One of the biggest criticisms of Drag Race is the fact that there is that there is constantly a new season hitting our screens. At first, I could not understand why people were getting annoyed about the constant flow of their favourite show, I now realise that it is simply impossible to stay up to date with all the international seasons, all-stars, spin-offs etc which means fans are forced to prioritise which shows they want to watch which means there are many queens who do not get the attention they deserve! If you have been following our blog for a little while you will be aware that nothing frustrates us more than the fact that queens competing on Drag Race UK are battling it out in the hopes of winning a silly badge. Instead of simply walking away with a collection of these lacklustre badges this season however, for the first time ever in Drag Race UK her-story the winner of the season will walk away with a massive £25,000! On top of this exciting twist, this season also sees the return of immunity with each episode winner gaining an automatic save from going home in the next episode. These inclusions are clearly trying to help make this season stand out against the immense influx of drag race franchises which can only benefit the queens involved in this season.
The first queen to sashay into the werk room was the fabulous Rileesa Slaves which I have to say is an absolutely fantastic name! This St Lucian-born but London-based queen entered wearing a gorgeous green leopard print outfit complete with a wonderful jacket which had the most fantastic oversized collar and puffy sleeves. As a self-confessed musical theatre fan, we loved hearing that Rilesa is a performing arts queen and so we cannot wait to see her showcase her skills throughout the competition specifically during the inevitable ru-suical challenge!
One of the great things about having a UK iteration of Drag Race is the fact that British viewers get to see their culture being shown/discussed and explored on the big screen. I particularly enjoy when queens reference key moments from British pop culture and so we thought it was amazing seeing the 90s classic Art Attack get a mention on Drag Race! The second queen to enter the werk-room was the wonderful Charra Tea who talked about her love of the aforementioned craft-based TV show and specifically how the host Neil Buchanan inspired their drag and nothing showed this more than their entrance look. The northern Ireland-based Charra Tea walked into the season in a vibrant paint-splattered outfit complete with matching hair, wrist and shoe accessories and a bright yellow wig as she proclaimed “red, blue yell-o” which really solidified the comments made earlier about the influence of Art Attack on her style of drag! The next queen to sashay into the werk room was the charismatic Zahirah Zapanta and instantly it is clear that Zahirah is extremely proud of her Filipina heritage as she used the opening moments of her entrance to share some Filipino which I personally think is absolutely amazing! She walked into the werk-room initially wearing a gorgeous brown ruffled robe only to remove it moments later to showcase a sparkly silver outfit underneath which looked absolutely amazing. To complete her entrance look this queen wore a stunning brown and rainbow wig which added the perfect splash of colour to her look. Zahirah then disclosed that they are infarct a wig designer which made sense based on how wonderful this first wig was! What was particularly interesting about this entrance sequence was the fact that Zahirah spent a few moments rolling on the floor which left the other queens in the werk-room visibly very confused.
I was recently made aware that this newest season of Drag Race UK is also the first time in Drag Race her-story that all nations of the British Islands will be represented in one season! In previous iterations of Drag Race UK, there has been a heavy reliance on English queens (which is still the case this season) but this time around the casting team has made sure to provide representation from all areas starting with the iconic Scottish-born Chanel O’Connor! What I thought was particularly impressive about this queen is the fact that they had clearly thought about every detail of their entrance sequence as she proudly proclaimed that she was extremely rich as she showcased a classically gorgeous blue and white outfit with a matching purse that instantly screamed business wear that tied into not only her name but also the earlier proclamation! To add a splash of colour to the look, Chanel decided to also showcase a wonderfully styled orange wig. This queen also made a point to announce to everyone that she is a talented seamstress and so I am excited to see what she will produce in next week’s design challenge!
