RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under’s Aubrey Haive has revealed what really caused the on-screen feud with her co-star Minnie Cooper.

Speaking to So Dramatic! after her elimination, Aubrey explained how a simple miscommunication with Minnie made her look like she was being “ageist” towards the 50-year-old veteran queen.

The 25-year-old admitted she was young “in both ways”, having only started out in the drag scene in 2020, so she had a lot of “admiration” for established queens like Minnie.

Why Age Was Such a Big Discussion Point on RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under So Far?

Aubrey recalled Minnie was immediately “charismatic” and “witty” when she walked into the Werk Room. But with a dramatic divide between the eldest (Minnie) and youngest star, Beverly Kills, 21, the conversation quickly turned to age.

“I’m obviously young, both literally, and I’m a young drag. So we were more just talking about that,” Aubrey explained.

“I feel a bit bad that she might have felt that we were saying it in a way that was negative towards her age [but] that was never ever the case,” she continued.

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The 25-year-old queen admitted she was young “in both ways”, having only started out in the drag scene in 2020. Source: Stan

“It’s a really important topic to bring up because ageism is something that we do need to talk about a bit more. It’s something that happens a lot in the world, not even just in the drag scene,” she said.

With that miscommunication already putting Minnie on edge, Aubrey wasn’t surprised they fought over something as simple as an “ill-fitting” outfit in the first episode because they were in a “pressure cooker environment”.

“It was just in that moment. Had it not been Drag Race, we both would have been fine with how we interacted,” she said, explaining they were later able to have a longer discussion about the conflict.

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Aubrey wasn’t surprised they fought over something as simple as an “ill-fitting” outfit in the first episode because they were in a “pressure cooker environment”. Source: Stan.

But she admitted it “did not feel like [they] resolved in that quickly in real life”. The magic of editing strikes again!

However, Aubrey understood why it was edited to seem more viscous because “that’s reality TV” and they had to make “great TV”.

How Aubrey Haive Made It Onto RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under with Just Two Years of Drag Experience

Bailey Dunnage has been a singer and performer well before he started getting into the drag scene. It was only amid the 2020 lockdowns that he started finding his drag persona – who we now know as Aubrey Haive.

While some of the other queens on the show had decades of experience, Aubrey first performed on stage in 2021.

Aubrey – a reference to Austin Powers and a nod to her retro-inspired style – learned how to paint her face by watching YouTube videos and video-calling friends already in the drag scene.

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Aubrey’s name is a reference to Austin Powers and a nod to her retro-inspired style. Source: Stan.

“We would do little Zoom parties at night and just get into drag and then, you know, be like, ‘oh yay, now we’re in drag at home with nowhere to go’,” Aubrey said.

“I owe so much to my beautiful partner,” she added, explaining they met soon after she started doing drag.

As an established local queen, Aubrey says her partner Gloss “really helped” her get to the next level (and ready for Drag Race).

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Aubrey with partner Gloss. Source: Instagram.

“She helped me get myself together, for sure. But she’s so modest. She’ll say that I did it all myself. But no, I owe a lot to her,” Aubrey said, admitting they already matched on a dating app before either knew they did drag.

Too cute!

Want even more goss? Listen to episode 207 of the So Dramatic! podcast with Megan Pustetto below! 

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