Call Me Mother

For the song by RuPaul, see American (album).

Call Me Mother is a Canadian reality television series, which premiered on OutTV in 2021.^[1] Hosted by Entertainment Tonight Canada reporter Dallas Dixon, the series is a drag competition which will see up-and-coming drag performers join one of three drag houses to compete in group challenges, with one drag artist eliminated each week until the winner of the competition is crowned the "First Child of Drag".^[2]

Call Me Mother
Call Me Mother Logo
Genre	Reality competition
Directed by	Jan McCharles Rae Upton
Starring	Peppermint Crystal Barbada de Barbades
Country of origin	Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producers	Daniel Oron Natasha Ryan Glenn Sims
Production location	North Bay
Production companies	Go Button Media RedFlame TV
Original release
Network	OutTV
Release	October 25, 2021 (2021-10-25) – present (present)

The series is distinct from the RuPaul's Drag Race franchise in adding a drag mother mentoring and coaching team aspect similar to The Voice or The X Factor,^[3] and is also a fully inclusive competition featuring drag queens, drag kings, transgender and non-binary drag artists.^[1]

The houses are led by established drag queens Peppermint (House of Dulcet), Crystal (House of Glass) and Barbada de Barbades (House of Harmonie).^[1] Ontario drag queen Farra N. Hyte, the drag mother of RuPaul's Drag Race competitor and Canada's Drag Race judge Brooke Lynn Hytes, and Québec drag queen Miss Butterfly serve as "aunties", who provide additional support and feedback but do not directly "mother" their own teams.^[4] Hyte and Dixon were also the co-hosts of a weekly companion podcast which included post-elimination interviews with the competing artists.^[5]

Miss Butterfly did not return as an "auntie" for the second season, and was replaced by past Dragula winner Landon Cider.^[6]

Call Me Mother was created by RedFlame TV, and produced in Canada by Go Button Media and RedFlame TV.^[7] It was shot in North Bay, Ontario in early 2021.^[8]

The series premiered with its first season on October 25, 2021.^[9] The first season was won by Toddy, a non-binary drag performer from Vancouver, British Columbia.^[10] A second season, announced on December 15 and released in 2022,^[11] was won by drag performer Weebee.^[12]

Production

Season 1

Main article: Call Me Mother (season 1)

Casting occurred in the early months of 2021, with production starting in late spring 2021. The final cast was announced on October 5, 2021.^[4] The inaugural season consisted of eight episodes.

Season 2

Main article: Call Me Mother (season 2)

On December 15, two days after the first season finale, OutTV announced the renewal of the series for a second season following the success of the first.^[11] Casting for the second season opened on February 16, 2022.^[13] The official cast was announced on September 22, 2022 with a premiere date of October 26.^[14]

Mothers and other figures

On June 3, 2021, it was announced that Peppermint, Crystal and Barbada would be leading the series as the mothers to the competing drag houses. Dallas Dixon was also announced as the host.^[2] It was later revealed that Farra N. Hyte and Miss Butterfly would be joining the series as aunties.^[4] When the official cast for season 2 was announced, it was confirmed that Peppermint, Crystal and Barbada would be returning as the mothers for the second season and that Dallas Dixon would be returning as the host.^[14] On September 30, 2022, it was revealed that Farra N. Hyte would be returning as an auntie and a judge, and would be joined by Dragula season 3 winner Landon Cider taking the role of "guncle" and judge.^[15]

Call Me Mother Mothers and other figures

Figure	Season
	1	2
Dallas Dixon	Host
Peppermint	Mother
Crystal	Mother
Barbada	Mother
Farra N. Hyte	Auntie
Miss Butterfly	Auntie
Landon Cider		Guncle
Wig Zaddy	Salon Team
Lucinda Miu	Salon Team
Connor McCalden	Salon Team

