The long-awaited fourth season of Canada’s Drag Race began last month and it features
Calgary’s own “Stampede on Heels” Nearah Nuff, who is part of the local Nuff drag family. She is the third queen from Calgary to compete on the show.
The premiere in November gave people a chance to get to know the queens through their fashion expression with a three-part ball that started the show with their entrance outfits. Despite having a few outfit malfunctions, Nuff found herself and her fellow competitors safe as no queens were eliminated.
Nuff follows in the footsteps of Stephanie Prince, another Calgarian drag queen that was featured on a past season of Canada’s Drag Race. Prince was the first Albertan to be featured on the show on season two, when she dubbed herself “the Prairie Queen.” And she was the first queen that wasn’t based in Quebec, Ontario or British Columbia and took pride in the fact that she was chosen as the first prairie contestant.
As the show gears up to get back into full swing, Prince reminisces about her time on Drag Race.
Prince was 16 years old when her family moved to Canada from the Philippines and 19 when she started drag. Although she moved countries, she keeps the Philippines close to her heart and she considers her incorporation of Filipino culture into her drag to be her “power.”
“I grew up in the Philippines and I was always surrounded with drag queens and a lot of trans people,” said Prince, who when growing up wanted to be like them someday. “I love how they dress, I love how feminine they were.”
Prince first appeared on season two of Canada’s Drag Race and later made an appearance on the spin-off, Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World. She became a public face amidst a rising social and political unrest regarding drag queens in North America. However, she wasn’t afraid of the backlash and proud to be a visible part of the LGBTQ+ franchise.
“I think it’s nice that kids in this generation have people not just like me but there are bigger role models such as Kendall [Gender], Synthia [Kiss], or Sasha Colby. They have someone they can look up to,” said Prince, talking about the lack of visible role models in the media when she was growing up.
Since her time on Drag Race, Prince’s life has changed for the better. Before the show, she was working seven nights a week in drag as well as a day job to make ends meet and continue following her passion. Now, Prince has the freedom to dedicate more time to her art, her chosen family and herself. It also means she has much more time to catch up on Drag Race and is fully invested in the new season.
Aside from cheering for Nuff, Prince’s fellow Filipino sisters Kiki Coe and Melinda Verga are also on her list of top contenders this season. Although Prince says Nuff is “one of the best performers here in Calgary, or in Canada in general.”
Nuff’s supporters and Drag Race fans across Canada will be tuning into the show every Thursday night at 7 p.m. (MT).
