![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Juicy-Love-Dion-Credit-R-House-photo.jpg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMiami’s Juicy Love Dion is one of three South Florida drag performers competing on Season 18 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\tMiami’s Juicy Love Dion is one of three South Florida drag performers competing on Season 18 of RuPaul’s Drag Race.\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
R House photo<\/p>\n
It\u2019s time to sashay again: RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race has announced its Season 18 cast, and South Florida queens continue to dominate on the long-running reality TV drag competition. Three local competitors \u2014 Athena Dion and Juicy Love Dion from Miami, and Mia Starr from West Palm Beach \u2014 will compete to become America\u2019s next drag superstar when the show premieres on MTV on Friday, January 2.<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s cast reveal continues a now four-season streak in which Florida drag performers \u2014 particularly those from South Florida \u2014 have played an outsized role on the show. Two South Florida queens, Lucky Starzzz<\/a> of Miami and Suzie Toot<\/a> of Fort Lauderdale, competed on the show last year, while Miami\u2019s Morphine Love Dion and Mhi\u2019ya Iman Le\u2019Paige<\/a> faced off the year prior. That followed Season 15, in which Malaysia Babydoll Foxx<\/a> repped for Miami.<\/p>\n Eighteen Florida queens have competed on past seasons of the show, with eight of them coming from South Florida. Season 18 will add five new Florida contestants, with St. Pete\u2019s Discord Addams and Orlando\u2019s Myki Meeks competing alongside the three local queens. As one can glean from their performer names, Athena and Juicy Love\u2019s participation marks a milestone for Drag Race: the first time a drag mother\/daughter duo has competed on the show. Both are part of the House of Dion, also home to Season 16\u2019s Morphine Love.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tThis year, make your gift count \u2013 \n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tOur work is funded by readers like you who make voluntary gifts because they value our work and want to see it continue. Make a contribution today to help us reach our $30,000 goal!\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n Many of these queens cut their teeth at local venues like R House, which has emerged as a drag incubator of sorts for the show. Both Dions are fixtures at the venue, while Starr has also performed at the Wynwood hotspot.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a defining moment not only for Athena, Juicy, and R House but for South Florida drag as a whole,\u201d R House co-owner Owen Bale said in a statement following the cast reveal. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t be prouder of Athena and Juicy, who have poured years of passion and artistry into our stage. Their casting reinforces what insiders already know: R House is the birthplace of some of the best drag talent in the country, a testament to the community and creative legacy we\u2019ve built in Miami.\u201d<\/p>\n The restaurant and drag venue\u2019s involvement goes beyond giving the performers gigs before they had a national platform. R House says it also \u201cprovided financial sponsorship for Athena and Juicy\u2019s wardrobe packages during filming.\u201d<\/p>\n That involvement continues, with R House hosting watch parties every Friday throughout the season, including a premiere viewing party with appearances by Season 18\u2019s three South Florida queens and a surprise guest to be announced later. Athena and Juice Love will also perform at the venue this month ahead of the season premiere. While you wait, get to know the season\u2019s three local competitors.<\/p>\n RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\/MTV photo<\/p>\n Athena Dion<\/p>\n Drag mother to Season 16 alums Morphine Love Dion and Plane Jane, Athena Dion is stepping into the Drag Race spotlight in her own right, albeit alongside another drag daughter: Juicy Love Dion. Her influence looms large in Miami\u2019s world-famous drag scene, where she\u2019s known as the \u201cMother of R House.\u201d<\/p>\n RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\/MTV photo<\/p>\n Juicy Love Dion<\/p>\n The drag daughter (technically, granddaughter) of Athena Dion may be a formidable opponent solely because of her experience on reality TV show competitions. She competed on the 18th season of So You Think You Can Dance in 2024.<\/p>\n RuPaul\u2019s Drag Race\/MTV photo<\/p>\n Mia Starr<\/p>\n West Palm\u2019s Mia Starr has reality competition experience under her belt, too, having been a contestant on The Voice and America\u2019s Best Dance Crew. She\u2019s also a seasoned dancer who toured with Rihanna, danced for Britney Spears in Vegas, and backed Jennifer Lopez at the Super Bowl. She also appeared in fellow South Florida girl Camila Cabello<\/a>\u2018s music video for Havana.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Miami’s Juicy Love Dion is one of three South Florida drag performers competing on Season 18 of RuPaul’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":59901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[32185,1360,9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-59900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-just-announced","tag-lgbtq","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\/59900","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=59900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Invest in local news that matters.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Athena-Dion-official-promo.jpg\")
Athena Dion is affectionately known as the \u201cMother of R House.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Juicy-Love-official-promo.jpg\")
Juicy Love is no stranger to reality TV competitions.<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Mia-Starr-official-promo.jpg\")
Mia Starr has performed alongside Britney Spears, J.Lo, and Rihanna.<\/p>\n