It takes a lot to put me off a reality show completely, and I have a pretty high tolerance for the trashy, gaudy and bizarre. In this case, however, I think I may have found my breaking point.

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula looked like it was going to tick a lot of boxes for me. I’m a new but avid fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race and was very excited when I discovered something that sounded remarkably similar appear on TVNZ OnDemand that could hopefully satiate my craving for the next season of RuPaul to be released. Turns out, it may have paid to do a little more research.

The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula is formatted just like Drag Race: drag queens compete in challenges that test their creativity and performance skills, with winning and losing contestants determined by drag icons Dracmorda and Swanthula Boulet, along with various guest judges. The prize: $10,000 cash and the title of “World’s Next Drag Supermonster.”

With the word “Dragula” in the title, I figured the theme of the show was going to be a little darker than Drag Race, but I had no idea what I was in store for. Dragula is an almost exclusively horror-drag focused show. The contestants aim to shock with their gory, monstrous and creepy outfits, makeup and performances, to the point where the first runway show had us examining an outfit compromising of extremely lifelike exposed spine and ribcage, and the opening challenge was a race to chug a pint of blood.

As exciting and impressive as this all was, the show didn’t quite have the same snappy feel that Drag Race does. A lower budget is very visible, and the gossiping over the makeup mirrors felt like it went on far too long, and for only the first episode it felt like a lot of drama was being stirred up to fill in time. Despite the gore, I still enjoyed the outfits and catwalk: if you’re a fan of horror makeup and there’s a lot of awesome pieces to ogle at. However, the final challenge where the two contestants with the lowest scores battle it out to stay or be “exterminated” was where things started to go downhill. Rapidly.

While I could look away from the blood-chugging, and convince myself it was something along the lines of a Fear Factor style hoax, all for show, the final challenge in which the queens had to endure being pierced by the most body modification needles was far too much for me. It’s one thing to watch someone get a terrible tattoo, but to see and hear the yelps of someone having needles being pushed through folds of skin over and over again was more than I could endure. I was definitely not prepared, and I certainly wouldn’t risk watching the show again and facing something worse.

Don’t get me wrong, if you like drag, RuPaul‘s and horror, you’ll be in for a great time. I could only get through one episode of Dragula not because I didn’t find it engaging, but because I simply don’t have the stomach for it.

Show The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula: Season 2

Network OUTtv (Canada), Wow Presents (US), TVNZ (NZ)

Release Date 31 October 2017 – 16 January 2018

Binge Time 8 hrs