‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’: An Unbearable Pain for ‘Spoiler Alert’ Author Michael Ausiello
Memories, while good, can still be painful. For Michael Ausiello, whose life is portrayed in Spoiler Alert, watching RuPaul’s Drag Race after his husband Kit Aldridge’s death is simply too painful to bear.
RuPaul’s Drag Race became an escape for the couple, especially when Aldridge was battling cancer. But since his death, the thought of watching even a single episode is too much for Ausiello.
The relationship between ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ and Michael Ausiello’s personal tragedy
Ausiello and Aldridge loved Drag Race when the series was still somewhat of a sleeper show. At the time, the show was still new and hadn’t taken off.
“I’ve never watched one episode since,” Ausiello said on the Behind the Velvet Rope with David Yontef podcast. “And it’s made it difficult because I have to say, that franchise exploded after Kit died. It became a much bigger deal than it is now. So it’s hard to be in the company of gay men and not watch Drag Race ’cause it’s all they talk about. And I’m just like, standing in the corner, you know, sipping my vodka cranberry and being like, ‘hmm, I don’t know who you’re talking about.'”
‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ was the last reality series he watched
What stings about the series is that RuPaul’s Drag Race became the couple’s appointment TV show. “I was obviously a huge fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race when it first came out, mostly because it was something that Kit and I enjoyed together and was a big part of our relationship and you see that in the movie as well,” he recalled.
“But even after Kit died, I couldn’t go near it. Like to me, it was sacred ground that was just too special and something that we do together that I cannot bring myself to revisit,” he said.
Several years ago, reality TV was new and exciting. But the bloom is off the reality rose for Ausiello. “I actually don’t watch much reality television at all anymore. And I think part of it is when Survivor came on the scene, it was special, it was unique. Reality, that industry was in its infancy. Now it’s so ubiquitous that it doesn’t feel special anymore. And there are just so many options that kind of turned away from it a little bit.”
Reality TV doesn’t do it for Michael Ausiello anymore
But it isn’t just RuPaul’s Drag Race that has Ausiello feeling a little blah. Reality television in general has become somewhat meh for Ausiello.
“I’m indifferent to it, I don’t really have any interest in watching those shows,” he said. “Not to pass judgment on people who do watch them. I know they’re incredibly popular and I have a lot of friends who are obsessed with those shows. A lot of really smart high-brow friends are obsessed with Housewives.”
“But I think because I grew up watching Dallas and Falcon Crest and Days of Our Lives in Santa Barbara. The idea of these reality soap operas, I’m a little bit like, no, take me back to the ’80s. Those are the soap operas I want,” he said.
