今日吃瓜

This weekend the Sportsman Hotel welcomed their latest inductees into their Hall Of Fame, including a surprise addition.

The home of Brisbane Drag hosted their annual event to induct several new names to the prestigious list on Saturday.

And they caught one inductee completely by surprise.

The Sportsman Hotel Hall Of Fame

Since 2017 The Sportsman Hotel have recognised incredible performers every year into their Hall Of Fame, recognising the contributions of local talent. While the awards primarily recognise local drag talent, they also seek to recognise local talent and contributions from community members.

Winners of the annual award have their portraits adorning the walls of the lounge bar at the iconic Brisbane venue.

Since the inception of the awards twenty one people have been inducted including the late Neil 鈥淣ellie鈥� McLucas who sadly passed away last year.聽

This year it was announced that local drag star Dame Martini Fernando Ice would be inducted after twenty four years of performing as well as local performance troupe Three Drags and a Piano that includes Wanda D鈥橮arke (who has been inducted in her own right previously), Maxine Shapiro, Sue Perb and Pianist Paul.

The performers attended the ceremony, hosted by Hall of Fame inductee Miss Synthetique, to a packed house at The Sportsman Hotel. The night also included a performance by 2024 Miss Sportsman LuLu Lemans.

But venue manager Chris White had one special surprise up his sleeve.

Unbeknownst to anyone there was a special third inductee into on the night.

Resident DJ at Sporties DJ Merlin was called from his booth to take to the stage to accept the honour of being inducted into the Hall Of Fame.

The honour recognised twenty five years of hard work and dedication DJ Merlin has provided to The Sportsman Hotel and the Brisbane scene.

DJ Merlin also received the 2024 DJ Of The Year Award at the Queens Ball in Brisbane last year.

The award took him by surprise, with great lengths taken to conceal it from him, so much so that his portrait had yet to be made to hide the news from him.

鈥淭he Sporties Drag Hall of Fame was created to honour and respect contributions of all people involved within the Brisbane drag community,鈥� said venue manager Chris White.

鈥淲e also consider people outside of drag performance for recognition. I can think of nobody more deserving than this man.鈥�

鈥淗e鈥檚 the master of his craft and has been instrumental in nearly every drag show produced on this stage for almost 25 years.鈥�

Dj Merlin and fellow inductees also spoke on stage on the night, speaking of their love of the local and community and the passion for the work they do.

Once the shock wore off this morning Merlin took to Facebook to the thank the community.

鈥淚 had a major bombshell dropped on me last night – a good one though鈥� he wrote.

鈥淚n a move that came as a complete surprise to me I was honoured by being inducted into the Sporties Hall Of Fame. I鈥檓 still completely blown away by this.鈥�

鈥淭he love I felt from everyone in the room last night was staggering. I just want to say a very heartfelt thank you to all the people who were part of my 25 year journey to get to where I am now, and my solemn promise is to keep doing what I can to keep Sporties the amazing institution, as well as the much needed safe space for all that it is. I am truly honoured. See y鈥檃ll at the pub!!!鈥