‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK 4×03’ Review
In last week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK so the remaining queens grouped together to write and perform an original verse to “Come Alive” during the first-ever YAS-tonbury music festival. While it wasn’t the most memorable song/performance I do think a few queens were able to shine. Sminty, Jonbers and Starlet however seemed to all really struggle with the challenge and tripped over the lyrics that they themselves wrote. This reminds me of last season when Starlet Harlet forgot her words mid-performance, which I thought should have been grounds for an instant elimination as knowing the words is vital to these challenges and she literally tensed up on stage. It was only Jonbers and Starlet who ended up in the bottom with the latter being told to sashay away after the lip-sync performance. It was Starlet’s reaction however that still has viewers shocked – as she left the stage in a bit of a tantrum without delivering the expected exit line! We also saw a different side of Baby during this episode, who thought it would be a good idea to continue to make the three aforementioned queens feel worse about themselves after expressing her own personal disappointment that people did not match her extremely high standards. The classic adage “don’t kick someone when they are down” springs to mind and felt quite unnecessary as the judges had expressed how well Baby had done in the challenge. I do need to take a moment to acknowledge that incredible rainbow mushroom outfit that Cheddar Gorgeous wore on the runway during the neon nights runway category as it is quite possibly one of the greatest outfits I have ever seen on Drag Race!
From a personal highlight last episode, to my least favourite mini-challenge so far this season – this week the queens had to vote in the first-ever NAFF-TA awards. This was clearly a parody of the BAFTA awards (of which I have attended in Cardiff) but it seemed like this challenge was simply contrived to force in some drama as it was referenced later. I did chuckle a fair bit at the reveal of the trophies being a recreation of that wonderfully dreadful Ru Paul Christmas ornament sold by I believe it was Wish a few years ago! If I was designing this challenge I would have made sure that every queen would have gotten a trophy and judged everyone on their ability to deliver the best acceptance speech. As there was no competitive element to this challenge, so it did make it feel like it was an opportunity for the queens to collectively insult one another with no accountability as it was all done in private. The awards included “beast in show” (which was won by Black Peppa, best Background character (which was won by Copper Top), “scene stealing attention whore” (which was won by Danny beard who gave a hilarious non-verbal acceptance speech through exaggerated wailing), the resting on pretty award (which was won by Baby) and best hot mess (which was won by Sminty Drop.)
The maxi-challenge this week saw the queens pair up to create complimentary outfits that they could wear in the bingo. I didn’t fully understand the inclusion of the concept of bingo in this challenge as it just felt like an opportunity to pander to the UK audience, without actually altering anything in the challenge. If the mini-challenge this week was judged and a winner was chosen then it would have made sense if they were able to decide which colour-themed box each pair would be using but instead this responsibility was given to Sminty Drop as the winner of the best hot mess award. If I was in Sminty’s shoes then I would have wanted to keep the black box for myself as this colour is known if for its slimming qualities and could have worked well on any complexion but this is where my sewing knowledge would end! However, Sminty choose to give herself the blue box and the black box instead went to Dakota Schifer and Baby. I thought it was laughable that the only Irish queen in the competition (namely Jonbers Blonde) ended up with the green box as this is a colour stereotypically associated with St. Patrick’s day and Irish culture. The first pair to grace the runway was Le Fil and Sminty who were doing an almost synchronised swimming display with the formers looking somewhat Cher-inspired with their long black hair. While the judges praised these looks for their technical execution, I have to admit that it wasn’t my favourite look this week. The worst cohesive performance this week in my opinion would have to be the pairing of Black Peppa and Jonbers, whose woven green outfits appeared unfinished with the former queen’s look literally falling apart as she walked down the runway. I thought that Danny Beard and Pixie Polite really surprised me this week as they stayed in that world of camp that both queens have become synonymous with. The two queens had matching purple dresses on with one being slightly shorter than the other, both wore black wigs one of which was massive and the other was a ponytail and matching gold chains that worked beautifully on the purple fabric they had chosen. However the best performance this week would have to be the surprising pairing of Dakota and Baby who had managed to create an incredible black PVC outfit with corresponding accents on each look. They had cleverly reflected the idea of puffed elements across both creations with one having a puffed skirt and the other with puffed sleeves. They also used the classic Versace graphic print across both outfits to help tie them together and create two cohesive and complimentary looks.
It came as no surprise when it was announced that Dakota and Baby were the winners of this week’s episode as their outfits were not only some of the most cohesive but were also technically complex to create. Ru made the rare decision that this week the pairs would be split up for judging which meant that Black Peppa and Copper Top would be in the bottom despite being in two different groups. It must be tough for the queens to lip-sync in outfits that have been ripped apart from the judges in the episode and it was also clear that both costumes became a hindrance for the two performers. In the opening moments, Black Peppa removed her skirt and Copper’s cape could be seen getting caught on things throughout the performance. However, I do have to say that this was one of the better lip-syncs this season, with both queens pulling out a range of tricks throughout the number. I personally think that Copper gave a much more entertaining performance but Black Peppa delivered more performance-stealing moments throughout. It was announced that Copper would sadly be going home this week which was disappointing as I was waiting for her to redeem Drag Race of the awful pantomime dame challenge two seasons ago.
Overall, this was a fairly entertaining episode that could have used a bit more consideration to be a logical viewing experience. I felt like the mini-challenge was simply there to shoehorn in some drama to the episode with an almost random selection as to who gets the competitive advantage for the main challenge. Most of the queens did well in the design challenge but it was fairly obvious who would be in the bottom this week purely based on the outfits alone.
