Are you ready for a distraction from the polarizing political landscape? An escape from yet another mother-in-peril streaming series? Good news, a new season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race” is finally here.
When it first aired in 2009, it was originally intended to skewer reality competition programs. It turned out to be a sign of the times. Arriving less than two weeks after Barack Obama took office, it became a fixture of the genre, a cultural touchstone, and snagged 29 Emmys so far. There have been international spin-offs in almost every corner of the globe, and practically every major popstar or politician has made their way to walk down that soundstage runway. With season 18, the MTV staple returns with arguably its most experienced and, dare we say, cosmopolitan cast yet.
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You can judge a drag queen in a multitude of ways. It’s a unique art form precisely because of all the unique skills on display. But sometimes, a queen is inherently a star. It emanates from them like your favorite pop singer, actor, or model.
Enter Juicy Love Dion.
Three and a half years ago, we were at the iconic Jackie O’s beach club in Mykonos, Greece. A queer enclave that has a long history of bringing drag to visitors of all persuasions, far and wide. To be fair, we’ve seen more drag queens perform all over the world than we can remember. From tiny stages in small bars to dance clubs late in the night to high-end productions in 2,000-seat theaters. But Dion was something else. She exploded on the poolside stage, unlike anyone we could remember. Her performance was so impressive, we were so blown away that we immediately sent a video to a colleague at MTV who was part of the “Drag Race” ecosystem.
We had two friends meeting up with us on the island later in the week. We also sent them a video and a hyped message. Their reaction was akin to “Sure, great, can’t wait.” Clearly, they assumed their friend was overreacting to an alcohol fueled night. When they eventually caught Dion a few nights later, one of them turned to me and immediately said, “OMG, she’s a star.”
Anyone who lives in the greater Miami area and loves drag is also very well aware of Dion. She’s a fixture during most of the year at R House, the one-time home of her drag mother, season 16’s Morphine Love Dion, and, cough, her drag grandmother, Athena Dion, who joins her on season 18. But when caught up earlier this month, Dion says her experience as a youngster often performing three shows a night, as the “party princess of Mykonos,” was seminal.
“Honestly, I give a lot of credit to Mykonos for changing my life,” Dion says. “It opened my eyes to there being a possibility of things in the world for me to do, not just what’s limited in Miami or what’s limited in America, where it’s just a top 40, kiki, brunch number, you know what I mean? In Europe, I learned that they really value the art. They really want to see the artistry, the technique. They really want to see what I can do creatively. They don’t care about the stunts. They may be impressed once or twice, but then they’re like, ‘O.K., what else? What else can you do?’ So, it definitely opened my eyes. And I leaned into it. I took a lot of inspiration from the Italians, the French, the Greeks, all of them, you know? I am nothing but a citizen of the world now.”
Dion’s initial dream, however, was not “Drag Race.” The Florida native’s no. 1 goal was to appear on “So You Think You Can Dance.” She got her chance in 2024, but didn’t make it past the initial auditions.
“You know, even just being in those doors and being able to just audition and get the critiques from the judges, in itself, it’s a dream come true,” Dion says. “Obviously, being in the top 10 was the goal, but what I got out of it was more valuable than being in the top 10, and that’s discovering my true passion and my true art form. When everything aligns in my body and when all the chakras are connected, it’s when I’m in drag. It’s when I’m Juicy. That second day, I didn’t show up in drag. I was out of drag if you watched the show. So, my confidence wasn’t the same out of drag as it was in drag. The whole personal conflict thing that I had to learn about myself.”
The FOX program may have also given her a leg up on some of her “Drag Race” competitors, though. She admits that experience on “So You Think” absolutely made her less nervous in front of the cameras than if she’d gone in cold. That being said, she adds, “Nothing can really prepare you for the craziness and the chaos at ‘Drag Race.’ Like, I’ve never felt my heart beat in my ears before, and when they say pressure cooker, it’s, like, actual pressure. It’s like, physical, your body is feeling this pressure, and you don’t know where it’s coming from. It’s a really crazy experience, and I would 1,000% do it again.”
If and when Dion lip syncs on “Drag Race,” expect a show. And expect a level of confidence only queens such as Sasha Colby, Anetra, Sasha Velour, Peppermint, and Brooke Lynn Hytes can deliver. But, while she’s already a pro’s pro, Dion still gets the pre-stage jitters.
“I mean, even when I do all those gigs, and when I do all those things, I still get nervous. I still get, you know, the sweats, or, like, my palms get, like, weak, or I feel cold, but it’s all because I care,” Dion says. “I care about my performance. I care about doing a good job. I care about presenting something that’s, like, ‘Wow,’ into the utmost caliber. So, if I was not nervous, that’s a problem. Because that means I’m not worried about succeeding or surpassing myself.”
