Vancouver queens set to chase ultimate crown in Canada’s Drag Race Season 7

An urban wildlife ecologist, a self-taught fashion designer and a Vancouver drag titleholder are heading for the same spotlight. Batty Banks, Bliss and Kara Juku bring three very different backgrounds to the seventh season of Canada’s Drag Race.

The three Vancouver performers are among the contestants announced by Crave for the show’s seventh season, which brings together 11 new drag queens and one returning competitor from Season 6.

Over nine episodes, they will compete for the title of Canada’s next drag superstar and a $100,000 cash prize.

The season premieres Nov. 19 at 9 p.m. on Crave, with a simultaneous launch on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and 190 territories worldwide.

The series, a winner of 32 Canadian Screen Awards, tests more than a performer’s ability to command a stage. Challenges span singing, dancing, acting, impersonation, costume making and improvisation, with contestants eliminated until one queen remains.

Vancouver’s trio brings different combinations of those skills — and creative lives that extend beyond the competition.

Away from drag, Batty Banks, 31, also known as Jaylen Bastos, works as an urban wildlife ecologist, animal behaviourist, and educator. Bastos has also appeared in episodes of the CBC docuseries The Nature of Things.

Onstage, Banks’ credits include headlining Vancouver Pride events in 2023 and opening for Todrick Hall and Fefe Dobson. A regular at drag brunches and other live events, Banks offers an exuberant introduction in their Canada’s Drag Race bio: “I’m diving, I’m dipping, I’m uno reverse flipping on stages all over the place.”

Kara Juku arrives with a hometown title already to her name. Also known as 31-year-old David La, she is part of the House of Rice, Canada’s all-Asian drag house.

She won Vancouver’s Next Drag Superstar in 2020, becoming the first Asian performer to claim that title.

“I live for the stage, the pressure, and the challenge and I’m ready to show Canada that I’m a star,” she says in her bio.

Bliss, also known as Bailey Coady, is a 25-year-old self-taught fashion designer whose Canada’s Drag Race bio describes a busy schedule of hosting drag shows and “serving face and style multiple times per week.”