Casting is now open with Season 2 set to go into production in the coming months
Auditions can now be submitted at www.crave.ca/canadasdragrace
Tags: @CanadasDragRace, #CanadasDragRace, @CraveCanada, @Crave_PR, @blueantmedia
TORONTO (January 7, 2021) – Wigs on, lipsticks out, tucks in…the hunt for Canada’s next Drag Superstar is officially on! Bell Media’s Crave confirmed today that it has ordered a second season of its hit series CANADA’S DRAG RACE, the best-performing Canadian and Crave Original Series in the platform’s history*. Casting is now open for Season 2, which is set to go into production on 10 new episodes in the coming months. CANADA’S DRAG RACE, which is available to audiences in Canada in both English and French, is produced by Blue Ant Studios in association with Crave and World of Wonder. Crave also revealed today that Trevor Boris (BIG BROTHER CANADA, PARADISE HOTEL) joins CANADA’S DRAG RACE as showrunner for Season 2.
For Canadian drag artists looking to show off their unique brand of Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, and Talent, applications can now be submitted in English and French at www.crave.ca/canadasdragrace. All hopeful competitors must be 19 or older, and a Canadian citizen or permanent resident of Canada.
“Crave prides itself on creating original programming that connects with audiences, and with an immensely talented and diverse cast that represented the backgrounds and personal stories of so many viewers, the inaugural season of CANADA’S DRAG RACE did just that,” said Karine Moses, Senior Vice President, Content Development & News, Bell Media. “We’re so excited to see even more of the amazing talent that Canada’s drag artists have to offer and continue to create more magic for Season 2!”
“We were delighted by the incredible talent showcased in Season 1! We’re excited and honoured to continue this celebration of creativity, love, inclusion, and awesome Canadian drag culture,” said Laura Michalchyshyn, Chief Creative Officer and Co-President, Content at Blue Ant Studios. “We couldn’t ask for better partners in Crave and World of Wonder and can’t wait to introduce audiences to more inspiring queens in Season 2.”
“We are thrilled to bring another season of CANADA’S DRAG RACE to fans, alongside Blue Ant and Crave. Audiences can look forward to even more charisma, uniqueness, nerve, and talent that the inspiring drag artists of the Great White North have to offer,” said Executive Producers Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, World of Wonder.
Following a buzz-worthy inaugural season filled with emotional personal stories, fierce competition, a healthy dose of shade, and a shout-out from Canadian icon Céline Dion, CANADA’S DRAG RACE crowned its first-ever Canadian Drag Superstar – Priyanka – last year. Scarlett Bobo and Rita Baga, who is a competitor on Noovo’s new series BIG BROTHER CÉLÉBRITÉS, rounded out the top three on Season 1. In Canada,
CANADA’S DRAG RACE was the most-watched series on Crave streaming platforms during its entire 10-week run** and trended on social media platforms each week. Season 1 was available internationally on-demand in more than 160 countries on World of Wonder’s SVOD platform WOW Presents Plus (also the exclusive day-and-date home of CANADA’S DRAG RACE in the U.S.), and additionally on Logo in the U.S., BBC Three in the UK, Stan in Australia, and YES in Israel.
In association with Crave, CANADA’S DRAG RACE is produced by Blue Ant Studios. Executive Producers for World of Wonder are Fenton Bailey, Randy Barbato, and Tom Campbell. RuPaul serves as Executive Producer. Executive Producers for Blue Ant Studios are Michael Kot, Laura Michalchyshyn, Betty Orr, and Pam McNair. Showrunner is Trevor Boris. For Bell Media, Production Executive is Danielle Pearson. Robin Johnston is Director, Original Production, Factual, Bell Media. Justin Stockman is Vice President, Content Development & Programming, Bell Media. Karine Moses is Senior Vice President, Content Development & News, Bell Media.
