‘I had an obligation to showcase my culture’: RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under star Jojo Zaho opens up on powerful Aboriginal runway statement

Drag Race Down Under’s Jojo Zaho has opened up about showcasing an incredibly powerful Indigenous statement on the main stage in the show’s first episode.

The new series kicked off over the weekend, welcoming 10 queens from Australia and New Zealand who hope to be crowned Down Under’s next drag superstar.

The second of the runway looks was There’s No Place Like Home and Jojo wore an outfit that had: ‘Always Was, Always Will Be’ embellished on a cape at the back.

‘Australia will always be Aboriginal land,’ they said during the episode.

Speaking exclusively to Metro.co.uk after their elimination, Jojo said they had ‘an obligation and responsibility to spread a positive message and to showcase my culture as much as I could’ while competing on the series.

‘We aren’t given a platform on such an international level very often,’ they told us. ‘I planned to take full advantage of that and milk it for all that it was worth.’

Talking about how they decided to debut one of the most poignant messages to grace the main stage, Jojo shared: ‘I made that dress previously for another competition.

‘That dress was always 100% going to be used because of the message.

‘Even though I was fully aware that half the world might not know what always was always will be meant, I just hoped it would at least encourage them to Google it and that would send them down an information spiral where they would learn something they might not have known about Australia’s indigenous community and its history.’

Sadly the Indigenous drag queen became the first contestant to be eliminated from the show by RuPaul after losing a lip-sync battle to Elektra Shock.

‘I was devastated,’ they said. ‘I spent the first few days out of it all, just doubting myself. I locked myself in my hotel room eating UberEats and drinking.

‘The more I sat there and thought about it and reminded myself, regardless of how quick my visit was, it wasn’t just about me, it was about representing an entire community.

‘I took comfort in the fact I got the opportunity to get on the world’s stage and send a positive message, even if it was just a brief one.’

RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under begins Sunday May 2 and 9am on BBC iPlayer.

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