'Drag Race Philippines: Slaysian Royale,' a spin-off featuring former 'Drag Race Philippines' contestants competing with Asian contestants from other franchises, culminated with Brigiding snatching the crown. Brigiding prevailed over fellow Divine Diva and top two finalist Viñas Deluxe in the finale episode's 'Lip Sync For The Crown,' becoming the first-ever winner of the spin-off.
Despite a few technical mishaps and the uneven casting, 'Slaysian Royale' succeeded in what it set out to achieve: It offered an entertaining showcase of Asian drag excellence, representing diverse artistry and characters often overlooked in Western 'Drag Race' franchises.
As it always is with any 'Drag Race' season, the strength of 'Slaysian Royale' relied on its fiercest competitors. The season featured heavy hitters from the 'Drag Race Philippines' franchise – finalists and fan favorites who steamrolled the competition. Led by Brigiding who fared poorly in the said franchise's first season, the 'brightest star' turned things around and impressively became the winningest contestant on 'Slaysian Royale,' snatching three RuBadges across the season. Faced with branding criticisms in her original season, she can now proudly call herself the winner of the 'Slaysian Royale' brand.
The season's runner-up, Viñas, proved that she is a comedic genius with her hilarious performances in the 'Crazy B**ch Slaysians' and 'Snatch Elections' episodes. Viñas also served gagworthy looks like her cacao and nuno sa fengshui outfits – two runway looks that are almost guaranteed to be remembered by fans for years to come; much like her manananggal look from the first season of 'Drag Race Philippines.' In addition, Viñas showed this season that she's not only a comedy and a look queen, she's also a fierce lip syncer. A bonafide triple threat.
Top four finalist Arizona Brandy is another queen who delivered comedy throughout the season. Rarely an episode would pass that Arizona wouldn't repeat highfaluting English words in a high-pitched tone. This style of joking by way of self-deprecation (SELF-DEPRECATION?!) represents modern Filipino humor so well. Known for her brand of comedy, Arizona unsurprisingly performed great in the 'Crazy B**ch Slaysians' and 'Snatch Elections' episodes. Although what sets her apart this season is how apparent her desire is to win. She tackles every challenge with intense passion and determination and viewers can see how much she has prepared for this season. All of these are further exemplified in her second episode win in 'DragCon Slaysia,' where she not only demolished the branding/improv challenge but also served a highly praised Mugler-inspired runway look.
The performances of Brigiding, Viñas, and Arizona on 'Slaysian Royale' proved how strong Filipino drag is. That's why when compared to their international 'Slaysian Royale' competitors, the season's casting might be perceived as imbalanced by some viewers. Three out of five Filipino drag queens are finalists, while the selection from the international franchises only feature queens who did not make it far in their season. It can be argued that the playing field of the competiton is uneven, with Filipino queens possibly having more knowledge and experience in navigating filming a 'Drag Race' production since they made it deeper into their original seasons.
However, the crop of international queens still gave us standout characters that fans were able to enjoy. For example, 'Canada's Drag Race' Season 2 star and this season's Miss Congeniality Suki Doll who served some of the most fashion-forward looks – most of which are imbued with her multiple ethnic backgrounds – on the runway and touted by fans as the "mother" of the season because of how much she cared for her fellow queens, especially in their lowest points during filming.
'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 10 star Yuhua is another standout character. Placing 12th in her original season, she showcased a compelling redemption arc by winning an iconic challenge, besting the excellent Viñas, Arizona, and Brigiding in 'Snatch Elections,' and making it to Top 6. Yuhua also managed to win the hearts of fans when she tearfully opened up about her feelings of being unappreciated in the past and finally getting the validation for her craft on 'Slaysian Royale.' It was heartwarming to watch a camp queen like Yuhua being vulnerable on screen.
'Drag Race Thailand' Season 3's Siam Phusri is another notable character with her eccentric personality, which became part of a huge conversation among fans online when she got involved in a drama with Viñas in the 'Snatch Elections' episode. In terms of her looks, with the exception of the one she made in the 'Holy Cacao' episode, she presented one the most intricate runway packages where she managed to effectively integrate her Thai heritage.
In totality, 'Slaysian Royale' successfully achieves the task of showcasing the beauty and diversity of drag queens with Asian heritage. However, it's not perfect by any means. As mentioned briefly above, the casting could have been more balanced – adding international Asian queens who advanced further in their seasons could have made the competition more exciting to watch. While Madame Yoko, Sum Ting Wong, Ivory Glaze, and Kitty Space are amazing drag artists, they seem less adept at playing along with the requirements of a produced reality TV competition show compared to the rest of the cast. If I were to guess, this is probably brought about their short-term experience in filming the show since they were early-outs in their original seasons.
The show also suffered from technical issues, for instance, two episodes uploaded to the WOW Presents Plus app were originally found with audio and visual glitches that drew frustration and ridicule from fans (These videos were later replaced with fixed versions). In addition, though not uncommon in any Drag Race season, some top and bottom placements in a couple of episodes are highly questionable.
Hopefully the production continues to take notes – they appear to have done so in the past based on how well-received the third season of 'Drag Race Philippines' is. Perhaps if 'Slaysian Royale' gets a second season, it would be great if fans can see such an improvement too.