Now on it’s third season of live competition, The Gold Rush is stepping into the online world bringing diverse drag talent straight from The Glory’s basement in Haggerston, to you in your home! Each season has been filmed and season 1 is now premiering every Sunday, 1pm GMT, on youtube, allowing you to catch up if you missed it, or rewatch your favourite drag artists!

The Gold Rush is a drag competition run by Taylor Trash, London’ only Southern Belle-end, which takes place in front of a live audience and focuses primarily on the performance side of drag. Each week of the competition feels very much like a drag show, but with the added element of prizes and the chance to continue to the next week. Drag artists are selected based on talent, however Taylor Trash is a huge advocate for young or new performers so experience is not always necessary. This makes the Gold Rush an incredibly inclusive space, where everyone has equal opportunity and is supported by the crowd regardless of whether it’s their debut or their 100th time performing. The competition is also open to performers of any gender, race, sexuality, body type or age, meaning the lineup is always wonderfully diverse and truly representative of London’s drag scene.

Each week, challenges are designed to help the drag artists taking part think outside of the box and produce fresh and unique material not usually seen on the London cabaret circuit. No particular style of drag is prioritised, meaning Queens and Kings of all types can flourish on the stage; every night brings a variety of looks, lip-sync, live singing, humour, stand up, and dance. After each performance, the judging panel (always featuring big names from the world of cabaret and TV to guest judge - Season One alone had previous winners of Miss Sink the Pink, current RuPaul’s Drag Race UK contestants, Producers and Award winning cabaret acts from across the country, and every week joined by Mary Poppers as Head Judge) give feedback and score 20 points for each of the following criteria: Look, Originality, Stage Presence, Technicality and Creativity. These points are combined with audience votes in the form of Trash Cash - dollar bills that come with each drink bought or can be purchased separately to tip your favourite performers. The artists with the highest combined score continue in the competition. The money generated from Trash Cash sales (as well as the ticket price) is collected and given to the winner and runners up of the competition. So, any money the audience spends, directly contributes to the community and the performers involved in the show.

Produced over one year by Sammy Harkin, aka PostTeenIdol, The Gold Rush Season One is a true labour of love. From organising the filming, to editing and deciding the format of the show, Sammy’s editing technique is inspired by meme culture and K-Pop TV competitions such as ‘Produce 101’ and ‘Queendom’. Using a mix of Premiere Pro and Photoshop Sammy worked to enhance the content and production of each performance for the showreels and truly bring the content and subject matter of each artists’ work to life. Production has already begun on Season Two’s web series which has updated camera and lighting arrangements. “It’s been a process of figuring it out”, Sammy says. “From Season Two we should be much better at presenting the quality and vision of each act for the small screen. The ambition is to enhance audiences experiences of watching the show and make them feel like they are actually seeing the action unfold live as an audience member in their home”.

I personally can’t get enough of The Gold Rush - every night I have attended has been an amazing show, and the diversity in it’s competitors shines through as being genuinely authentic. Taylor Trash’s love of drag in all it’s forms is obvious, as is her drive to boost new talent in the scene and help other artists get gigs and be able to do drag as a career if they choose. It’s also a fantastic night for audience participation - being able to throw your Trash Cash and help your favourite win is so exciting, and seeing your vote actually make a difference keeps you engaged in the show, and wanting to be more involved each week. The fact it is now being shown online means the fantastic performances from the competitors as well as the hard work of Taylor Trash and Sammy Harkin can be enjoyed by a much larger audience, and gain the worldwide recognition they deserve.

This week Taylor’s challenge is the ‘Blue Ribbon Babe Pageant.’ The contestants have been asked to prepare for the following categories: Talent, Runway and QnA. ‘Talent’, could be/mean anything at this point in the competition, while ‘Runway’, showcases an ultimate look of their best drag! The final category ‘QnA’ tests the contestants ability to think on their feet, as they will be asked 2 questions they must answer. This challenge has since become a staple of the competition. Find out who our first EVER Blue Ribbon Babe is… and who will be awarded first Loser. Guest judges this week include Crystal (also seen on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK), Baby Lame, Grace Shush and Cybil War.

Catch the next episode THIS SUNDAY, 1pm GMT, on Youtube. Subscribe to TrashTVOfficial to keep up to date!