition (6 ft 7 in drag). Making her drag debut in 2016 at the now-closed Dogs Bollix in Ponsonby, she recalls a “rough” performance. “It was a mashup of Lana Del Rey’s ‘Happy Birthday Mr President’ and Lady Gaga’s ‘Government Hooker’ while wearing a frizzy blonde wig, a black bra and panty, and shoes that were two sizes too small,” she told The Spinoff. “But I was feeling the fantasy, and haven’t stopped since.” 

It was during season six that Lucina got on the RuPaul’s Drag Race train. She was living in Hawke’s Bay at the time, and had never seen anything like it on television before. “I had no idea drag queens could be pretty,” she said. “I binge watched all the seasons and began practicing drag makeup in my room.” All these years later, she describes the opportunity to compete herself as a “dream come true”. 

“Never in a million years did I think it would branch out and be possible for New Zealand queens to compete, let alone doing it myself.” As for her local Snatch Game character, Innocence couldn’t choose just one. “I would do Suzanne Paul or the Briscoes lady, they’re both so camp!”

Olivia Dreams (Te-Whanganui-a-Tara, 25)

The baby of the local bunch, Olivia Dreams made her drag debut on Zoom during the pandemic in 2020. “It was a Dua Lipa online drag show created by Kelly Fornia and I performed ‘Love Again’, I even created my own music video and everything.” Wearing a Lily Allen-inspired wig and a red floral dress, she remembers the makeup “wasn’t great” but she was “still feeling myself and trying something new.” 

Also the only queen from Wellington, Dreams describes her local scene as a “veritable smorgasbord” of drag styles and a community that knows how to rally around new artists. “You can have anything you want and that’s what I love about it,” she says. “We’ve got everything from look queens to alternative monsters, with new dragsters popping up daily – it truly is the creative capital of New Zealand.” She too would play The Briscoes Lady in Snatch Game. 

Nikita Iman (Tāmaki Makaurau, 27)

Nikita Iman is now based in Sydney, but will never forget her South Auckland roots, or the first time she was dressed in drag by her ballroom mother Jaycee Baby. “When I stepped into the room, all my friends froze, eyes wide with shock,” she told The Spinoff. “Even though I was a little rough around the edges – thirsty blonde wig, a well-worn corset passed around from queen to queen, heels that squeezed a size too small – I felt like the prettiest queen in the room.”

Iman describes the Auckland drag scene as a “vibrant and diverse” community that owes much to the icons of Karangahape Road. “Auckland drag is proudly brown, unapologetically bold and endlessly creative,” she says. “It’s carving out a space that’s as distinctive as it is beautiful.” 

Just like Lucina, season six was Iman’s gateway into the Drag Race multiverse. “Watching these queens – just regular people – being celebrated for who they are and for their incredible creativity felt like something entirely new to me. It was inspiring, captivating, and opened my eyes to a world where self-expression was celebrated with pride.” 

So how does it feel to be a part of it now? “It’s surreal, but it feels so right.” 

RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under premieres 7pm November 1 on WoW Presents Plus