'Canada's Drag Race Just Unveiled Its First Look

Are you ready for Mama Hytes?

Looks like RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars season 5 isn't the only pageant revving its engines — Canada's Drag Race is on its way as well. First announced last year, the latest iteration of the show just debuted its first look. 

If for nothing else, Canada's Drag Race will make history as the first version of the show to have an alum of the franchise as a permanent host; welcome your Queen In the North, Brooke Lynn Hytes. The season 11 runner-up joins Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and Stacey McKenzie on the panel, and apparently, it came after she suggested the idea at the World of Wonder offices.

"When you get on Drag Race, the clock is ticking," Hytes told Entertainment Weekly in an interview. "You’re given 15 minutes of fame and you have to do something with it or not, it’s up to you to figure out how you’re going to make this last for yourself and turn it into a huge career." So, in 2019 when she was visiting the offices of the production company that created the Drag Race world, she told the employees there that she dreamed of hosting a Canadian version. And while official releases have yet to call her the host exactly, she's pretty freaking close! Apparently, we aren't set to see an all-powerful Ru-esque host. 

"We’re all RuPaul, put together," Hytes said. "Not one of us has all the power. It’s a team effort. We all take turns sharing duties, and we all make decisions together!" For superfans, this seems like an extension of Drag Race Thailand which has two co-hosts as opposed to one Ru. 

Like the Thailand version of the show — which should have already aired its third season but we have heard nothing about it — challenges will be similar to ones that American fans are used to. 

"I think that the essence of the challenges is similar to RuPaul’s Drag Race, but they’re specific to Canada," Boyer-Chapman, who has judged the original two times, said. "There are instantly recognizable Easter eggs for Canadians, but they’re universally comedic enough that other audiences won’t be left out of the joke. Seeing these queens perform, this isn’t Drag Race-lite, this is Drag Race full-stop!"

The judges also promise a diverse lineup of queens from all over the nation. No word on when the show will debut. (Nor who the Pit Crew is.)

RELATED | Everything We Know About Canada's Drag Race So Far