Yahoo News Miley Cyrus Goes Undercover as a Man to Surprise RuPaul's Drag Race Queens in Season 11 Premiere
Miley Cyrus knows a thing or two about disguises, what with spending four seasons on Hannah Montana playing a teenager who has a secret life as a pop star.
So it should come as no surprise to hear that the “Party in the U.S.A.” singer, 26, jumped at the chance to dress in drag for Thursday’s season 11 premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race.
In a sneak peek from the episode shared to the Emmy-winning VH1 reality competition’s Instagram page on Tuesday, Cyrus — who is also guest judging on the show for the first time – goes undercover as “Barry ‘B.J.’ Johnson,” a male crew member working for Drag Race‘s production company, World of Wonder.
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A post shared by RuPaul's Drag Race (@rupaulsdragrace) on Feb 26, 2019 at 8:00am PST
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The costume gives Cyrus the anonymity she needs to go into the Drag Race “Werk Room,” where she can interact with the 15 queens competing for season 11.
“I’m going to go and meet the queens for the first time, but they don’t know they’re meeting me,” Cyrus explained. “I wanted to go undercover with the ladies. So I’m going in as a crew member. They’re never going to know what hit ’em.”
Cyrus sure disappears into her new role, which comes with a beard, short wig, black hat, black T-shirt and hoodie.
She even does a pretty good impression of a heterosexual male, telling the camera, “I love me some f—ing beautiful women!”
Fans will have to wait until Thursday’s episode to see how it all works out, but Cyrus certainly seems happy with her appearance. Posting the video to her own Instagram on Tuesday, she joked, “You heard me. If you ain’t tucked , you ain’t apart of the f—in’ party!”
Cyrus’s Drag Race gig was announced earlier this month. A press release explained that she’d oversee season 11’s first challenge, in which the contestants have to create signature looks from materials that once belonged to former Drag Race queens.
Though it’s her first time in the judge’s chair, it won’t be the first time Cyrus has been on the show. She previously appeared in the audience of the season 7 finale taping back in 2015. From there, Cyrus even pooled many of the show’s alumni — including Shangela, Alyssa Edwards, Laganja Estranja, Gia Gunn, and Courtney Act — to join her MTV VMAs’ performance of “Dooo It!”
That’s not the only tie Cyrus has to Drag Race. The actress, who wed Liam Hemsworth in December, also identifies as a “queer person” and recently opened up about being in a “hetero relationship” while still being a member of the LGBTQ+ community.
@rupaulsdragrace 2/28 on @vh1 #DragRace ????????????????????????
A post shared by Miley Cyrus (@mileycyrus) on Feb 12, 2019 at 9:23am PST
Meanwhile, Cyrus will be the third consecutive major music diva to front a Drag Race season, after Lady Gaga and Christina Aguilera helped kick off seasons 9 and 10, respectively.
Other celebrities appearing a judges in season 11 include Troye Sivan, Wanda Sykes, Cara Delevingne, Rachel Maddow, Kandi Burruss, Gina Rodriguez, Tiffany “New York” Pollard, Lena Waithe, Joel McHale, Sydelle Noel, Elvira, Guillermo Diaz, Adam Rippon, Mirai Nagasu, Travis Wall, Amber Valetta, Tony Hale, Clea DuVall, Fortune Feimster, Cheyenne Jacksonn, and Katherine Langford.
RuPaul’s Drag Race season 11 premieres Thursday (at 9 p.m. ET) on VH1.
