Drag Race Holland

The production of this show is very bad. But what actually killed it for me are the judges, especially the host. They are so unlikable.

The host acts like RuPaul up to his catchphrases, which makes it so inauthentic. They even translate some parts to Dutch, literally, which makes no sense at all. The moment the host thought he was the big shot, I turned off the tv. He is so rude to the contestants and even insults them, like wth?

Cancelling the host might be this show's only salvation. Stopped watching after 5 episodes, couldn't stand it anymore. "Daaaag schaaaat". - Horrible, really!

Won't do any spoilers, but this season is rigged.

Despite the production improving from season 1, decisions to eliminate queens are completely random and incoherent. By the end of the season you realise they have been protecting one queen who's doing all badly, and they start contradicting their own arguments over and over to eliminate her competition so she can win the finale. RIGGED.

This is the first time I have ever posted a review.The queens are amazing, their skills are extraordinary and I have seen some of the best outfits in first four episodes. Maybe some of the humor gets lost in the translation but still, not unfunny. I gave the show a 9 only because the production needs to do a better job.

Edit: Judges are even worse than in Canada's Drag race. It's so sad because a lot of high quality queens are either gone or not winning the game and some of the borring queens with a lot of instagram followers (I guess f* the producers too) are getting ahead.

I really love the Dutch queens on both seasons, but the judging is just nuts and awful. It seems none of the judges have ever seen a drag show. Also, Nikkie Plessen was by far the worst permanent judge and Fred the most annoying host.

It seems they tried to make some improvements for season 2, but it still fell short. Too bad, this had promise but ended up a dumpster fire.

The First Season of Drag Race Holland shows some promise. The cast is not only talented, but also diverse, showing not only Dutch queens but also a couple of South American queens. The production is certainly more modest given its infancy and filmed in a smaller country during the pandemic. While the show does stay true to the roots of the Drag Race franchise with snatch game, musical, acting and design challenges, there could be more room of originality, featuring more Dutch and Benelux culture in the mini and maxi challenges.

The weighting formula of the maxi challenge and runway is also different, with the latter outweighing the former. Therefore, at times, after watching the maxi challenge, one would have thought a specific queen deserved to win the episode based on her stellar performance but to be surprised a queen with a stunning runway look to snatch the win from the deserving queen.

The runway looks are really good for some queens like the incredibly polished Envy Peru, the crazily original queen, ChelseaBoy, and Sederginne, a comedy queen who proves that great comedic timing can go with great sense of style. I believe the show can benefit from better and more consistent judging where the maxi challenge weighs more than the runway look. I look forward to the coming seasons.