EuroStars Drag Contest

Drag for All Seasons Linda Gold’s all-inclusive drag TV extravaganza gears up for summer showing

Six years after the competition launched, Linda Gold’s EuroDrag, held in more than 15 countries in 30 venues, is poised to hit TV screens later this year as the EuroStars Drag Contest, with Linda hosting alongside Dys Alexia.

DYS ALEXIA & VIOLETTA J'ADORE.

PIC CRED: GRAND GARETH

Inspired by the Eurovision Song Contest and RuPaul’s Drag Race, the three-part EuroStars series is completely inclusive, aiming to “give all drag a platform, whatever their age, sex or gender, from kings to queens to trans – it is open to everybody”. Thirty competitors – 20 the best of the best from previous competitions and a further 10 to be chosen from an online video casting – will face a panel of studio judges and a public vote in the race to win 1,000 Euros of paid gigs and their own 30-minute TV show. Linda Gold says the contest was set up in protest at the lack of inclusion in RuPaul’s Drag Race – although season 13 of the show in America features the first transmasculine contestant and the two camps are now friends. “We’ve got to be thankful to them because without them we wouldn’t have this phenomenon. Both our hosts [alongside Linda], Sedergine and Janey Jacke, and seven of our judges are all people who have been on Drag Race,” says Linda from the Liverpool offices of the 100% non-profit company, from which all profit goes back into the LGBTQ+ community. “We have nine ambassadors, six of them are from Drag Race.” Linda started EuroDrag while living in Sweden, “where everyone can be a drag queen”. They continue: “RuPaul’s Drag Race exploded around season three. They were excluding trans and drag kings and biological women, but it’s so normal in Sweden for women to be drag kings. We started EuroDrag and had UK kings and queens flying over to take part. We took it to Norway and Poland and before we knew it we had to take it to the UK.”

There has been a huge explosion in the popularity of drag in the mainstream. “Drag is just the in-thing,” says Linda, adding that the BBC had said it was the most featured term in search engines. “It’s because of RuPaul’s Drag Race going to BBC 3. Even though it’s not the most watched show, it was the highest search.” Even Linda’s 70-year-old drag-loving mum learned to use the internet as a result. “She has become a computer whizz.” Currently on hold due to the lockdown restrictions, EuroStars will pick up filming again hopefully on June 3 at the Latest TV studios in Brighton. In the first two episodes the 30 contestants will compete for one of eight places in the final, episode three, and the performers’ personal stories will be featured as part of the format. The shows will air across all UK local TV stations and will be be shared by a network of distributors and streamed on numerous platforms and websites, including EuroDrag TV, LGBTV and Chew the CudTV. more info

LINDA GOLD & DYS ALEXIA EURODRAG HEAT AT SUNDOWNERS, MARGATE.

www.eurodrag.co.uk