RuPaul’s Drag Race producers are upping the ante again, this time with the addition of the new show RuPaul’s Drag Race Live Untucked.
The docuseries, which premieres on WOW Presents Plus Wednesday, April 17, follows the stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! in Las Vegas as they prep for their nightly performances and wind down after shows. It’s like regular Untucked, but somehow with more feathers.
While the Vegas show features a rotating cast of Drag Race alums, the new Untucked highlights legends including Latrice Royale, Coco Montrese, Kennedy Davenport, Derrick Barry, Bosco, Lawrence Chaney, Alexis Mateo and Pangina Heals. Most of the cast have been traveling in the same circles for years, but Bosco, 30, is a newer member of the fold, having debuted in RPDR season 14, which aired in 2022.
Bosco quickly bonded with Derrick, who’s been starring in the Vegas revue since it began in 2020.
“Derrick’s kind of the girl,” Bosco exclusively told Us Weekly ahead of the Live Untucked premiere. “A lot of us within the franchise have done this guest spot moment at the Vegas revue, and every single person, I was going, ‘What do I need to expect? Who’s there, what do we like?’ And every single person I talked to is like, ‘Derrick’s the girl. She’s so nice. You want to sit next to her, she’ll welcome you in and she’ll take care of you and show you the ropes.’ And that was exactly what happened.”
Derrick, 40, started performing in Vegas long before he starred on season 8 of RPDR, but he’s determined not to become the Cristal Connors of Live Untucked.
“When I moved here, I was 20 years old and I was 10 years younger than the next person, and it was kind of a hard adjustment to be the new one,” Derrick told Us. “And so I’ve consciously made an effort, anytime I work with anyone younger than me, that I want to be someone that builds them up, lifts them up, instead of tearing them down for whatever insecurity reason someone would do that for.”
Generational differences are on full display in the first couple episodes of Live Untucked, with Coco, 49, kicking off a debate early on about whether blue is a “masculine” color. The remark causes boomer accusations to fly, but Coco says the teasing is all in good fun.
“It’s more of a kind of a welcome thing, because honestly, from being in entertainment this long — most of the time, the legends, if you’re not even on their level, they don’t even have a conversation with you at all,” Coco explained to Us. “Doing a little banter with them is a ‘welcome to the club’ type thing.”
As Drag Race fans know, good banter is as important as not wearing too many bodysuits in front of Michelle Visage, but even Coco was surprised by how quickly she and Lawrence, 27, developed a rapport.
“Everyone took me under their wig, and me and Coco get on so well,” said Lawrence, who is the winner of Drag Race UK season 2 and the host of House of Laughs, another new show on WOW Presents Plus. “We have the craziest and most rotten sense of humor. … Everyone kind of got me, and I’m very grateful for that. And I think you can see that in the show. Me and Coco get on like a house on fire.”
If the queens don’t know each other super-well before joining the Live! cast, then the close quarters backstage helps speed the process along. Kennedy, 42, and Latrice, 52, had been friends for years before heading to Vegas, but sharing a dressing room has only deepened their friendship. According to Kennedy, Latrice kicks off the night by blasting Anita Baker ballads.
“A lot of people listen to hype music and stuff like that, but we come from a different era where we call it drag music,” Kennedy explained. “It kind of gets us in the mood and feeling our puss, and it motivates the brushes.”
“You paint how you feel, you know what I mean?” Latrice added. “It goes into your makeup.”
Over in the Bosco and Derrick dressing room, it’s all about what Bosco describes as “diva worship” — they pick a pop star like Mariah Carey or Cher, and that’s the theme for the evening.
“I also have a tradition where I call it my chardonnay stretch, where instead of stretching, I just have a glass of chardonnay and call it a day,” Bosco added. “That usually gets me pumped up and in the mood.”
While the queens have different methods of prepping for a night on the stage, they can all agree on one thing: choreographer Jamal Sims is extremely good-looking.
“It does help that he’s handsome,” Coco joked. “But even if he was not that most attractive type of man, his personality is extremely attractive. He has this charm and he can get you to actually focus and complete the task. Especially [because] we’re not dancers. We are movers. And he works with that very well and knows how to bring out the best in you. I don’t think I would enjoy the show as much if it wasn’t directed by him and RuPaul. He’s amazing.”
RuPaul’s Drag Race Live Untucked premieres on WOW Presents Plus Wednesday, April 17. Latrice Royale, Coco Montrese, Kennedy Davenport, Lawrence Chaney and Derrick Barry will all be back in Vegas for RuPaul’s Drag Race Live! starting the week of April 15.