The next queen to enter the werk-room actually came from my hometown of Wales which obviously I think is absolutely amazing! Not only is it fantastic to see my country being showcased on the big screen but Actavia took this one step further by using her entrance sequence to share a short example of the Welsh language. Many people may not be aware that the use of the Welsh language is very decisive in Wales and in fact, many people would classify the national language of Wales as a vulnerable/endangered language so having mainstream representation can only help promote/protect the language which is obviously fantastic! The twenty-two-year-old, dancing diva decided to showcase an incredible black and white /nude bodysuit (which I assume is a reference to Drag Race double double entendre) with wonderful red details including gloves and a wonderful train following behind her. One of the most shocking inclusions to this iteration of Drag Race UK was the iconic La Voix who walked into the season as a very extremely established queen who seems to constantly be touring the UK. In fact, we have been lucky enough to see La Voix perform live in Cardiff twice (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2022/02/20/la-voix-performance-review/) which was extra special because during the first of these shows the icon La Voix was kind enough to bring my Aunty onto the stage to help celebrate her 65th birthday which made for a truly special experience! It is painfully clear that La Voix wanted to make sure that from the moment she entered the room, everybody knew exactly who she was as she walked in wearing her classic redhead and a stunningly gorgeous gown. I know that if I was one of the queens in the werk room and I saw this cabaret legend walk into the competition I would have been instantly intimidated due to how much of a name they have behind them! In an unusually coincidental twist, the next queen to walk in was also that I know fairly well! It has been heavily rumoured for a long time that Marmalade (who I recently sat next to on the judging panel of Jolene’s drag race which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2024/08/13/jolenes-drag-race-week-three/) would be appearing on this season but the crowd at Mary’s went absolutely wild when they saw the familiar face on the screen! Some people may not be aware but Marmalade belongs to the same drag family as some of the UK icons such as the winner of Drag Race UK vs the World season two Tia Kofi and the incredible Victoria Scone (who we saw perform at Glee Club which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2022/03/01/victoria-scone-production-review/#:~:text=Overall%20this%20was%20an%20extremely,incredibly%20affordable%20show%20to%20watch!) both of which have done incredible things within the franchise so the bar is set very high! What is particularly incredible about Marmalade being on this show is the fact that they are known for being an insanely talented self-taught seamstress and have made the majority of her outfits for this season! She entered the werk room in a gorgeous blue and pink ensemble which was a clear reference to her burlesque background.
The next queen to enter the werk room is someone who I have also been following on social media for a very long time the incredible Kyran Thrax as even before making it onto the show they have showcased a series of incredible outfits! Kyran is clearly another queen who clearly thought about every detail of their entrance into the competition as the whole sequence was executed perfectly. The sequence began with with Kyran shouting from off-screen “Who forgot to take the bins out?” and then appeared wearing an incredible bin bag outfit which many of the queens seemed to take issue with. While I understand that the entrance looks are your first exposure to the drag race universe, I personally thought that despite it being made of what appeared to be bin bags the outfit did look insane! Kyran had made sure to create a complete look as they had rubbish on their shoes and carried with them a cartoon of bin juice. Following the unique entrance of Kyran was the beautiful Saki Yew which is another hilarious pun name! Saki entered the werk-room wearing a wonderful black outfit that had bright pink ruffles over key parts of their body with a wonderful train following behind her. To complete the outfit, Saki paired the look with a blonde updo which helped to create a classically glamorous look which looked absolutely wonderful! Saki also announced that they are also a musical theatre performance which again starts to create excitement for the inevitable ru-sical challenge but also hints at a potential feud between this queen and Rilesa (who also mentioned their love of musical theatre earlier in the episode.) The twisted part of my brain wants to see these two queens lipsync against each other to a musical-infused song which seems to happen at least once a season during the UK version of the show!
The next queen to enter the race was the wonderfully eccentric Lill who belongs to the family Gorgeous which means that she has a very close relationship with drag race season four runner-up Cheddar Gorgeous (who we saw perform at The Glee Club Cardiff which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2023/06/14/party-monsters-tour-production-review/) which instantly sets a very high bar for Lill to try and surpass! Lill entered the werk-room in a wonderfully gothic blue outfit carrying a doll that was dressed in the exact same outfit. This reminded me of the challenge of Drag Race season sixteen where the queens had to create an outfit for themselves and create an outfit for a doll which could be Lill’s way of showing her love of the show! The penultimate queen to enter the werk-room was another St Lucia-born, London-residing queen Kiki Snatch. Considering the fact that St Lucia has an area of 238 square foot island it is a massive surprise that this season has two queens from the same island! Kiki entered the competition wearing an incredibly sparkly bodysuit that showed off her body flawlessly with a stunning long blonde wig that made total sense with the rest of the look. This queen made sure to announce to the queens that she is a very talented dancer and so everyone expected that later in the episode we would see them bust out some mover but that was not the case!
