'Weird, wild and wonderful': N.L. drag queen is the first Atlantic contestant on 'Canada’s Drag Race'
A drag performer from Newfoundland and Labrador is the first to represent the East Coast on the TV series “Canada’s Drag Race.”
Irma Gerd, also known as Jason Wells, hails from St. John’s, N.L.
“I’m so proud to blaze this trail! It’s about damn time!” Gerd wrote in a social media post Sunday.
The show’s third season premieres July 14 at 10 p.m. AT on Crave, Bell Media’s streaming service.
“I’m the beast from the east,” said Gerd in a video promoting the series.
“There is a lot of pressure representing a whole wing of the country that has not been shown on this show before.”
“Canada’s Drag Race” is a Canadian spinoff of the award-winning show “Ru-Paul’s Drag Race.” Drag queens on the show compete for the title of “Canada’s Next Drag Superstar” and a $100,000 grand prize.
Gerd says their drag is “weird, wild and wonderful.”
“I love the absurd, I like a touch of ugly, and I love to surprise people.”
They say drag is all about subverting ideas of gender.
“I think, ‘why not subvert ideals of beauty as well.”
Federal labour minister and Newfoundland MP Seamus O'Regan and Newfoundland and Labrador Premier Andrew Furey tweeted their support for Gerd when the news broke last week.
CTV News is a division of Bell Media, which owns Crave.
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