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As the premiere date for the very first season of Drag Race Down Under Vs The World approaches the inclusion of Raven has continued to stir up mixed opinions.

Is she really competing? Is it all just a stunt?

How did the Drag Race community keep such a huge secret?

When the cast of Drag Race Down Under Vs The World聽was officially announced last week it was hardly a shock for many after the cast had leaked online many months ahead of the announcement.

With the exception of one contestant, Raven.

The Drag Race favourite who originally appeared in both Drag Race season two and All Stars season one has long been loved by fans of the franchise.

One of her biggest fans being RuPaul herself who ultimately hired her as her personal makeup artist. Since then Raven has appeared on countless season of Drag Race around the world with guest appearance and mentoring spots, cementing her as part of the fabric of the franchise.

So when the she was announced as an actual contestant on Drag Race Down Under Vs The World many fans were a little speechless, leading to endless speculation as to whether or not Raven is actually appearing on the upcoming season.

So lets unpack this a little.

Raven appearing on Drag Race Down Under Vs The World makes perfect sense

While many are skeptical about Raven appearing on Drag Race Down Under Vs The World聽due to her place in the Drag Race world, it actually makes a lot of sense.

Fans have longed for her return to the franchise for years, with All Stars 11 marking the return all the eligible queens from her season the appetite for the golden days of Drag Race is strong.

But while many have wanted Raven to return, in reality, how could she?

Any season of Drag Race featuring Rupaul herself is a normal workday for Raven, booked and busy she is required to work on Ru for each episode, so making an appearance as a contestant in the US or UK or would make things somewhat difficult, plus, would it even be fair?

However Drag Race Down Under features a more unique landscape.

With Michelle Visage taking over as host and RuPaul nowhere in sight, Raven has time spare in her schedule, what better time to take a trip down under to compete? Plus, what better opportunity to put all eyes around the world on our very own Drag Race spin off.

With a complete press package things released look neat, tidy and ready to rumble down under for Raven.

However, not everything makes sense.

Is it all a publicity stunt?

As many have rightly pointed out, Raven’s appearance on Drag Race Down Under Vs The World聽was a shock to many.

Not just because she’s so busy, booked and blessed, but because literally no-one knew.

It’s no secret, Drag Race casting is some of the worst kept secrets in the reality TV world.

Every season of the show around the world is constantly plagued by casting spoilers and they are nearly always correct.

For the fifth season in a row, the Drag Race Down Under casting list was spoiled correctly, for every single queen, except Raven.

That’s 50 out of 51 queens correctly named and identified prior to the official announcement, if Raven is actually competing how is she the one secret that was kept so well?

It’s a perplexing question, adding to this the unique addition is the fact that this the first Down Under season to feature 11 queens.

Or is it?

Taking to Instagram following the announcement, Drag Race Down Under season four winner and Vs The World judge Lazy Susan couldn’t quite contain her excitement.

“Yes, we managed to keep that one a little secret, yes, Raven is going to be the 13th contestant” she said in a video.

We’re not here to split hairs and we love Lazy Susan as much as anyone else, but was that some sort of freudian slip or another red herring to throw the fans into a spin? Is it 10, 11 or 13?

 

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In addition to Lazy Susan, another Drag Race Down Under diva has piped in to confirm that Raven was in fact competing.

Season one favourite and returning queen Art Simone took to Instagram to share her two cents.

In her video Art reminded people of the bizarre rumour that plagued her season claiming that Rupaul was not actually on set for the season.

That strange rumour was easily debunked, many times, however Art likened the Raven speculation to that rumour.

“The second time round we’re haunted by the question ‘Is Raven competing?'” she said.

“Yes and Yes! Come on guys! What’s going on!?” she said in her video.

Now Art makes for the perfect spokesperson for the cause and one many are most likely to listen to.

Namely because she is the best actor in the Drag Race Down Under franchise.

That’s no shade, we love Art, I love Art, but let’s remember Art was FORCED to lie to the world for weeks and she offered a brilliant performance.

Following her elimination in the early episodes of season one Art was marched through literal weeks of interviews where she was forced to pretend she had been eliminated from the competition, had her hopes and dreams dashed and washed away, all the while knowing she was only a few episodes from returning to the show. And she owned every single moment of it perfectly.

If this is all a stunt and we want people to believe it Art Simone is going to be the most convincing person to tell us.

 

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Last but not least, lets not forget All Stars 7.

Drag Race production has already attempted to gag us with Raven back in All Stars 7 when they presented her as the surprise extra queen in the workroom, leaving fans gagging until it was revealed all was a joke.

So is Raven’s appearance going to be the biggest stunt in the show’s history or are we going to see Raven get her third chance at the crown?

All will be revealed on July 24th when Drag Race Down Under Vs The World airs on Stan in Australia.

The full list of competitors includes:聽