{"id":169424,"date":"2026-03-20T17:45:36","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:45:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/169424\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T17:45:36","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T17:45:36","slug":"gawdland-on-being-rupauls-labubu-and-inspiring-queens-from-non-english-drag-race-franchise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/169424\/","title":{"rendered":"Gawdland On Being RuPauls ‘Labubu’ And Inspiring Queens From Non-English ‘Drag Race’ Franchise"},"content":{"rendered":"

After taking the crown on RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race UK vs. the World Season 3<\/a> , Gawdland didn\u2019t just make history \u2014 she fulfilled something she says she\u2019s been manifesting for years.<\/p>\n

The Drag Race Thailand Season 3 star became the first international queen to win a UK Vs. the World season (and only the second international queen to win a Vs. The World season where the host country wasn\u2019t their own), marking a major moment not only for Thailand, but for Asian queens across the franchise.<\/p>\n

On manifesting her win and representing Asia<\/p>\n

For Gawdland, the win was deeply personal \u2014 and long anticipated.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so proud of myself. I\u2019m so proud of my heritage, I\u2019m so proud of all my effort that I have put it\u2019s finally paid off. You know what I mean?\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

But more than anything, she says this moment was something she called into existence.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, baby. Baby. I\u2019ve been manifesting my whole life. And I also manifested the crown, and I finally receive it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her victory also carries a broader meaning beyond just her own journey.<\/p>\n

\u201cBaby, I am winning this. This means a lot, not just for me, it\u2019s all about representation. It\u2019s all about Asia,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Gawdland hopes her win inspires queens \u2014 especially those who may not have been part of the RuPaul-led franchises before \u2014 to dream bigger.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can win RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race, not having been judged by RuPaul before,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I am the first one, and I am so proud of this fact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope I inspired them to become the person that you dream to be, to dream impossible dreams, and just make it happen. Boom, period.\u201d<\/p>\n

On RuPaul\u2019s love and conquering Snatch Game as Cardi B<\/p>\n

Throughout the season, it was clear that RuPaul connected with Gawdland, which is something the queen herself felt in a very specific way.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think RuPaul just saw me as her Labubu doll. She adored me, she want to pack me, she want me to be her keychain on her back. She want to keep me with her,\u201d she said. \u201cShe wants me to be her doll. And I feel so lucky. I am a lucky person.\u201d<\/p>\n

One of Gawdland\u2019s biggest moments came during Snatch Game, where she took on Cardi B \u2014 a character not known for success in the challenge.<\/p>\n

For her, the choice came naturally.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Cardi B and me, we had the very similar personality. We are loud, we are talk dirty. We do nasty s**t, we do some ugly gestures and not afraid to do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Because English is not her first language, she leaned into physical comedy.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s going to be so easy for me to rely on the physical humor, because English is not my first language, so to be funny in another language, this is not your mother tongue, it\u2019s so hard though. It\u2019s so hard. It\u2019s very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

She even joked about her own sense of humor, adding, \u201d I\u2019m not even funny in Thai.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, she stands by the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo choose the Cardi B character is the best decision that I have ever made in my entire life.\u201d<\/p>\n

On sisterhood, Minty Fresh and finding family<\/p>\n

Beyond the competition, Gawdland said one of the most meaningful parts of the experience was the relationships she built with the other queens.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love the moments when we are on the bus from the hotel to the studio, we spent time that was so nice,\u201d she said. \u201cI feel like I have found another family. And I am so happy to be surrounded by them, and I was also inspired a lot from their artistry also. I love them all so much. I\u2019m going to cry, I miss them. I miss them so much.\u201d<\/p>\n

That connection extends especially to Minty Fresh<\/a>, who was present to celebrate her win.<\/p>\n

\u201cMe and Minty, we are so close, especially after filming,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve been visiting back and forth\u2026 it\u2019s probably fifth time right now. And it\u2019s built a very strong relationship, sisterhood here in the Philippines and Thailand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Their friendship continues even after the show. \u201cI fly there, she booked me there, she fly here, I book her here, and yeah, we are having a good time,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m going to have a shoot with her tomorrow also.\u201d<\/p>\n

RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race UK Vs. The World Season 3 is streaming in full on WOW Presents Plus. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After taking the crown on RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race UK vs. the World Season 3 , Gawdland didn\u2019t just…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":169425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-169424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=169424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/169424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/169425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=169424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=169424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=169424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}