Eva Le Queen among top performers in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: Global All Stars’ premiere

THE first-ever season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Global All Stars” has just begun, but Filipina drag queen Eva Le Queen wasted no time and served Filipino drag excellence at once in its first two episodes.

The Philippine bet was in the Top 2 of the reality competition’s talent extravaganza, where she taught the global audience the Filipino way of cooking rice.

Eva Le Queen, who was clad in the traditional barot’ saya, brought with her rice cooker, a bowl of uncooked rice, and a glass of water. She showed the iconic Pinoy method of measuring water for the rice with their fingertips.

But her comedic rice cooking tutorial was disrupted by the arrival of a dragon on stage. She turned her baro’t saya into a blue warrior costume, drew a sword, and fought the creature. 

“I’ve been fighting monsters for seven days. Where’s my damn rice?” she exclaimed, only to realize that she forgot to plug in the rice cooker.

Eva Le Queen’s talent show is a “love letter to the hoops that mothers go through to put food on the table,” said comedian Baus Rufo.

In an Instagram post, Rufo revealed that the rice cooking performance was inspired by the drag queen’s 2022 “comedy gold performing rice cooking to a ballad.”

“The concept was so genius that all we had to do was open it up for the Global All Stars stage. We wanted it more epic and more stupid for Mama Ru,” he said.

The comedian shared that they finished writing the performance in less than 20 minutes, explaining that the dragon’s presence on stage was how they imagined Tokyo-based animation studio Studio Ghibli “would interpret an inner saboteur.”

Eva Le Queen’s performance earned her praise from the judges and propelled her to be one of the top performers alongside Vanity Vain. 

The Top 2 queens lip synced to “Paranoia” by Danna Paola and Steve Aoki, with Vanity Vain winning the battle.

Introduction

“RuPaul’s Drag Race: Global All Stars” kicked off with the 12 queens from different nations being introduced to the global audience as they walked the main stage with their unique outfits for the “Opening Ceremony Eleganza.”

Eva Le Queen confidently strutted the runway with an extravagant modern Filipiniana, with the top part adorned with white and gold pearls. She also carried a hand fan to match her look.

“I came here for global domin-Asian. During my season of ‘Drag Race Philippines,’ I went all the way to the finale without a single win, but this time, I’m gonna make it all the way to the crown,” the Filipina drag queen said.

She was then asked, “If you were going to be trapped on a deserted island, what essential item would you bring with you?”

Eva Le Queen said she would bring a lip gloss with her explaining, “I want my friends and family to know that I will not be found dead with chappy lips.”

Homage to grandfather

For her next runway look for the “Money Makes the World Go Round” category, the Pinay drag queen paid homage to her grandfather as she appeared on stage covering her body in a bamboo piggy bank, known in the Philippines as “alkansya.”

She also wore a salakot, a traditional headgear often used by Filipino farmers and fishermen as their protection from the rain and sun.

Eva Le Queen transformed her outfit into a custom-fitted sleeveless dress decorated with gold and silver coin-like sequin. It was made by Filipino designer Neric Beltran.

On Instagram, the drag queen shared that her outfit drew inspiration from her grandfather, who used to “fill the bamboo pillars of his Nipa hut with his hard-earned coins from farming.”

The winner of this year’s “RuPaul’s Drag Race: Global All Stars” will clinch the title of “Queen of the Mothertucking World,” a $200,000 grand prize, and a place in the international pavilion at the Drag Race Hall of Fame.