Drag queens making dinner, what could go wrong!?
Hosted by Murray Hill, Drag Me to Dinner is an entirely new concept of a drag competition series where queens are paired up in duos and tasked with the mission to throw a dinner party. In each episode, two duos compete against one another, with only one pair emerging victorious. The show is judged by Neil Patrick Harris, Bianca Del Rio, and Haneefah Wood, and also features David Burtka as an advisor.
This new show features over 40 drag performers – many of whom were already famous for appearing on RuPaul’s Drag Race.
“Because I was a Drag Race viewer myself, I’ve been judging these queens in my living room for years,” Del Rio tells Out. “So here was the opportunity to tell them what I thought. And trust me, I did not hold back from saying, ‘This is a sh*tty dinner party,’ because that’s what I was there for.”
Hill also praises the original concept of Drag Me to Dinner, which lets the queens showcase their strengths and personalities.
“They get to talk, they get to improv, they get to shtick. We get to see a three-dimensional portrayal of drag queens. And it’s not like, ‘My outfit’s so great’ or ‘I’m trying to dance the best.’ We get to see the queens for who they are.”
As stars and executive producers of Drag Me to Dinner, Harris and Burtka approached the show as drag enthusiasts and ended up having a blast filming the episodes.
“I wanted to make sure that the tone and the sense of humor was respecting the drag viewing audience,” Harris notes. “All of these people are sharp, smart, funny, quick. They don’t need to be told the rules over and over. In fact, let’s just pretend like the rules don’t really exist. So that was our ethos: it’s a sloppy, hot mess of a show, and I couldn’t be more proud of it.”
With so much anti-drag rhetoric being pushed by conservatives at the moment, Harris and Burtka also recognized the importance of showing these queens as talented artists who have a positive impact on the world. Burtka remarks, “I’m glad everyone gets to see these queens in a light that they don’t normally get to be seen in. They could just show who they actually really are as performers. You see their personalities shine through the whole show, which was really important for me and Neil.”
Harris adds to that, “If you have any questions about queens, watch Drag Me to Dinner and you’ll see that they are lovely, amazing, super-open bright lights.”
Drag Me to Dinner is now streaming on Hulu.