From the moment she walked into the Drag Race Down Under werkroom with that now signature laugh, Faux Fur was here to make an impact. While her time on the show was short (Faux was eliminated first), she made a lasting impression on both her fellow queens and the fans. This ultra-resourceful queen (who started her own show-Fur Mondays-during lockdown) is pivoting to incorporating her drag with being…the next Oprah? Faux and I caught up to discuss her impact on the Down Under drag scene, why representation is so important, and what her Drag Race experience has taught her as a performer. 
Michael Cook: What does it feel like to have been cast and competed on a show like Drag Race Down Under?
Faux Fur: Crazy, absolutely insane. Who would have ever thought that a girl like me would ever make it on a show like that? It was always a dream of mine to be on the show, but everyone was telling me that I was crazy if I didn’t. Literally, three days before the day they were due, I got my audition sent in. I don’t know how I got it done in three days, but I managed it; we did it.
MC: So many girls feel that once they arrive, RuPaul’s Drag Race is nothing like they expected. Did you feel that way once you got there and started looking around and sizing up your competition?
FF: Girl; it is nothing like it looks like on tv (laughs)! However, we are queens. I adapt really quickly and am thankful to my parents who forced me to be a A-grade student and adapt to this crazy world. It started to get crazy, and I was like “you know what, just run with it”. Literally everything is a blur, and when I got back it was like “did I really just film that”?
Well well well guess who has big hair !! The glamour puss is out baby !! ❤️❤️❤️ pic.twitter.com/Vv8JXCcHU8
— FAUX FUR (@FAUXFURTWEE) August 15, 2022
MC: Your name is somewhat known in drag circles down under and you are definitely easily identifiable.
FF: From my scream (laughs)! I actually thought that I would be one of the least expected queens to be on the show, I was a little secret.
MC: When did you know that drag was going to be something more than simply a hobby and would be the passion that you would be following?
FF: When I first started doing drag in Sydney, there was not a representation of Asian queens. I didn’t see any in my time and when I saw my first drag show, I thought “that’s what I want to do” so I figured “let’s do it”. The first time that I did it, I looked busted. Seven years later, she is looking like a queen. That is the thing about drag; you have to start somewhere and you are going to learn these lessons and take these blessings. That is what I enjoy and cherish the most, the growth and the lessons that I have taken from when I started to today. Seven years later, I am still learning…
Feeling like a fairytale on the staircase at premiere!!!!!!! pic.twitter.com/OXJEFbfs3e
— FAUX FUR (@FAUXFURTWEE) August 11, 2022
I remember quitting my job and Covid happened. I didn’t let it stop me from doing drag and didn’t back down from a fight. I think that is when people started saying “hey that’s Faux Fur”. I started ‘Fur Mondays’ online and it went on for over two years. It’s on a pause right now since I’m working on a different project, but that is how it really started. Sometimes I don’t know how my husband does it, we are a two people team doing a twelve person job!
MC: Asian representation in Down Under drag has never been very prominent. How does it feel to be representation for people that truly never had that much?
FF: I feel…overwhelmed. I am still living it right now and it’s like “am I still dreaming”? To be an inspiration for people of color and to let them know that they can break the boundaries and break the Asian stereotype of being quiet and reserved. The moment that I came out of my mom’s womb I was screaming (laughs). You can’t stop this bitch from screaming!
THE FAUX FANTASY WAS FELT BY THE GODS pic.twitter.com/9dl8ycRJfN
— FAUX FUR (@FAUXFURTWEE) August 10, 2022
When I started drag, I didn’t have Asian representation to look at look at and say “that’s who I want to be” I had to outsource celebrities in a way. After a while, it was like “we’re doing it”!
MC: What would you say are your rose and thorn from being on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under?
FF: My rose would definitely be being on the show and meeting all of my sisters, and my thorn would definitely be getting sent home (laughs). it is a tough set of girls and someone had to get sent home, but hey I made it!
MC: What do you think you want to do with your platform now?
FF: Pretty much everything, I want to take on the world. I know that sounds ambitious and crazy, but you know that it is always the ambitious and crazy ones that take it to the top. Everyone laughs when I say this, but my end goal is to be Oprah! People think I’m crazy, but they haven’t seen the side of me where I can sit down and give advice. I want to share my experiences with people who have gone through similar experiences as me. One day, I will be Oorah and I will get to share these experiences with other people; it’s going to be crazy.
It's getting even closer to the BIG DAY !! Tune on on the 30th of July !!!!#DragRaceDownUnder Season 2 premieres July 30 @StanAustralia (AU) @TVNZ (NZ) @wowpresentsplus (worldwide ex. Canada, UK, & Down Under) 👑 https://t.co/kwk8ckqqox pic.twitter.com/J2Hrs3J7Rh
— FAUX FUR (@FAUXFURTWEE) July 26, 2022
MC: What do you think the last few years have taught you as a performer and a person?
