Canada’s Drag Race icon signs up for The Traitors and fans are gagged: ‘Best news I’ve had all week’
A Canada’s Drag Race favourite will appear on The Traitors. (Crave/World of Wonder)
Canada’s Drag Race season four legend Melinda Verga will appear as a cast member on The Traitors Canada, and we are receiving this news “with GRATITUDE!”.
Last night (6 September), Canadian channel CTV unveiled the 22-strong cast of The Traitors Canada season two, and it features a YouTube fitness guru, a true crime podcast host, a comedian and, most importantly, Melinda Verga.
Melinda, whose drag name is essentially Spanish for “my beautiful cock”, came in fifth place on the Canadian, Brooke Lynn Hytes-hosted Drag Race spin-off season earlier this year.
She left an impressive stamp on the competition, primarily for winning the coveted Snatch Game challenge, but also for famously “feeling her goats” and ruthlessly letting rip on her fellow queens, providing some of the best Drag Race drama in years.
In the now-legendary scene, the queens had returned to the Werk Room having just been judged for their handmade hand-me-down design looks. Melinda had narrowly avoided landing in the bottom after being saved by the week’s winner, Kiki Coe – yet she was furious that the judges didn’t appreciate her “f**king Vivian Westwood inspired” garment.
Her fellow queens scalded her for suggesting that she wanted to be sent home, and Melinda erupted into a speech that gradually grew louder, angrier, and more iconic by the second.
That same episode, she won the Snatch Game. We love a narrative arc.
If she brings even one per cent of that chaos to The Traitors Canada, fans will be in for a stellar season.
The Traitors franchise has form for drafting in famous drag queens to boost the drama, with The Traitors Canada featuring Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs the World season two firebrand Miss Fiercalicious, and The Traitors US featuring season nine finalist Peppermint. Drag Race season eight winner Bob The Drag Queen will also star in the upcoming season of the US franchise.
The game show sees the 22 contestants divided up; most are “Faithfuls” and a few are secretly “Traitors”.
Each episode, the group partake in challenges to raise money, and then they host roundtable discussions to decide who they, as a group, believe is a “Traitor”. The person with the most votes is banished.
The “Traitors” have to try and go undetected and convince everyone that they are “Faithful”. At the end, if there are any “Traitors” left in the final, they win all the money. Otherwise, it’s split between the remaining faithfuls.
The upcoming Canadian season will also star comedian Cedric Newman, former pro wrestler Gail Kim, The Bachelor Canada contestant Kevin Wendt, YouTuber Kyra Pro, and Weed, Wine and True Crime podcast host Mary Jo.
Fans are, as expected, very, very excited to see Melinda Verga on their screens again.
“OMG!!! @melindaverga on @traitorscanada is THE BEST news I’ve had all week…possibly ever…in my entire life,” wrote RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World season two winner Tia Kofi.
“If you don’t know who Melinda is then you aren’t ready for the amazing TV you’re about to witness,” added a second.
A third summed up Melinda’s influence, writing: “Mama better walk into that castle in something Vivian Westwood inspired.”
The Traitors Canada is hosted be Canadian Screen Award winner and Cardinal actress, Karine Vanasse.
The Traitors Canada season airs on CTV from 23 March, and will stream on Crave straight after. A UK/US release date is yet to be confirmed.
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