‘Canada’s Drag Race’: Does Brooke Lynn Hytes Have Final Say on Who Goes Home?
Brooke Lynn Hytes is an incredibly talented drag queen who acts as a host and judge on Canada’s Drag Race. It’s a spinoff to the popular RuPaul’s Drag Race, but RuPaul himself doesn’t appear as the usual face at the center of it. Brooke Lynn owns hosting and judging, but she isn’t alone in doing so. How much power does she actually have when it comes to telling a queen to “sashay away?”
‘Canada’s Drag Race’ brought Brooke Lynn Hytes from season 11
Before Canada’s Drag Race ever aired, Brooke Lynn starred on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 11. She demonstrated charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent in spades, ultimately making it to the finale. Brooke Lynn impressed RuPaul and television audiences worldwide with her polished looks, tremendous lip-syncing talents, and top-notch makeup. However, she lost the final lip sync against Yvie Oddly, who took home the crown.
Brooke Lynn became the face of Canada’s Drag Race Season 1 along with actor Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman and model Stacey McKenzie. However, the show moved forward with some major changes to the hosting and judging panel.
Television personality Traci Melchor and fashion stylist Brad Goreski joined Brooke Lynn on Canada’s Drag Race to share judging and hosting duties starting on season 2, which then moved onto another spinoff called Canada vs. the World.
Brooke Lynn Hytes has one-third of the power on the judges’ panel
Canada’s Drag Race‘s Brooke Lynn took the Roscoe’s Tavern stage along with Drag Race UK Season 2’s Lawrence Chaney and season 15’s Mistress Isabelle Brooks. Canada’s Drag Race Season 2 winner Icesis Couture previously made an appearance at the same venue, where she said that Brooke Lynn had no say in the official decision-making. However, the host/judge took great offense to that because it wasn’t true.
“I called her. I was like, ‘Girl, like, I absolutely do have a say. Why would you say that?,'” Brooke Lynn said. “She said to me, ‘People were coming for you about your decision, so I wanted to defend you and say that you had on power.’ (Laughs).”
Brooke Lynn thought the sentiment was “very sweet,” but thought that it “discredited” her. Further, she explained that she has “exactly 33.3% of the say. It’s me, Brad, and Traci, and we all have a completely equal say. I don’t have any more power than anybody else, and producers do not tell us what the decision is. It’s our decision, and we sit there, and we deliberate.”
Unlike Brooke Lynn, RuPaul makes all final decisions on the series that he judges and hosts, but he takes the other judges’ thoughts into consideration.
She wears an earpiece on the show
Next, Brooke Lynn addressed whether she wears an earpiece on Canada’s Drag Race that feeds her information during filming at Roscoe’s Tavern. She admitted that she does, but nobody tells her what critiques to say. Rather, it instructs her when to move to certain segments or when to move on to the next contestant during judging. But, as Brooke Lynn said, “That’s TV. That’s how it works.”
Additionally, there are times when the witty catchphrases that audiences hear on the runway aren’t from her.
“Sometimes it’s me,” Brooke Lynn said. “Sometimes I’m not that witty, and I’ll be like, ‘I need some help.’ In the moment, it’s just one of those things. I do get help sometimes because I’m not always that quick.”
