Who Is RuPaul's Drag Race's Utica Queen?
RuPauls's Drag Race is back! And with everything that's going on in the 'real world' these days, we're feeling our shoulders relax at just the thought of being able to escape into the glamorous world of the newest crop of drag queens. Shot during the pandemic, season 13 has replaced guest stars with social distancing and plexiglass (via Vulture). But even the new on-set restrictions can't stop us from wanting to know everything there is to know about the contestants. And we can start by giving a hearty mid-western shout out to the lovely, Utica Queen.
Queen's show biography reads, "Utica Queen is ready to wiggle her way straight to the crown. Identifying as the wacky, wavy inflatable arm tube queen, Utica is hoping to take the world by storm with her own form of goofy, pop-art drag" (via Twin Cities Pioneer Press). Pop-art drag? This sounds like the perfect cure for our pandemic blues!
Utica Queen's stage name is a nod to their hometown
The person behind Utica Queen is Ethan Mundt (via Twin Cities Pioneer Press). They grew up in Utica, Minn. Mundt calls their hometown a "beautiful little farm town," and when describing Utica says, "It's a tiny, tiny town of 291 people. We don't even have a school or a gas station, but we do have four bars. And one gay who escaped." Utica Queen clearly loves the place enough to adopt the name for their drag persona. Mundt also shares in their introduction video they plan on bringing their upbringing onto the show. Even if it means channeling the image of being covered in manure (via Star Tribune).
In college, Mundt earned a double major in fine art and theater production from Hamline University. When talking about education Mundt claims, "I basically went to school to become a drag queen and it's awesome" (via Twin Cities Pioneer Press). We're so happy the first elimination round in the first episode turned out to be a ruse (sorry for the spoiler), or else we wouldn't have gotten a chance to witness more pop-art drag from this glamorous farm queen. Fingers crossed that there might be a challenge with manure involved.