Culture

Kita Mean Is The Only Worthy Winner Of ‘Drag Race Down Under’

When past winners don't even think Scarlet Adams should win, then maybe we shouldn't let her win.

by Michelle Rennex  15 June 2021
Kita Mean Drag Race Down Under Scarlet Adams Aquaria

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

After seven weeks of highly questionable judging, we’ve finally made it to finale week of Drag Race Down Under. 

With the shoddy “talent show” now behind us, RuPaul revealed his Down Under final four much to the disappointment of fans of the franchise: Karen From Finance, Scarlet Adams, Art Simone and Kita Mean.

This means the final four of Australia’s first season of Drag Race is comprised of one queen with a past obsession with racist Golliwog dolls (Karen), another with a concerning history of performing in blackface and appropriating other cultures (Scarlet), a contestant who was eliminated in second place and was brought back without reason over the only people of colour in the competition (Art), and one queen who thankfully isn’t shit (Kita).

Genuinely the only way Drag Race Down Under can redeem itself is if Kita Mean is crowned on Saturday, but that won’t happen if Ru’s judging is anything to go by.

The blatant favouritism that has been shown over the last two months has made one thing clear: the crown is likely going to Scarlet Adams or Karen From Finance.

Despite Karen’s lacklustre performance throughout the competition, she has been saved from lip-syncing time and time again. This was easy to see in the most recent Down Under episode where Karen From Finance was able to make one single balloon animal as her “talent” and somehow still made it straight to the top four without question.

But on paper, Scarlet Adams is the clear front-runner with three challenge wins and some of the best looks of the season. And even though there’s a very dark cloud hanging over Scarlet due to her past racist performances, Ru has made it very clear that she does not really care about that.

Instead of Scarlet getting punished when her blackface images were brought up on Drag Race Down Under, production used the storyline as a redemption arc for the Perth queen. In fact, Scarlet Adams barely got a slap on the wrist as RuPaul decided to use the opportunity as a teaching moment for Scarlet instead of holding her accountable.

“I’m sure there are people who would want me to cancel you, but I’d rather this be a lesson on humility and accountability,” RuPaul told Scarlet Adams, finding more issue with Joe Black wearing H&M than a queen repeatedly doing blackface during her drag performances.

The problem that RuPaul fails to see is that you can hold people accountable without canceling them — and one way this is done is by not crowning a known racist the first winner of Drag Race Down Under. Or really, one of the other queens with an unaddressed racist past or someone who was unfairly brought back to the competition and has won no challenges since returning.

The only way to teach this “lesson on humility and accountability” is by crowning the only deserving queen left: Kita Mean.

But following Bimini Bon Boulash’s loss in Season 2 of Drag Race UK, it’s obvious that fan opinions don’t really amount to much anyway.

Despite the series filming multiple endings as a way to prevent spoilers — meaning that producers can decide who wins right before the show goes to air — Drag Race has taught us that it’s not a popularity contest even though they always ask “to hear from viewers” to find out what “team” people are on in the week leading up to the finale.

The penultimate episode of any modern Drag Race season always ends the same way: RuPaul offers her con-drag-ulations to the finalists, and then turns her attention to the audience to ask “Who do you want to be the next Drag Race Superstar?” 

And Drag Race Down Under has been no different. With World of Wonder asking Drag Race Down Under fans on Twitter what team they’re on with the finale looming, the public sentiment is clear: Kita Mean is the only worthy winner.

As of today, Scarlet Adams has a measly 291 likes, which is followed by Karen From Finance with 321. Art Simone is fairing a little better with 1100, but Kita Mean is head and shoulders above the rest with 7400.

Even Season 10 winner Aquaria weighed in on who Down Under’s first-ever Drag Race superstar should be, commenting on Scarlet Adams image with a simple but very effective “naur” to show her distaste for the show’s frontrunner.

But as the judging of Drag Race Down Under has proven so far, we’re probably in for another dose of disappointment come Saturday evening. Or, if we’re lucky, Drag Race producers could surprise us and finally make one good decision in the hopes of securing a Season 2. Please. We’re begging.

Drag Race Down Under streams exclusively on Stan.