Ella Lamoureux (far left) is competing on the new TV series "Call Me Mother" for a chance to win $50,000.
Image Credit: OUTtv.ca
October 10, 2021 - 6:03 PM
A Kelowna drag queen with more than a decade of experience is appearing on reality TV for a chance to walk away with $50,000.
Ella Lamoureux, also known as her colonial name Dustin Dufault, is competing for $50,000 as part of the new reality TV series Call Me Mother premiering Oct. 25 at 9 p.m. on OUTtv, the world’s first LGBTQ2+ TV Network.
The unscripted reality series, hosted by Dallas Dixon of Entertainment Tonight Canada, will see 10 diverse drag artists compete for a place in one of three new drag houses, and for the opportunity to be mentored by a drag legend.
In the course of eight weeks, the House of Dulcet with Miss Peppermint, the House of Glass with Crystal and the House of Harmonie with Barbada de Barbades will compete as families in a series of challenges designed to test their artistry and elevate their drag. The mother of the losing house must then choose which member of their own drag family will be eliminated.
Lamoureux was part of the original drag scene with her friend Sasha in Kelowna roughly 10 years ago. At the time when there wasn’t much going on in town for drag.
“It got to the point where people were like ‘why are you doing drag here? There’s no scene for you?’ And we were like ‘listen B, we are the scene,’” she laughed.
“We started creating our own events and promoting ourselves but it was also during the time where Drag Race wasn’t super popular so a lot of venues didn’t want to work with us, so we’d have to rent out venues and rent out all the equipment and get the dance floor, it was a lot of work,” she said.
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That scene gradually changed as drag became more mainstream.
Ella Lamoureux
Image Credit: Outtv.ca
Growing up in the Yukon, in a community where a male expressing any form of femininity was frowned upon, she eventually found a love for drag when she dressed up at a friend’s house. Now, Lamoureux sees it as a way to express her femininity as a two-spirited queen.
“Why should there be one or the other? Why can’t there be Dustin and Ella as one?” she said.
Filming took place last May in Toronto but competitors still don’t know who will take home the $50,000. Lamoureux is the oldest competitor on the show at 37.
“My favourite part was the diversity of the cast. When I walked on set and I got to meet all the other drag performers there, I was blown away. There were trans artists, there were non-binary artists, there was a drag king, there were every different walks of life… and I just loved that,” she said.
The show will be shown at a live viewing party at Friends of Dorothy Lounge in Kelowna at 9 p.m. Oct. 25. It will be available to watch online on OUTtv.com, the OUTtv Apple TV Channel and the OUTtv Amazon Prime Channel.
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