#reality-competition

#reality-competition

We watch people lying, and we know they're lying. And also, you watch people dealing with lying not very well and not enjoying it. The lying, backstabbing and manipulation the game inspires does indeed make for delightful TV viewing.

Seasons one and two of the Drag Race UK spin-off series gave crowns to Blu Hydrangea and Tia Kofi, wedded British pop culture with international glamour, and re-introduced us to some of the world's very best drag performer. In the process, they became two of the most talked about seasons in herstory. Season three looks set to spark just as much, if not more, chatter and discourse. Messy drama? Check. Original Drag Race vibes? Yep. World-famous drag divas? In spade loads.

Set inside Vault-Tec's bomb-proof vaults, Fallout Shelter drops a diverse group of contestants into an immersive, high-stakes world inspired by the games' signature dark humor, retro-futurism, and post-apocalyptic survival storytelling.

The Dragula spin-off will see 14 drag performers and former Dragula contestants return and face off in a set of horror and supernatural-themed challenges to test their designs, performance and artistry. If the artists survive the show's pillars of Filth, Horror and Glamour they will win the Queen of the Underworld title and crown, a $100,000 cash prize, as well as a headline slot on the Dragula world tour.

The format reminds me of PE lessons. You know how gym teachers split groups of friends up, so they concentrate? Here, Korean boy and girl groups such as JO1 and Blackswan are split in half. Each half works with a famous western pop artist, re-tooling their best-known song in K-pop mode. The resulting performances are voted for by the studio audience, and the winner gets well, nothing.

This series is a devastatingly precise illustration of systemic failure, political impotence and media distortion.

"Our entire category used to just do logo sponsorships at the bottom corner of the game... we've got intellectual property now," said State Farm Head of Marketing Alyson Griffin about the evolution of gaming marketing.

It's exciting, especially in our current climate, that I just played a man named Henry who's an Italian tour guide.