Angela Fever wins Ruby’s Rumble Battle Royale drag comp

Angela Fever has been crowned the inaugural winner of Ruby’s Rumble Battle Royale drag competition at The Imperial Hotel in Erskineville, taking home $2500 in prize money after 12 weeks of themed challenges and fierce competition.

This week’s Thursday night finale marked the end of what’s become one of Sydney’s most anticipated new drag comps, hosted by drag queen Ruby Royale at the historic Imperial Hotel and featuring a mix of performance challenges, runway looks and audience voting.

“It honestly feels quite surreal!” Fever, a Filipino-Australian drag queen, told Gay Sydney News on Friday, the morning after her win.

“I worked really hard and feel really proud of myself, and my god competition was tough. On the night winning was overwhelming but very joyous too.”

Fever, the drag persona of 27-year-old Josh (he/him out of drag; she/they in drag), was previously runner-up in Universal Sydney’s Slay 2 Stay Season 5 and has built a reputation for high-energy performances that blend camp and pop culture from the 2000s and 2010s.

“I always call myself the lovechild of Glee and the Pussycat Dolls,” she said. “Because I love being camp and stupid and theatrical, but also love to just be that fun flirty party girl too. My general aesthetic can definitely be boiled down to ‘lesbian in a minidress’ hahah.”

Throughout the competition, Fever tackled weekly themes, and when asked which ones challenged her the most, she named two in particular.

“The first was the ball challenge – mainly cause I don’t really sew and I wanted to push myself out of my aesthetic – and I was really proud of what I put together in the many long nights,” she said, referring to the week where contestants had to create and wear three looks: one pink, one inspired by a song from Lady Gaga’s Mayhem album, and one made entirely from a bag of scrap and spare fabric given to them.

“The other was sci-fi/fantasy week. It was a HUGE challenge to change up makeup, present an original character, do a reveal, create an immersive experience and story. That was definitely one that pushed me a lot.”

One week, she found herself among the bottom three and had to lip sync her way to safety. Another time in the bottom, it was the audience – voting via tokens handed out with bar purchases – who kept her in the game.

When asked about the role of audience voting in her performances and strategy – and whether she had a team supporting her each week – Fever said she didn’t often think of using audience votes as a tactic to stay in the competition.

“I was hoping to never need them to vote to save me hahaha,” she said, referring to audience votes only being needed when competitors were placed in the bottom three.

“But to be honest I always love engaging with an audience and just being really connected and authentic with them. I had my partner and some friends come and support every week which was really special too.”

The crowd wasn’t the only source of support during the 12-week showdown, whose runner up was Gothic Marika. Others among the top four on Thursday night were Christine Lox, as well as Tala Ka – who was crowned Miss Bading Thing 2025 earlier this year, a title awarded at Sydney’s first Filipinx beauty pageant.

“The whole thing was a highlight purely because of the drag friendships and community that was created from this,” Fever said. “I got to compete with and get to know so many amazing drag artists that I otherwise may have never met.”

Judges also played a key role in her growth throughout the competition.

“I’m such a feedback diva,” she said. “Maybe it’s the theatre kid in me but I LOVE getting notes hahaha. I always want to be growing, and what better way to do it than by listening to those with experience who genuinely want to see you flourish.”

Fever joins Sydney’s drag royalty

Fever now joins the ranks of Sydney drag and dance royalty, following recent wins by Karna Ford (Universal Slay 2 Stay winner 2023), Victoria Mami (Universal Slay 2 Stay winner 2024 and Poof Doof Sydney’s next drag superstar 2022), Jackel Doll (The Crown Drag Pageant 2025), Fairah Nuff (Poof Doof Sydney’s next drag superstar 2024), Eli Crawford (Miss Universal 2024) and Christine Lox (Little Miss Palms 2024) at other competitions around the city.

But she remains focused on community and visibility – especially for queer people in Sydney’s outer suburbs.

“You will be seeing plenty of me around!” she said. “I have a fair few things that I can’t announce just yet but one that I’m very excited for is performing at a party called Grease Trap in 2 weeks in Penrith.

“Having grown up in Sydney’s south west, there wasn’t a lot of queerness around, and so I feel really excited to be part of spreading that queer visibility further out west.”

Asked what she plans to spend the prize money on, Fever said: “Drag diva! I’m a firm believer that drag doesn’t always have to be expensive to be fierce, but investing in myself and my art is definitely worth it.”

She credits her success to the network of drag artists and supporters who have uplifted her along the way.

“So much of Angela comes from the queer women and AFAB [assigned female at birth] people in my life who have supported not only Angela but also Josh,” she said. “That is why the celebration of women and gender diverse people is such a big part of my drag.”

Fever also used her platform to advocate for more opportunities for emerging drag performers.

“I think all of these stages that are open for performers across Impy [The Imperial], Universal [Sydney], Chings [Ching-a-Lings], and Stonewall are so amazing and play such a vital part in helping nurture talent – I know all four have played a role in my own journey,” she said.

“I also think we need more! I’m always one to think there’s no such thing as too much space for people to try new things and will always want to back a venue that is willing to make that space.”

With venues like Universal Sydney – owned by the Universal Hotels group – no longer running its regular cash-prize drag competition Slay 4 Pay (though it still hosts the open-stage night Sunday Shenanigans), and Arq – which once held similar competitions – now closed and rebranded as Aura, there are fewer opportunities for emerging performers to not only showcase their talent but also be rewarded.

Fever stressed that live performance spaces remain essential for nurturing emerging talent.

While she doesn;t believe drag will disappear with fewer venues and regular competition nights, Fever warned the lack of performance spaces would make it harder for new talent to gain experience.

“I don’t think it will die because thankfully there are so many ways people can get drag out there now but it’ll definitely be harder to get performance experience! Spaces to perform and learn are so so important, we definitely can’t lose them. I wouldn’t be here without them.”

Advice for the next generation

And for anyone considering entering a drag competition, her advice is simple: “It sounds so cliché but my main things are have fun, and be yourself. Focusing on the fun kept me so grounded through the competition and allowed me to not be too scared to try new things and just go for it!

“And staying to true to me and always wanting to deliver my kind of drag and not someone else’s idea of my drag definitely was a strength for me.”

Outside of the 12-week competition, Ruby Royale hosts Ruby’s Royale Rumble, a monthly drag competition at the Imperial Hotel on the last Thursday of every month.

Correction: Karna Ford was winner of Universal’s Slay 2 Stay 2023, not Poof Doof’s next drag superstar 2023.