“Mabuhay, Drag Race!”
Bernardo SimYou can always call her Jiggly, as long as you call her...and the latest international RuPaul’s Drag Race series did exactly that!
Actress Bianca Castro — who is most known to fans as her drag persona Jiggly Caliente — has joined the judging panel of Drag Race Philippines, which is scheduled for an August 17 premiere date.
During the annual RuPaul’s DragCon LA event this past weekend, it was announced that Caliente will be one of the main judges of Drag Race Philippines. The queen took to Instagram to celebrate this remarkable achievement.
"If you would have asked me 5 years ago if I would ever be a judge on a [RuPaul’s Drag Race] franchise, let alone be part of [a show] for my homeland the Philippines, I would have told you to stop doing drugs because they would never entrust me with such a responsibility. A responsibility I took seriously and care for," she wrote in her post. "Because you can’t criticize people all willy-nilly for the sake of screentime when you yourself have been in their position [and] know your criticism of their art that they presented to you have weight. I also believe in the talent, beauty, and tenacity of the culture of the Filipino people."
For context, Caliente was born in Laguna, Philippines and moved to the U.S. when she was 10 years old, so this is a beautiful way for the queen to come back home.
Caliente was first introduced to the Drag Race pantheon in season four. She was criticized for not being as polished as other queens in the competition, but a legion of fans still fell in love with her infectious charisma.
Over the years, Caliente played the recurring character of Veronica throughout all three seasons of Pose and came back to compete on Drag Race All Stars 6. With so much experience in television and in the industry of drag, Caliente is certainly the right person to sit on the judging panel of Drag Race Philippines.
Overall, this Filipino series is the second-ever international edition of Drag Race to take place in Asia, following Drag Race Thailand. Alas, the rest of the judging panel – as well as the cast – didn’t get an official announcement as of this writing.
Watch the official teaser for Drag Race Philippines, which premieres August 17 on WOW Presents Plus, in the video below.
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