Priyanka Spills The Tea On Judging Canada’s Drag Race All Stars

“Question…who was the first ever queen to walk into Drag Race north of the scene?”

“Question…what was the name of the queen who went from Toronto to north supreme?”

The answer is Priyanka, who asked those questions in her verse of a remixed version of RuPaul’s U Wear It Well during the Canada’s Drag Race finale. 

The queen has come a long way from winning the inaugural series of the drag competition, becoming one of the best known Drag Race contestants from an international franchise. She starred in the Emmy-winning series We’re Here alongside Sasha Velour, Latrice Royale and Jaida Essence Hall and hosts the Crave series Drag Brunch Saved My Life, which recently won her Best Host in a Lifestyle Program or Series at the Canadian Screen Awards. 

Now she’s coming back to the Drag Race universe, but not as a contestant on an ‘all winners’ season or a lip sync assassin like in RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 11. Instead, Priyanka is stepping off the runway and taking a seat behind the judges table for the first season of Canada’s Drag Race All Stars alongside host Brooke Lynn Hytes and RuPaul’s Drag Race All Star 8 winner Jimbo. 

Priyanka has a long history as a host and interviewer, along with some judging experience from an episode of Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World. But when showrunner and executive producer Trevor Boris called her about being a permanent judge for Canada’s All Stars, she was in shock. Reflecting on the call, she realized that queens judging other queens made sense.

“It was nice to be able to judge my peers and be like ‘I can help you out of this,’” she told 29Secrets on the red carpet of the 2026 Canadian Screen Awards about the experience. 

While Priyanka won her season, she wasn’t immune to the bottom. Her impersonation of Miss Cleo during Snatch Game and performance in the Miss Loose Jaw Pageant landed her in the bottom two. 

“It’s also scary because immediately you have imposter syndrome like what do I know?” she explained back in April to iHeartRadio Canada about judging. “If they were to do a Snatch Game, I’d be like ‘your Snatch Game was terrible like mine.’”

Yet, Priyaka knows the importance of taking the judges critiques and applying them, eventually winning two challenges and the crown. On the red carpet she explained how she hopes to take her personal experiences and self-reflections from her time competing to provide meaningful critiqueS. 

“To be able to give the perspective of ‘I feel like you’re in your head this week, I think I have some tips to help you get out of that’…They know that what we’re saying is what we’ve been through,” she explained on the red carpet. “You watch the queens really get it and feel it in their hearts.” 

Though she didn’t reveal too much about the season, other than spill that “it’s really crazy,” we imagine she’ll pop into the workroom to do table talks, giving the queens important one-on-one time.   

What is Canada’s Drag Race All Stars?

In February, Crave announced the third Canada’s Drag Race spinoff after Canada’s Drag Race: Canada vs. the World and Slaycation. The series also marks the third ‘official’ non-American All Stars after France and Mexico.

The Canadian version will make her-story as the first all-drag judging panel. Across six episodes, nine queens will fight for the title of Canada’s Ultimate All Star and $100,000. The cast has representation across all six seasons and the only other Canadian to appear on a non-All Stars season of the American franchise. The cast includes Aurora Matrix (Season 4), Jackie Cox (RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 12), Jada Shada Hudson (Season 3), Juice Boxx (Season 1), Makayla Couture (Season 5), Nearah Nuff (Season 4), Pythia (Season 2, RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars), Sami Landri (Season 6) and Tiffany Ann Co. (Season 5). 

Canada’s Drag Race All Stars premieres Thursday, July 9, 2026 on Crave.