*Source: Adobe Analytics, Rank as of 12/3/2020; based on first seven day streams season average **Source: Adobe Analytics, Canada’s Drag Race 10-week run (7/2/2020-9/9/2020), Subscribers Watched on Crave Website & Apps
About Crave
Delivering more Oscar®-nominated and Emmy® Award-winning programming than any other service, Crave is Canada’s prestige entertainment offering, with HBO, HBO Max Originals, SHOWTIME®, STARZ, Hollywood-hit movies, and more. Crave is the exclusive Canadian streaming home of FRIENDS, and also boasts a robust slate of original programs including CANADA’S DRAG RACE, LETTERKENNY, POUR TOUJOURS, PLUS UN JOUR, and NEW EDEN, docuseries DARK SIDE OF THE RING, the upcoming WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE, and original documentaries ONCE WERE BROTHERS: ROBBIE ROBERTSON AND THE BAND and THE NEW CORPORATION: THE UNFORTUNATELY NECESSARY SEQUEL. Crave is also a major supporter of Canada’s production industry, helping to fund numerous film projects including THE SONG OF NAMES, WHITE LIE, and MONKEY BEACH. Crave also includes acclaimed selections from some of Canada’s prestigious film festivals including Toronto International Film Festival, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, HOT DOCS, ImagineNATIVE, and Inside Out LGBT Film Festival.
Crave is a bilingual TV and streaming service with thousands of hours of exclusive French-language content included with the Super Écran add-on. Crave is available directly to all Canadians with access to the Internet at Crave.ca, via iOS and Android, and other platforms such as Amazon Fire TV, Android TV, Apple TV, Chromecast, PlayStation, Roku, select Samsung Smart TVs, and Xbox One. It’s also available in English through participating television providers across six 24-hour High Definition linear and on demand channels. Crave is from Bell Media, Canada’s leading content company, providing Canada’s most-watched and most-acclaimed television programming on network, specialty, pay and digital platforms. Visit our website at Crave.ca.
About Blue Ant Studios
Blue Ant Studios is a leading international studio and production business, based in Los Angeles with offices in New York. Blue Ant Studios includes production companies in the US, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore, which produces content in multiple genres including Scripted, Documentary, Kids, Adult Animation, Factual Entertainment and Natural History. Current series and documentaries include Canada’s Drag Race (Crave for Bell Media), Daylight (FOX), The Healing Powers of Dude (Netflix), Ocean Village (FOX), Neopets, produced in partnership with JumpStart Games Inc. and Hotel Paranormal (Travel Channel and T+E). Blue Ant Studios works with all major international streaming, cable and broadcasting companies as well as regional players in the markets it operates in. Blue Ant Studios is a subsidiary of Blue Ant Media.
About World of Wonder
For nearly three decades, award-winning production company World of Wonder has introduced audiences to new worlds, talent and ideas that have shaped culture. Programming highlights include: Emmy® Award winning RuPaul’s Drag Race (VH1/Logo), Million Dollar Listing LA & NY (Bravo), Dancing Queen (Netflix), Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce (Fuse), and Gender Revolution: A Journey with Katie Couric (National Geographic); award-winning films and documentaries including Mapplethorpe: Look at the Pictures, Menendez: Blood Brothers, Inside Deep Throat, The Eyes of Tammy Faye, I Am Britney Jean, In Vogue: The Editor’s Eye, Carrie Fisher’s Wishful Drinking, Monica in Black and White, Emmy-winning The Last Beekeeper, and Emmy-winning Out of Iraq. Seven of WOW’s films have premiered at the Sundance Film festival including Becoming Chaz and Party Monster. World of Wonder has also created a substantial digital footprint with its YouTube channel WOWPresents (1M+ subs), SVOD digital platform WOW Presents Plus, along with an award-winning blog, The WOW Report. World of Wonder’s bi-annual RuPaul’s DragCon is the world’s largest drag culture convention, welcoming 100,000 attendees across LA and NYC in 2019, and expanding internationally to the UK in 2020. Co-founders Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey authored The World According to Wonder, celebrating decades of production, which can be found online athttp://worldofwonder.net/. Randy and Fenton were honored with the IDA Pioneer Award in December 2014, celebrating exceptional achievement, leadership, and vision in the nonfiction and documentary community, named to Variety’s Reality TV Impact Report in 2020, and chosen for the OUT100 list in 2018 for their trailblazing work in the LGBTQ+ community. World of Wonder was also selected for Realscreen’s 2018 Global 100 list, which recognizes the top international non-fiction and unscripted production companies working in the industry today. World of Wonder creates out of a historic building/gallery space in the heart of Hollywood.