18th Oct2022

‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK 4×04’ Review

by Rhys Payne

In all honesty, I am not the biggest fan of the voting-style mini-challenges that have become so frequent across all franchises on Ru Paul’s Drag Race because they are clearly just ploys to introduce some drama into the show. Getting the queens to vote for each other in categories such as background character, hot mess and best in show always seems to end up with one person feeling put down. I find that forcing a rift between the queens is unnecessary and in fact winning the awards does not provide any actual benefit to the rest of the competition. After the turn of this drama-creating mini-challenge, the queens were paired up to create complimentary looks for a night at the bingo. At the top of the episode was the unique pairing of Baby and Dakota Shiffer, who created a set of black PVC/Versace print outfits that looked amazing next to each other on the runway. This is why it came as no surprise when these two queens were announced as the winners of the episode but the bottom selection has seemed to cause massive debates online. Copper Top and Cheddar Gorgeous were paired up for the design challenge with the latter creating an amazing gold-infused look and the former attempting a homage to Barbella with limited success. At the same time, Jonbers Blonde and Black Peppa (with this being the first time this season the latter has faltered) also struggled to execute the design that was decided upon in the time frame given but instead of simply having the worst performing pair in the bottom, Ru decided to split the teams up leaving Copper and Peppa in the losers lip-sync. While Copper put up a good fight against her opponent (even pulling out incredible splits) it was very clear that Peppa is a seasoned performer and so she remains in the competition with Copper being told to sashay away!

This week’s episode however began with one of my favourite mini-challenges I have seen in a very long time! The queens were told to get into quick drag where their bums were the focus of the look. This was because they had to compete against one another in a musical chairs-style activity which required not skill/talent and was simply a bit of fun. Danny’s Beard was the first one eliminated in this children’s party-style game as he refused to run around which, to be honest, is something that I would also totally do! The winner of this party game was Pixie Polite who defiantly claimed the final chair in a battle between herself and Sminty Drop. If I had one issue with this mini-challenge then it would be the fact that the creative team behind this season tried to force a British reference into the challenge name which didn’t particularly make sense. As a way of paying homage to the 2012 crime drama, the team decided to call this challenge “Line of Booty Duty” which did feel a bit forced as there were no other references to the show within the game.

Due to her win in the mini-challenge, Pixie was given the opportunity to choose the groupings for this week’s maxi challenge (where she chose the formidable super-group of Danny Beard and Cheddar) Which had the queens showcasing their improvisational skills in a talk show segment hosted by Alan Carr. I have to say that I can totally appreciate Sminty Drop’s frustration at the fact that there seems to be a rise in popularity of group challenges as including this week, which makes three group challenges in the space of four episodes. First up to the catty man set was the aforementioned trio of Danny, Pixie and Cheddar who were given the sketch “Curiosity Killed the Katrina” which told the story of a former child star who is dealing with the ‘loss’ of her sister. While all three queens did excellently in this performance this was a moment for Danny Beard to really flex his acting talents as he had everyone in hysterics throughout. As the mystic Mog, he was able to flawlessly interact with a range of props (such as comedy teeth, a laser pointer and cat nip) which is hard to do at the best of times never mind when the script is being made up as you go along! It was clear that Dakota got off to a very strong start with the unusual voice swap storyline, so much so that she could be visibly seen in the performance laughing at herself throughout. Baby then stormed the stage to join Dakota where she performed a fairly lacklustre original song which is even worse when you consider she has been telling everyone this season that she has a degree in songwriting! To complete this trip was Le Fil who played a medical doctor who was there to advise on how they could get their respective voices back but she began to ramble and talked for a prolonged period of time. It was also very clear that Sminty Drop struggled with these acting challenges.

The runway theme of this episode was hair which led to a very powerful discussion between the queens regarding the importance of hair. Cheddar shared that at a young age she experience meningitis which caused her to lose a lot of her hair which is why she is frequently bald and the newfound empowerment this choice has had on her. Peppa and Baby talked about the cultural importance of hair in POC communities and the disgusting argument of professionalism with regards to classically black hairstyles. Seeing the queens break down and discuss the runway category takes the fashion element from simply an opportunity to showcase outfits to an important political and personal statement, which I thought was a fantastic inclusion! Cheddar was the first queen to grace the stage with her Cheshire Cat-inspired look complete with a catsuit and they even managed to include the wonderful theatrics of coughing up a fur ball on the runway. This look was clearly a clever nod to the cat-infused mini-challenge that managed to tie the sections together beautifully! I really enjoyed Baby’s Grace Kelly-inspired look which had a cage made entirely out of braids, as it tied into the oppression of POC hairstyles that was also previously discussed. I agree with the judges that the outfit could have been bigger and more impactful but I still thought it looked great on Baby! My favourite look this week would have to be Sminty Drop who walked the runway with an incredible, sparkly moth outfit with a wonderfully exaggerated ruffle collar and interestingly unique hair. Not only was this, unlike anything I have seen before while at the same time being extremely camp, it also looked fantastic on Sminty which is the fundamental requirement for any runway looks.

It was announced that the overall winner of the episode would be none other than the incredible Danny Beard which came as a surprise to no one as they dominated the acting challenge. If it was up to me to decide who was in the bottom this week then I would have sadly gone for Sminty and Le Fil as they seemed to struggle most, however, Ru Paul decided that Sminty would lip-sync battle against Baby to see who would go home. The latter queen is known for being an incredible performer which she utilised during the performance where she essentially stripped down to her underwear and began twerking! I was devastated at the end of the lip-sync when it was announced Baby would be staying and sadly Sminty Drop would be leaving the competition. While it was clear that the former won the lip-sync battle, I was disappointed as Sminty has showcased some of the best runway looks I have ever seen across all of the Drag Race franchises. I don’t think I will ever be able to fully get over that iconic Antiques Roadshow outfit!

Overall, this was a very entertaining episode with one of my all-time favourite mini-challenges. The improv main performance really divided the queens up with the highlights being the trio of Cheddar, Pixie and Danny (with the latter being a particular powerhouse) but Dakota also gave a very entertaining performance! I thought that seeing the queens break down the importance of the runway category was really insightful and I hope this is something the show does more often moving forward.

**** 4/5

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