Drag Race star reveals enormous amount they spent on the show

Since its inception in 2009, RuPaul’s Drag Race has served as a launch pad for the careers of over 300 drag queens around the world.

So it’s no surprise that the contestants want to spend as much money as they can to present the best versions of themselves on one of the biggest reality TV franchises.

Aubrey Haive, who only recently started doing drag during the pandemic, has now opened up to Yahoo Lifestyle about her experience on season two of RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under and revealed the enormous amount she spent when preparing for the show.

“When I did the tally it came to around $30,000 to get ready for the show, which is a lot,” she shares.

“It's a lot for me mainly because I had to get a lot of things that most other queens would already have. They already had shoes and pads and corsets and wigs, so I had to start brand new and get all of that stuff ready from scratch. So I was just dropping all that money very, very quickly.

“But I think it was definitely worth it in the end, and there's a reason why I spent $30k because the outfits look that good. So I can't wait for more people to be able to see them because I'm so proud of all of these looks.”

‘I’ve got heaps to learn’

When asked why she decided to go on RuPaul’s Drag Race so early in her drag career, Aubrey admits she didn’t think she’d make it past the auditions.

“I was just sort of like, I may as well give it a go,” she remarks. “‘The newer drag queen’ is a fun storyline and I thought I had gotten my drag to a really good point where I would be happy to be like, 'Yeah, I'm new, but I'm also doing really well’. So I was confident enough that if I got on I would be okay with it.

“I mean, give me a few more years and I'll come back for All Stars and you'll see me be even better again because I’ve got heaps to learn.”

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She adds that despite being eliminated in episode two, she walked away from the experience feeling so much more confident in herself and who she is as a performer.

“Even now, it's been like six months since filming and Aubrey is different to when she was then because I've just learned so much more about what works for me,” she details.

“On the show, everything's so fast-paced and I just had to learn so many new things about what Aubrey does and what her aesthetic is and all that sort of stuff. Honestly, thank god I went on because I learned so much so quickly and I think it's really helped me to become even better at drag now so that I can really skyrocket my career to go even further.”

‘Traumatic’

Speaking about her lip sync against Kween Kong to Divinyls’ I Touch Myself, Aubrey reveals that the Adelaide-based performer was the only person on the show that she had seen lip sync in the real world.

“I knew how f**king good she was because I saw it in the flesh,” she shares.

“But you know what, I fought my hardest and I love that song. That's like my dream song, so I'm so glad I got to do that one because I knew all the words and it's from Austin Powers, so it only seems fitting. So while it was extremely traumatic, it was also such a fun time.”

Aubrey went on to reveal what she would want to change about her time in the competition if she could go back and do it all over again.

“Because I'm new to drag, I try really hard to impress people and prove myself,” she says. “So I tend to be a little bit too much sometimes and I try to do everything at once, which I think we saw on the runway.

“I wish I had the confidence to just be like, ‘No, you're worthy enough without all that stuff, just go and embody the outfit and just be confident’. But then the opposite also applies and those things that push me to want to break the boundaries and do different things are what make me a good queen anyway.

“So I’ve got to find a balance between pushing the boundaries, but not doing it to a point where it hurts me.”

RuPaul's Drag Race Down Under airs only on Stan with new episodes dropping on Saturdays at 4pm.

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