Series overview

Series	Premiere Date	Finale Date	Winner	Runners-up	No. of contestants	Winner's prizes
1	October 25, 2021	December 13, 2021	Toddy	Kiki Coe Valerie Hunt	10	$25,000 An all-inclusive 7 nights stay for two at the Secrets Vallarta Bay Hotel in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, courtesy of Air Canada Vacations A year's supply of BPerfect Cosmetics A year's supply of Wella Professionals hair product and the chance to be the Wella Face of Pride for 2022 A consultation with leading LGBTQ management company PEG A single which will be produced and released by the PEG recording label PEG Records A meeting with top tv and film agents at Clear Talent Group The opportunity to be featured in an upcoming Daddy Couture Clothing campaign The title of Canada's First Child of Drag
2	October 26, 2022	December 21, 2022	Weebee	Jessie Précieuse Makayla Couture Pepper	15	$25,000 (courtesy of Freddie) An all-inclusive 7 nights stay for two at the Almar Resort luxury LGBTQ+ beachfront experience in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, courtesy of Air Canada Vacations A year's supply of Rimmel Cosmetics A year's supply of Wella Professionals hair product and the chance to be the Face of Wella at Pride Toronto The title of Canada's First Child of Drag

Relationship to Canada's Drag Race

Although the shows are not directly related, two performers to date have appeared in both Call Me Mother and Canada's Drag Race. Season 2's Makayla Couture appeared on the second season of Canada's Drag Race as the makeover partner of Icesis Couture in the "Prom" episode prior to competing in the second season of Call Me Mother,^[16] and Kiki Coe competed in the fourth season of Canada's Drag Race after her run in the first season of Call Me Mother.^[17]

Reception

The series was the highest-rated original production in OutTV's history for Season 1.^[11]

References

1. West, Rachel (June 2, 2021). . ET Canada. Archived from the original on June 3, 2021.
2. Joey Nolfi, "RuPaul's Drag Race queens Peppermint, Crystal launch new drag competition series Call Me Mother". Entertainment Weekly, June 3, 2021.
3. André-Constantin Passiour, "Barbada de Barbades star de «Call Me Mother»". Fugues, June 25, 2021.
4. Joey Nolfi, "Call Me Mother casts queens, kings, and nonbinary stars in wild new drag competition". Entertainment Weekly, October 5, 2021.
5. Nick Krewen, "OUTtv elevates drag format in new series". Playback, October 21, 2021.
6. Nolfi, Joey. "'Dragula' winner Landon Cider joins 'Call Me Mother' season 2 as judge". Entertainment Weekly. from the original on 2022-10-14. Retrieved 2022-10-18.
7. Nico Franks, "OUTtv drags up competition series". C21 Media, June 3, 2021.
8. Bruno Lapointe, "Call Me Mother: une Québécoise parmi les mentors de la série". Le Journal de Montréal, June 10, 2021.
9. Ryan Porter, "'Call Me Mother' part of a wave of reality shows with 'RuPaul' alumni being produced by OutTV". Toronto Star, October 25, 2021.
10. Sydney Morton, "Kelowna Peak Pride kick off weekend beats the winter blues". CHBC-DT, January 24, 2022.
11. Kelly Townsend, "OUTtv renews original drag format Call Me Mother". Playback, December 15, 2021.
12. Jacqueline Salomé, "Vancouver drag queen Weebee earns the Call Me Mother crown". Loose Lips, February 1, 2023.
13. Call Me Mother Official (February 16, 2022) "Casting for Season 2 is now live. So what are you waiting for when drag can be anything! " Twitter.com
14. September 22, Joey Nolfi; EDT, 2022 at 01:00 PM. "Meet 'Call Me Mother' season 2's cast of queens, kings, and non-binary artists". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-09-22.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
15. September 30, Joey Nolfi; EDT, 2022 at 01:00 PM. "Dragula winner Landon Cider joins Call Me Mother season 2 as permanent judge". EW.com. Retrieved 2022-09-30.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
16. Lautens, Annika (18 January 2022). "Icesis Couture on Her Best Looks from "Canada's Drag Race"". Fashion Magazine. Retrieved 24 September 2022.
17. Bianca Guzzo, "Canada’s Drag Race Season Four: Meet The Queens". In Magazine, October 18, 2023.

External links

• Call Me Mother at IMDb