As a Drag Race Down Under competitor, Brenda Bressed came into the competition with reality show experience (as a contestant on The Voice Australia) and an established name in the Down Under drag scene. While she might have departed the competition, Bressed has big plans for her post Drag Race Down Under career. I sat down for a chat with Brenda Bressed post-elimination & we dished about her time on Drag Race Down Under, that makeover challenge, and the big plans she is manifesting for herself on the Great White Way!
Michael Cook: Tell me what your Drag Race Down Under experience was like for you?
Brenda Bressed: Honestly, it has been a dream. From the moment we started filming to watching it now, it has just been a wild ride. I think we all had a really good feeling about the season as we were filming it, then we had that period in between to when it was released and we were like “Was it good as we remembered or are we just delusional” (laughs)!? I am so glad glad that that our feelings were correct!
MC: You were a contestant on The Voice Australia already, so did you think you had a leg up on the competition by already having experience in a competition setting in front of cameras?
BB: It definitely did prepare me a little bit for what to expect with reality tv by being on The Voice. I had experience sitting down in front of the camera and talking about myself and talking through my feelings, so I kind of knew what to expect in terms of that. Saying that, Drag Race and The Voice are very different shows. Overall, I felt more comfortable on Drag Race than I did on The Voice. Singing is what I do, I just had a lot more fun being on Drag Race, I just had the best time.
MC: Throughout the competition you definitely did look like you had a great time . During the last challenge with Splenda Bressed though, you were a mentor and really looked like you enjoyed it thoroughly!
BB: Me and Splenda had the best time! I could not have been paired with a better person, we got a long the instant we started chatting. We actually had to be told to shush a couple times between takes because we were chatting too much! We just got along so well. I remember saying to her at one point that I was so glad I got paired with a lesbian, I have just such a weird way of being drawn to lesbians. I was just so glad that got paired with her. Being just a few years older than I am, but as Michelle (Visage) always said to me, I paint a lot older than I am. So I think our souls were the same age so we were able to connect that way.
MC: What do you think your rose and thorn are of your Drag Race Down Under experience?
BB: My high would definitely have to be winning Snatch Game, that was a dream come true. Just being able to play Snatch Game was a dream come true, but then winning it, once that happened I was like “I don’t care what happens now, I came here to do what I came to do”! Not that I wanted to go home, but I had proven myself at that point. I think my low would have to be being exhausted after sewing for so long in the design challenge. Filming the show in general is exhausting, then adding on pretty much a twelve hour stint of sewing non stop, then going back into the studio the next morning to film and then getting bad critiques?! It was just one punch after the other; it was like can’t take any more, let me die, put me out of my misery (laughs)!
MC: You are a well known name in the Down Under drag scene. Did you go in thinking that some of the cast might be automatically gunning for you knowing that you were an experienced competitor?
BB: I knew that some of the girls would know me from The Voice, but a lot of people in the drag scene tend to underestimate me. I know Max Drag Queen did originally. On camera she said she did know know who I was, but I am not convinced. I knew who she was and I am sure she had heard my name before. It is a weird thing, I think that there was a little bit of a target on my back because people knew who I was, but I also thought there was that element that people would underestimate me, “She’s just a singer thats all she can do”. I am now known for being anything other than that, but I like being underestimated, it made it even more juicy when I took the wins and placed high in things; so it made it even more delicious.
MC: And now you are known as the Drag Race Down Under competitor who won Snatch Game during Season 4!
BB: Exactly. Also as someone that can not just sing the house down, but she won Snatch Game!
MC: You have a huge platform now post Drag Race Down Under, so what do you think you want to do now?
BB: I want to get into more theater, thats where my love for performing started. Drag has been incredible and it has filled that yearning for being on the stage, with the greasepaint and the lights of the stage. I just want to do more now; now that people can see what can do I want to do professional theater, I want to go to Broadway, I want to go to the West end. I want to be the Jinkx Monsoon of Down Under. I want to be Matron Mama Morton in Chicago and I just want to keep doing more of that. That is where my passions are.
MC: What advice did Rita Ora offer you on The Voice Australia that you were able to take into Drag Race Down Under?
BB: Let me kust say this; If I could remember a single thing that Rita Ora said to me I would tell you. I spent the most minuscule amount of time with the woman and I can’t remember a thing she said. The only thing I can remember is that she looked beautiful, so I am going to take that and say that she subconsciously told me to look beautiful because she looked beautiful!
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