Last week’s finale crowned a new winner on the biggest season yet of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula” on Shudder – “Season 666.” The consistent season frontrunner, Asia Consent, amassed a number of challenge wins, including an impressive Dead by Daylight prize, and earned their place in Dragula history.
It’s easy to look back over the 10-episode season and see Asia’s trajectory from superfan to season winner; the drag artist delivered consistent, stunning looks and played the game more strategically than many of the contestants. While Asia’s artistry and talent did the heavy lifting, knowing the series better than any other competitor this season also gave her a leg up in the fierce competition.
“Oh my god, it was so surreal,” Asia Consent emphatically tells Bloody Disgusting of the moment she won. “Like I’ve said on the show, I’ve been auditioning for multiple years. You think you’re ready when you apply for it, and you think it’s your time. But I truly do believe that timing is everything. So, once it was announced that I was the winner, I just knew at that moment that this is exactly why I’ve been waiting for all these years. This is why. It was because Season 6 was my time, and I needed to go through certain things in my life to be able to be ready for this, so it couldn’t have happened at a more perfect time for me.”
Asia Consent has been a massive fan of “The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula” from the very beginning, and it made her more attuned to what, perhaps, series creators, judges, and hosts Dracmorda and Swanthula were looking for. Asia explains, “I feel like being a super fan really helped me because I saw what didn’t work out for other competitors, and how that maybe could have helped me. Really, I think what didn’t work out for certain competitors was just not being themselves. That’s what I take away the most from the experience, that I was rewarded the most when I was being myself and being just authentic with who I was.
She continues, “It was extremely validating, going through that experience and realizing, ‘Wow, if I’m just being Asia, that’s when I do the best. Being a super fan and seeing that through the show where people aren’t fully sure of themselves or aren’t fully confident in who they are as a person, that’s when they tripped up. Honestly, seeing that is what really motivated me to be able to be ready for Season 6.”
Watching a reality competition series is vastly different than competing in one, of course. It took some adjusting for the artist, especially when it came to watching the episodes as they aired. “Actually, I’m with Aurora right now,” Asia tells us. “I was telling her that watching the first episode, seeing yourself on TV for the 1st time. Nobody will ever be able to prepare you for that experience because it’s like, ‘Oh, wow! This is how I really am. Wow!’ I was shaking. Couldn’t breathe because I was like, ‘Oh, my god, this is so putting yourself out there for the world to see.’ It is really scary. But over time, eventually, I got more comfortable watching the episodes with my family and friends. But yeah, it’s definitely a jarring experience seeing yourself on TV. I was with my close family and friends when we first watched it. Even then, I still was shaking. Couldn’t breathe; it was crazy.”
Once past the hurdle of acclimating to appearing on TV, Asia wasn’t surprised by what she saw in terms of the competition. The performance artist was pretty attuned to what was happening, though she recounts how she surprised her fellow competitors when the episodes began airing. “I thought it was funny, though. My castmates really didn’t know about the alliance between Pi and me. I got a couple of texts from people in the cast of season 6. They were like, ‘You’re in an alliance with Pi, what the hell!’ I was sorry, but I was also playing the game, and that was part of it. I wasn’t going to spill the tea to them; I wanted to make sure that we got this going with me and Pi. Nothing really surprised me from the experience, for my castmates and everything. But I think, being a part of the show, the most surprising thing was just seeing how production ran and how you see the magic being crafted behind the scenes. It was a really special experience; I wouldn’t trade that for the world because it’s really fun making TV. It’s being a part of the drag history books, essentially.”
The competition naturally brings out some drama, but this cast is bonded for life. “We all actually love each other. And we can get crazy. We can fight and argue and everything. Usually, we’d argue, and then, like 5 minutes later, it was like, ‘Girl, do you want something to drink? Let’s hang out.’ We were able to make up pretty quickly. There was one specific moment I had with Gray Matter where they asked who we thought should not be in the competition anymore. I ended up saying his name for that, and he was very upset about that, behind the scenes and on-screen, actually very upset. But that night, we went back to the mansion, and he was just like, ‘You know I love you, Asia. I’m gonna make some eggs. Let’s have some dinner.’ It was super cute. I really love Gray, and like it was just such a sweet, tender moment, I’ll never forget that.”
The Boulet Brothers cited Filth as Asia’s strong suit when it comes to drag, but the artist nailed all the core tenets this season. “I’ve always loved like divine John Waters, like Pink Flamingos type of stuff where it’s very shocking,” Asia says of her drag style. “I want to be able to pull a reaction from the audience when I’m on stage. As a performance artist, I always want to try and shock the audience, and that’s what really inspires me. But as far as looks, I love club kid culture.
“I love high glamour, and honestly, just drag in general has been really inspiring. I was doing more traditional drag when I started, and then eventually, I started leaning more into horror. Especially when Dragula season one dropped. That’s when I realized I could take my love for drag, horror movies, and horror video games and combine them. That’s when I really started flourishing and coming into my own. I’ve been a drag fan ever since I was like 12 years old. I started watching RuPaul’s Drag Race when I was 12, and then I just kind of grew up with drag and evolved from there. Also, shout out to my Portland community because they keep it weird up there. There’s a lot of weirdos. My community up there has been very inspiring as well and has been uplifting me this entire time.”
One horror video game that inspires Asia happens to be one that she’ll be immortalized in, Dead by Deadlight. “I cannot believe it because I’ve been playing Dead by Daylight for years. That’s how I connected with my friends and everything. I can’t wait to be in the game. I’ll be the first one to buy my skin for sure. I am planning on eventually streaming and making Twitch streams with video games and everything. I look forward to that. I might have some Dragula Season 6 contestants play with me as well.”
As for horror movies, Asia has a clear frontrunner for her favorite of 2024 and beyond. “One of my favorite movies of all time, I think, is The Substance. It’s such a Dragula-coded film for me because it was so glamorous, so nasty, and so horrific; the body horror in it and everything. Also, the message of, essentially, the expectations that are put on women in society. It was really beautiful to see that brought to film in such a nasty, demented way. Demi Moore gave an amazing performance. Another one I saw this year, too, is Smile 2. I was very surprised by that because the first Smile movie wasn’t my favorite, but the twists in Smile 2 were so good. I absolutely loved that one.”