FF: I am very bad with my surroundings, so it’s like, read the room Faux! You can’t just walk in screaming (laughs). Just learning how to be professional. I am so unfiltered, there is nothing you can say that I have not said. I have to learn how to not let this mouth of mine get me into trouble. I have learned ways to do it politely without hurting anyone.
With arguably one of the cheekiest drag names we’ve heard in some time, Aubrey Haive joined RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under as one of the freshest ingenues we’ve seen in recent memory. A queen who discovered drag during the lockdown, Haive came into the Down Under werkroom bright-eyed and ready to take on the competition. While she was eliminated second, Haive’s drag career is only beginning. We sat down to talk about her experience on Drag Race Down Under, what queens she has gained the most inspiration from, and she opened up about her pop princess future dreams!
Michael Cook: Tell me about your Drag Race Down Under experience!
Aubrey Haive: It was incredible. I am super new to drag, so to even get on the show was a super huge accomplishment for me. This is the drag Olympics, they push you to your absolute limits. I learned what I’m good at, what I’m not good at, and what better way to do that than in front of international tv?
MC: What do you think you learned that you are good at and not good at from your own perspective?
AH: I think strengths of mine, I take a lot of care in how I present my drag, especially with my looks and my persona in drag. What I am not so good at, because I am so new at it, is learning how to turn Aubrey on and off. I was being more myself in the confessionals, and it was not really quite me. I was still sort of being Aubrey there, who is this delusional sixties star who thinks that she is the best, whereas out of drag I am the complete opposite to be honest. Aubrey is my super power to feel more confident in things. When I am out of drag, it comes across as a little more over confident at times. Seeing that on screen, I thought to myself that I could work on that.
MC: When did you know that drag was going to be more than just a hobby and would be the passion that you would be following?
AH: For me, I auditioned and had been doing drag six or seven months, performing and things. During the lowdown when I started doing it, it was more something to just pass the time and a bit of a hobby. I love performing so I was excited to get out and do it. As soon as I did, I knew it was what I was meant to be doing and it felt amazing. It brought all of the elements together that are my strengths and for the first time in quite some time, it felt like the performing career path was actually working for once, and it was amazing.
MC: Do you think being a newer queen was something that made you retreat into yourself or did you feel like like you could stand shoulder to shoulder with some of these bigger personaliteis
AH: Oh no, I just retreated so fast into myself, I went fully reversed. I was gone! Especially that first episode, everyone is just so scared of going home first. I was not coping. I still thought I was there for a reason and worked really hard to get there. I was so nervous though, and all of the other girls were so incredible and they’re huge personalities. I am pretty inverted at the best of times, and Aubrey is my expressive self that I put on to feel more that way. When I am in fight of flight, I am definitely flight!
MC: The Drag Race Down Under girls as you said, are truly bold and big personalities. Who are some of your own biggest personalities that helped put you on your path and helped develop your aesthetic?
AH: My partner Gloss also does drag and we sort of found Aubrey together. She’s helped me to find all of this awesome drag stuff. She had been doing it for quite a bit longer than I had so that was a huge inpsitaion for me. As for local legends, I had barely gotten out to see much drag. I saw the odd club gig here and there when I was partying and through Uni I was going to a few drag shows, but they were just my friends. I loved what they were doing, but we were college friends. For me, I know Drag Race is such an empire now and everyone is watching it. It inspires so many types of drag also. It may feel a little cliche to say Drag Race inspired me, it 100% did.
Now to see it all over the world; the UK girls, their comedy is so good, the confidence that the US queens have, that is something I wanted to take on board. I am a huge Violet Chachki fan, I love her fully amazing vintage sort of character and her burlsesjqe is beautiful and a whole brand; I really love branding. Trixie Mattel is a huge one also, her career is just incredible and you can’t help but be inspired by that. I am inspired by all drag since I am new to it, so I am taking on all types of drag. I am the sponge queen!
MC: Did it cause any tension at home when you were chosen for Drag Race and your parter was not?
AH: She didn’t audition so there was no competition there. We are quite different in our drag in a way, so there is never really any competition since we come at it from different angles. We are really just each others biggest fans, there is never any weird competition of any kind. She has been my biggest supporter during this whole experience and I am just gunning for her to get onto Season 3!
MC: What is next for Aubrey Haive?
AH:I didn’t get to show it on the show, but I am a singer mostly, that is something that I have been doing for years and where I started my career. I want to start recording some songs, so I have starred writing some songs and would love to have them recorded by the end of the season. More like pop music drag, rather than the bitch tracks that queens do. I want to find a niche where it is pop music you can listen to and you just happen to be doing drag! Ive grown so much from filming the show, the whole experience has been incredible. I have learned so much about drag, and I had so much to learn. That is a lot of why I went on the show, since I wanted to push myself to learn new things and I love picking new things up quickly. that is where drag started for me!
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