Some unexpected history was made on Drag Race France, the French spin-off of RuPaul’s Drag Race. In the first episode of the series that premiered on June 25, Lolita Banana became the first Mexican-born drag queen to compete in one of RuPaul’s franchises.
RuPaul’s Drag Race has had plenty of Mexican-American drag queens compete for the crown of “America’s Next Drag Superstar,” including Adore Delano and Valentina. Season 14 of the series recently had Tejana drag queen Jorgeous going after the title. Surprisingly, of all the Latina queens that have competed on the show, there had never been a contestant that was born in Mexico.
That all changed when Lolita Banana stepped into the workroom on Drag Race France. Born in Mexico City, she now lives and works in Paris. And when she first appeared, Banana confidently strutted in wearing a yellow dress in honor of the fruit that she’s named after. “Ladies and gentlemen, it’s showtime!” she said in French and English. Banana then introduced herself to the other drag queens in a mix of French and Spanish.
During her confessional, Banana was excited to acknowledge the fact that she was making history across all franchises of RuPaul’s Drag Race. “I am very proud to be the first Mexican, who was born in Mexico, in the history of Drag Race,” she said with a huge smile. In her Instagram captions about the show, Banana makes sure to write them in English, French, and Spanish.
Banana is already off to a great start on Drag Race France. She won the first mini-challenge of the show, which was a photo shoot. Later, Banana wowed the judges with her cha-cha dance routine to Mexican pop icon Thalía’s “Echa Pa’Lante.” “For my talent show I wanted to present [to] you my grand passion, the Latine dance, and this cha cha cha from Thalía was the perfect song to start the competition,” she wrote on IG.
Right now the only Spanish-language iteration of RuPaul’s Drag Race is the Spain spin-off, Drag Race España. Despite there not being a spin-off in Mexico yet, the country already has its own popular drag competition called La Más Draga.