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‘RuPaul’s Drag Race’ has a contestant from South Jersey next season

VH1 describes the contestant from Cherry Hill as a "life-sized Bratz doll."

Drag queen Ariel Versace, of Cherry Hill, N.J., has been named one of the contestants on the next season of VH1's "RuPaul's Drag Race."
Drag queen Ariel Versace, of Cherry Hill, N.J., has been named one of the contestants on the next season of VH1's "RuPaul's Drag Race."Read moreCourtesy of VHI
    by Ellen Gray | Columnist
    Published 

When VH1′s RuPaul’s Drag Race returns for its 11th season, there’ll be a South Jersey contestant in the mix.

Drag queen Ariel Versace, of Cherry Hill, will be one of 15 contestants competing on the Emmy-winning reality competition series, whose return date hasn’t yet been announced.

The announcement of the new contestants came Thursday in a two-hour YouTube Live video hosted by Scranton’s Adam Rippon, the Olympic figure skater describing himself as a “certified fan” of the show, and Season 10 winner Aquaria (who hails from West Chester), and featuring interviews with the contestants. (Versace appears around the 8:25 mark.)

“I feel like drag should always be fun,” Versace told Rippon. But it’s also a business, and Versace said that she and her boyfriend, who’s also a drag queen, sell wigs, and that their wigs have been on the show a couple of times.

Asked what it felt like to “represent the magical state of New Jersey,” Versace replied, “It’s great, because we haven’t gotten a lot of representation [on the show] from Jersey yet, so I’m super-psyched.”

Here’s how VH1 described Versace, whose interview included a history quiz that didn’t go so well (she was, among other things, unable to identify the combatants in the French and Indian war):

A life-sized Bratz doll, this queen’s Jersey-licious Disney princess aesthetic is already a hit on social media, where she has a significant following. But don’t be fooled by a pretty face with a poppin’ Instagram presence – Ariel can sing, act and put on a fully entertaining show. You’ve been warned.