Drag Den Philippines is back with a vengeance

After the successful run of its Season 1, Drag Den Philippines is back — with a vengeance!

Dubbed Retribution, the drag reality show brings back the “Drag Cartel” — RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars Manila Luzon (“Drag Lord”), Miss Grand International 2016 first runner-up Nicole Cordoves (“Drag Dealer”), and content creator Sassa Gurl (“Drag Runner”) — as hosts and judges in the second season.

It is helmed by Rod Singh and is produced by Cornerstone Studios and Project 8 Projects. It’s now streaming on Amazon’s Prime Video.

In the previous season, Naia won the title as the “Filipino’s First Drag Supreme,” with Shewarma and Maria Cristina named as runners-up. 

In the latest edition, 10 contestants will compete for the next “drag supreme” crown, including Deja, Elvira, Feyvah Fatale, Jean Vilogue, Margaux, Maria Lava, Marlyn, Moi, Mrs. Tan, and Russia Fox.

Director Rod, Manila, Nicole and Sassa sat down with The STAR in an exclusive chat detailing some interesting information, as well as their thoughts about the show’s return.

“Originally, since it’s a new den we want to introduce like a season title this time so that they are gonna know or, at least, have a hint of what the season is gonna be about,” direk Rod explained the title Retribution.

“Retribution could mean reward, you know. Having a second season is already a reward after having season one. But also retribution could mean punishment and revenge. I won’t say much about that yet. But you have to watch episode one so you can know what the punishment is.”

As a Filipino-American, hosting the show be- came an opportunity for Manila to learn more about Pinoy culture.

As to what to expect from the ongoing season, Manila teased viewers to watch out for the “twist.” 

“With Season 2, we took the things that we love about doing in Season 1 and we expanded on it. And then we threw in some twist ‘cause we wanna make sure that our drag queens don’t know what’s coming,” the Filipino-American drag queen said.

“We don’t want our audience to have any kind of expectation. That was one thing that’s great about the first season of Drag Den is that really no one had any expectation of what to expect and we wanna keep that going on this season. We wanna keep our viewers on their toes. We wanna keep our drag queens on their toes.”

If there’s one word to describe Season 2, it would be “pasabog,” added Manila.

Meanwhile, Manila has her own pasabog after bagging the Best Entertainment Presenter or Host award for Drag Den at the just-concluded 28th Asian TV Awards.

“It’s such an honor as a drag queen because this is something that I never imagined would even be a possibility for me,” Manila told this paper. 

“You know, just getting dressed up, it’s fun and I like to feel fabulous and gorgeous. But the opportunities that have come to me are amazing and I really loved the fact that I’m sharing my platform with these Filipino drag queens and drag artists, and hopefully, they will get to have amazing opportunities available to them just like it happened to me.” 

“So, I’m very proud to bring this trophy home from the Asian Academy Creative Awards and also the Asian television award. I’m really excited that people all over Asia are recognizing what we’ve done here on the show,” said Manila.  

Here’s the rest of what transpired during The STAR’s interview about Drag Den Philippines Season 2 with Manila, as well as Rod, Nicole and Sassa. Read on.

How do you feel that season two of the show is finally streaming?

Manila: “I think all of us are really excited. I’m really excited because we have such an amazing new cast of drag queens. And I’m really excited for everyone watching Prime Video worldwide to get to see these amazing, talented Filipino drag queens.”

Rod: “I’m very, very excited to show to the world what we have for Season 2 this time ‘cause we really worked hard for it.”

Sassa: “It’s very exciting this time around because kakaiba yung eksena namin now and I think this is something, for the first time in a drag competition (to show these scenes). It’s very original, I guess, since the season two is different, it has a new flavor.”

Nicole: “I feel I think ‘anxcited.’ It’s like excited and anxiety because our den is so much bigger this season. There are so many things happening that I do not know about, that Sassa knows a lot about. So, I feel like it’s two to three shows in one so I wanna watch the first episode already.” 

Do you also feel pressured in Season 2 since the first season was successful? 

Rod: “I don’t feel any pressure. Charuz! Hahaha! Well, technically, I was pressured. I used to be pressured, especially from Season 1 going to Season 2. But after doing Season 2, I’m very confident seeing the edit, what the queens, the hosts, everybody worked hard for. I’m very, very excited to showcase that this time.”  

Manila: “The pressure is just having our gorgeous beauty and fabulousness like, ‘Is it all gonna be seen? Is there enough time to soak in all the gorgeousness?’ (laughs).”

How was your dynamics as a team while filming the show? Can you share any interesting behind-the-scenes moments? 

Rod: “I love working with the Drag Den people, especially with our hosts. Having great hosts, as a director, makes my job easier. It’s just like, ‘Oh we’re gonna…’ It’s not just having a host or a talent, I’m having collaborators. What I love working about Drag Den is that because we (have) a  non-scripted format, we collaborate every day, every episode. I don’t really need to tell them what to do and all that. We just have to talk about what’s happening just to synchronize what’s happening with the episode.

“But I love the whole thing about Drag Den and this is something that I haven’t experienced in filmmaking or like doing films before. But I just hope that the audience will get how much love we placed in the show just like in Season 1.” 

Manila: “I think that it’s really great. For me, as a Filipino-American, it’s really wonderful to come back to the Philippines and learn about my culture. And to get to do this with such talented and beautiful and creative people, it’s so rewarding to me. 

“And then like we have what we do, being showcased to everyone watching on Prime Video worldwide, it’s really thrilling to get to collaborate in such a way with all these amazing drag artists, pageant queens and crazy personalities like Sassa. And to me, a whole bunch of amazing celebrities here in the Philippines came as guest judges (as well).”

Nicole: “Me and Manila we are more in sync this season because we would come down, we do our glams in separate dressing rooms, but we would be in themed with each other, like there will be times like that.

“Then Sassa Gurl, her sleeping pattern is not in sync with everyone. So the whole time like whenever she is not on air, she’s on the sofa, open-mouthed, and just wala na siya sa mundong ‘to.” 

Sassa Gurl: “The BTS (behind the scenes) will come out soon.”

Nicole: “Not (just) BTS but compilation! Hahaha! So next season we could actually bond more. Change your jetlag pattern ha (Nicole told Sassa).” 

Sassa Gurl: “Pang-Season 3 na yung bonding ko sa kanila. Charuz! This season for me, medyo mas mataas yung dressing room namin. Ay hindi, mas mataas pala yung Season 1. So medyo ano pero lakad pa din nakakaloka. 

“At medyo magkakahiwa-hiwalay kami ng mga eksena ngayon. Because we have budget now. Pak! Our dressing rooms are separate but we would still talk to each other. And also we are happy because when we filmed ‘Retrograde,’ was it ‘Retrograde’ or ‘Retrogade?’ (episode) ‘Retrograde!’ Tapos nagpipitikan ang mga bakla but we made magic. So we can guarantee that this is pasabog!”