This ‘Drag Race Holland’ Queen Worked With Guest Judge NikkieTutorials Before the Competition
In the span of just a few years, RuPaul’s Drag Race has become a worldwide phenomenon. After the American version took off over a decade ago and created a generation of fans around the globe, RuPaul has taken his reality competition show format to every corner of the globe, including Thailand, Canada, the UK, and most recently, the Netherlands.
‘Drag Race Holland’ is the latest international ‘Drag Race’
Hot on the heels of Canada’s Drag Race, Drag Race Holland made its world premiere in September 2020. The show is hosted by Fred van Leer, a retired drag queen from Rotterdam and a former host and stylist for shows such as Holland’s Next Top Model and the Dutch version of The X-Factor.
From the minute the queens walk under the giant windmill and into the werkroom, it’s clear that the show is everything fans love about RuPaul’s Drag Race with a unique Dutch twist. Like Drag Race Thailand, much of the show is in their native language, but the level of drag (and drama) crosses languages and borders.
‘Drag Race Holland’ has some of the Netherlands’ biggest LGBTQ stars
In the States, RuPaul’s Drag Race has crossed over into the mainstream. Stars like Nicki Minaj, Jeff Goldblum, Whoopi Goldberg, and even Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez were guest judges on the most recent season, and the show has won 20 Primetime Emmy Awards to date.
Drag Race Holland, like other international versions of Drag Race (and early seasons of its US counterpart), still has a more insular feel with more judges who are closely associated with the LGBTQ community.
YouTube makeup guru NikkieTutorials is one of the most recognizable guest judges to audiences around the world. She’s joined by Dutch model Loiza Lamers, who is the first trans person to win a Next Top Model series anywhere in the world.
Intersex musician Ryanne van Dorst, gay actor Rick Paul van Mulligen, veteran queen Diva Mayday, and Eurovision contestants Ruth Jacott and Edsilia Rombley are some of the people who join the party this season.
One ‘Drag Race Holland’ competitor worked with NikkieTutorials before the show
Countries like Canada and the Netherlands have a much smaller drag scene than there is in the US, so most people who are familiar with the scene likely know most (if not all) of the working drag performers at any given time.
In 2019, before Drag Race Holland was even announced, NikkieTutorials invited one of the show’s competitors on to her YouTube channel to put her in drag. Envy Peru is a favorite to win the crown, and Nikkie herself deemed her “the best drag queen from Holland.”
Nikkie and Envy talk about many things throughout her drag makeover. They met in 2017 during Amsterdam Pride, where instead of having floats roll down a street like most Pride parades, they have literal boats floating down the canals. Envy was performing on one boat, and Nikkie wasn’t wearing any makeup because it was so hot.
Besides the heat and the alcohol involved that day, Nikkie remembers one thing about seeing Envy Peru. “You and your house were so professional,” she compliments her, “and these girls performed for hours upon hours in the sun.” One of Peru’s housemates is none other than fellow Drag Race competitor Miss Abby OMG.
Peru returns the compliment by telling Nikkie that she was one of the first makeup artists she saw that made her get into makeup.
Envy Peru started out as a Halloween queen
Peru also tells the story of how she got into makeup and eventually into drag. She started out as an actor, and was introduced to drag when she moved to Amsterdam and got a job working at a MAC makeup store. Like many other drag queens, she first got into drag for fun on Halloween.
One of Peru’s coworkers at MAC who was a drag performer (and eventually, her drag mother) told Peru she was “too pretty to not perform” and booked her for her first show in Amsterdam. From there, Envy Peru was born.
