{"id":838611,"date":"2026-08-01T22:24:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-01T22:24:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/838611\/"},"modified":"2026-08-01T22:24:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-01T22:24:09","slug":"rhys-nicholson-get-a-hobby-dont-become-a-full-blown-racist-television-radio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/838611\/","title":{"rendered":"Rhys Nicholson: \u2018Get a hobby \u2013 don\u2019t become a full-blown racist\u2019 | Television & radio"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019re back on the judging panel of Drag Race Down Under vs The World. What do you think gives Australian queens the edge?<\/p>\n

I think our drag tends not to focus as much on female impersonation. It\u2019s about building a character. People like Lazy Susan, who\u2019s on the judging panel this year, is one of my favourites because there\u2019s no illusion about this being a man in women\u2019s clothing, but there\u2019s creativity to it. I think Australian drag is about creating art, as opposed to creating a woman.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re also on The Traitors Australia soon. Is there a reality TV show you haven\u2019t been on that you\u2019d like to?<\/p>\n

Doing Traitors actually taught me that I don\u2019t think I want to be a contestant again, because I\u2019m used to knowing what\u2019s going on. In Drag Race, I know what\u2019s going on all the time and I\u2019m in on everything, but being on Traitors was like Oh my god!<\/p>\n

What would I do? Maybe that UK show Hunted \u2013 where you\u2019re on the run. I\u2019d just go to Daylesford and hang out in a house for a few weeks. Put on a wig or something.<\/p>\n

You wear a lot of fabulous suits. How many do you own?<\/p>\n

I have a new suit for every episode [of Drag Race], so it\u2019s in constant rotation. Some I\u2019m lent, and my stylist and I put them together, but I have about 40. I do a big clear-out every year and last year I took about 10 or 15 of them to this op-shop at the top of my street in Melbourne. I dropped them at the door and a few days later I walked past and the windows had become all the suits. It looked like a memorial for me.<\/p>\n

Speaking of \u2026 is there a song you\u2019d want played at your funeral?<\/p>\n

Baby I\u2019m Burnin\u2019<\/a> by Dolly Parton \u2026 What I actually want for my funeral \u2013 and this is true and my husband told me to keep telling people this so they don\u2019t think he\u2019s a monster \u2013 is a natural burial, where they put you in a cotton shroud and plant a tree on top of you. But I want to go in with a thud. That\u2019s important to me. It\u2019s like the last time someone will go \u201cJesus, Rhys.\u201d Maybe they could put a bit of water in the bottom so it squelches \u2013 I want that splat noise. Then maybe Baby I\u2019m Burnin\u2019 would play after that.<\/p>\n

If you had to lip-sync for your life, or for the world, what song would you pick?<\/p>\n

Imagine if I did Both Sides Now by Joni Mitchell. [Sound of disgust] A ballad! It would probably be something like Barbra Streisand\u2019s Don\u2019t Rain on My Parade, or something from the 60s, because if I was a drag queen it would be that era of drag that\u2019s 50s and 60s-inspired. I wanna look like Joan from Mad Men.<\/p>\n

What would your drag name be?<\/p>\n

Dina Hunger.<\/p>\n

I really hope that\u2019s not how you go!<\/p>\n

No! I want to get very fat so I go in with that good thud.<\/p>\n

\u2018I think Australian drag is about creating art as opposed to creating a woman\u2019 \u2026 Rhys Nicholson with Lazy Susan, Michelle Visage and guest judge Beks on the first episode of Drag Race Down Under vs the World. Photograph: Stan<\/p>\n

Is there an ideal length for men\u2019s shorts?<\/p>\n

What Harry Styles is doing is fine by me. There are very few people I\u2019m comfortable with queerbaiting, but Harry Styles, I\u2019m fine for you to keep queerbaiting.<\/p>\n

But I reckon if you\u2019re gonna go above the knee, it needs to be short shorts. And you can be any size or shape to wear short shorts \u2013 it\u2019s a confidence thing. I don\u2019t really have the legs for them. But, as a hard rule, never three-quarters.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your biggest beauty tip?<\/p>\n

Sleep! The amount of time and energy and substances I used in my 20s to not sleep and now all I want to do is sleep \u2026 and I\u2019m not against botox or anything. I use my face too much in standup. But I think sleep is the most expensive beauty product I own.<\/p>\n

What do you do when you can\u2019t get to sleep?<\/p>\n

I smoke pot. It\u2019s legal; I have a prescription for it. I don\u2019t like sleeping pills. I don\u2019t even like the feeling of being stoned that much, but I have a little vape pen and it helps because I used to have really bad insomnia. For years I slept like three or four hours a night and was going insane.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your most controversial pop culture take?<\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t controversial, I guess, but I think you can leave a major news organisation without having to activate a hard-right base. It\u2019s possible. To all these men, it\u2019s totally possible to start a podcast about your interests. Cooking? Maybe do one about cooking. You don\u2019t need to go full hard-right. Get a hobby; don\u2019t become a full-blown racist.<\/p>\n

Finally, who is the most famous person in your phone contacts?<\/p>\n

Probably Michelle Visage<\/a>. Don\u2019t have RuPaul\u2019s number \u2013 never got that.<\/p>\n

Ronny Chieng? James Acaster? Ronny Chieng is the most famous person I know, and I\u2019ve just filmed a special and he and James Acaster produced it. What\u2019s funny to me is, because we all started around the same time and they\u2019ve obviously [makes a skyrocketing motion with his hands], people freak out about them and it\u2019s like, I showed Ronny how to use the curtain at the Sydney Comedy Store. Now he\u2019s in The Devil Wears Prada 2!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"You\u2019re back on the judging panel of Drag Race Down Under vs The World. What do you think…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":838612,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-838611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=838611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/838612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}