'RuPaul's Drag Race: Vegas Revue': Meet Yvie Oddly, Asia O'Hara and rest of the cast of VH1 docuseries
Following various iterations of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' (the UK, Canada and Holland), a new six-part docuseries titled 'RuPaul's Drag Race: Vegas Revue' has been added to the franchise. The docuseries will chronicle the journey of six drag queens as they prepare both personally and professionally to front the 'RuPaul's Drag Race Live!' residency show at the Flamingo resort in Las Vegas. According to a press release from VH1, the limited series will "brings viewers behind the scenes of a jaw-dropping live stage show as it launches on the world-famous Las Vegas strip. The series gives fans a deeper look into the lives of their favorite queens as they showcase the charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent it takes to pull off groundbreaking performances in front of a live audience."
The documentary premieres on August 21, 2020, and here's all you should know about the featured queens.
Yvie Oddly
Yvie Oddly is the stage name of Jovan Bridges, a drag queen, fashion designer, performer, rapper and recording artist and the winner of Season 11 of 'RuPaul's Drag Race'. The Denver native adopted the stage name inspired by the critique that her performances received. Explaining to RuPaul during her season why she chose her stage name, she said, "I had some other boring who gives a s**t drag name but, people would say like, 'she just is so strange onstage'. So I named myself Yvie Oddly since I’m even odder than everyone else."
Asia O'Hara
Asia O'Hara is the stage name of Antwan Mason Lee, a drag queen, television personality and costume designer. O'Hara was a part of Season 10 of 'RuPaul's Drag Race' and was placed at number 4 in the competition. Before her elimination, she was pitted against Kameron Michaels to lip-sync in order to make it to the top three. Colorful butterfly accessories were a part of her look and strapped to her chest and wrists were massive boxes with speculations rife that it had something to do with a butterfly reveal. And a butterfly reveal it was, but as the boxes opened, the insects fell to the ground with many fearing that they were dead.
After her elimination was aired, she took to Instagram to apologize for what had transpired. "Despite months of research and rehearsing with a professional company, what I hoped would be an amazing and safe display of optimism, and a surprise for everyone including production and the network, it did not go as planned. I would like to publicly offer the entire world my deepest apology. It’s important that everyone knows that I would never purposely hurt any living being and have the utmost respect for all animals," she wrote while also donating 100 volunteer hours to the ASPCA, an organization that has been dedicated to the fair treatment of animals since 1866.
Derrick Barry
Derrick Barry is a drag queen who participated in Season 8 of 'RuPaul's Drag Race', 'RuPaul's Drag Race: All-Stars 5' and is also a professional Britney Spears impersonator. Derrick has also performed live on tour with Madonna. She was also a contestant on Season 3 of 'America's Got Talent' but was eliminated due to a lack of votes after reaching the quarterfinals.
In an interview with South Florida Gay News, Barry spoke about the experience with the rest of the cast. "Just to work with that cast, like Yvie Oddly and being with Naomi Smalls from my season, and becoming better friends with her, that is something that I have wanted for so long and it has been a real highlight in Vegas. Being close with Vanjie also, we ended up next to each other in the dressing room and we just laugh the whole time. Kameron Michaels has been very inspiring for me, showing that you don’t have to have what is looked at as a 'feminine physique' in order to do drag. That is why she is the 'Bodybuilder Barbie'; she completely strips the idea that you cannot be fishy and have muscles. That has been very inspiring to me because obviously workouts are a big deal for me, my body is half my drag," Barry said.
Kameron Michaels
Kameron Michaels is the stage name of Dane Young, a drag queen and performer who was a part of Season 10 of 'RPDR'. Kameron is known as the "muscle queen". Before participating in Drag Race she worked as a hairdresser and harbors a keen interest in creating fantasy makeup looks.
Naomi Smalls
Naomi Smalls is the stage name of Davis Heppenstall, a drag queen, performer and model. Smalls participated in Season 8 of 'RPDR' and 'RPDR: All Stars 4'. She ended up as a runner-up both times. In 2019, Naomi was also placed in New York Magazine's list of top 100 drag queens in America.
Smalls received a lot of hate on social media after eliminating fan-favorite Manila Luzon from 'All-Stars 4'. Speaking to Billboard about how it affected her Smalls said, "I have very thick skin, but it makes me a little sad that my mom is so invested in some of my drag that she does read the comments and there are some things like, 'Your biological family was right to abandon you,' and, 'I'm so happy that your brother died so he didn't have to see you become such a hypocrite.' That wasn't necessarily something I wanted my mom to read. Because it's just crazy. It's a weird thought for her to have the realization that people have these thoughts about her son, you know? But besides that, I'm pretty fine with it."
Vanessa 'Vanjie' Mateo
José Cancel aka Vanessa 'Vanjie' is a drag queen who participated in Season 10 of 'RPDR' and it was followed by a super early exit. She returned for Season 11 on the show. She is one of the most popular drag queens the franchise has cast and her time on the show and her farewell shenanigans after her elimination on Season 10 also gave birth to a very popular internet meme.
'RuPaul's Drag Race: Vegas Revue' will premiere on August 21, 2020, with a new episode airing every Friday at 8 pm ET only on VH1.