In yet another addiction to what appears to be this season of first, the final queen to enter the werk-room was the amazing Dita Garbo who is the oldest queen to compete on Drag Race UK at the age of just 48. This is another queen that I have been following on social media for a very long time as they have made a name for themselves as an incredibly talented burlesque dancer. Having only discovered the art form known as burlesque fairly recently (which was chatted about with the brilliant Lili Del Fflur on our YouTube channel which you can watch at https://youtu.be/oLe5eRTd7vs?si=OO0gAoFpeNlzPNyl) I think it fantastic that this style of dance is getting so much exposure on this season as both Dita and my fellow Jolene’s drag race judge Marmalade are talented burlesque performers and a twisted side of me looks forward to see if we will get the first ever burlesque infused lipsync at one point in this season! Dita strutted into the werk-room wearing a wonderful purple outfit that was absolutely covered with her name which alluded to her performance later in the challenge but more on that later! One of my favourite things about this queen’s entrance however was her hilarious entrance line where she asked “Is this the Battersea dog show? ….. Because I smell B*tches” which had the entire audience at Mary’s in fits of laughter!
Once all the queens had made their way to the werk-room, Ru Paul announced that for the maxi challenge, this week would see the queens take part in the first-ever Tickety Boo cabaret show. This type of challenge is similar to the talent show challenge we have seen on other Drag Race seasons but with a unique, British-infused cabaret twist which shows at least some awareness of the location of the season. I thought it was a very clever choice to have La Voix open the show as this style of performance is something that she does essentially every day and she proved why she is such a legend in the cabaret scene. She obviously decided to showcase a live singing performance but in classic La Voix style added the perfect amount of comedy into the routine. Having seen La Voix on two separate occasions, I know that she is a very talented vocalist but I also know the plethora of fantastic impressions she is capable of which she has now shown the millions of viewers watching this season. She decided to showcase her impressions of Judy Garland and Shirley Bassey both of which were equal parts impressive and equal parts hilarious!
In an almost total contrast to this comedic, cabaret-style performance Activia preceded La Voix with an insanely high-energy dance performance. This queen is clearly a very talented dancer and even managed to bust out the drag staple ‘The Duck Walk’ which was amazing to watch! In one of the more eccentric performances from the talent show style challenge, Lill showcased a unique act where they did their makeup while being berated by a comedic voice-over. This routine doesn’t sound like it should work, but it was totally captivating and entertaining and showed everyone that Lil is a very clever performer who is not afraid of doing things that are totally unexpected. As previously discussed, Marmalade has made a name for themself for being a very talented burlesque performer and so I expected to see Marmalade show her years of training but i could not have been more wrong! Wearing a wonderful suit, the Welsh queen delivered a highly powerful and moving spoken word performance which had not only the judges but also the performers very close to tears! This was not at all what I expected to see from this queen and so suggest that they are someone who has a large skillset and so I am even more excited to see the other hidden talents Marmalade may have!
The most eccentric performance of the evening however came from Kyran as they graced the stage dressed as a waitress with a cartoon-esque monster on her back. They then launched into a sort of waitress-style tutorial but as the number progressed Suzy (the monster) became more and more unhinged and began covering the waitress with Mayo and wine which was absolutely crazy! This was also not what I would have expected from this queen and so I am also excited to see what other skills they may have hidden thus far!
After flexing their performance skills in the Tickety Boo cabaret show, the queens then had to channel their hometown on the runway in front of Graham Norton, Michelle Visage, guest judge Alison Goldfrapp and Ru Paul! I thought that is was a fantastic idea to have this theme so early in the season as it allows the audience to find out more about the queens which is very important when there are so many competitors so early in the season. Kyran used this runway category to pay homage to their hometown of Lancashire and specifically the Pendle witch trails that happened in the 17th century. They showcased the classic witch-inspired outfit but had cleverly attached a plethora of red feathers and stones which not only created the perfect amount of drama to the look but also portrayed the fact that many witches were burnt and so these details represented fire. Charra Tea decided to pay homage to their hometown of Ireland by paying tribute to the iconic Channel Four sitcom Derry Girls. She wore a wonderful green school uniform-inspired outfit complete with a wonderfully sparkly green blazers and fantastically oversized shoulds which again added a wonderful amount of drama to the ensemble.
My favourite look of the week however came from the icon La Voix as they represented their hometown of Stockton-on-Tees with a pirate-inspired outfit. Having known La Voix for a little while now, I know that they have performed in multiple pantomime over the past couple of years and seeing the judges comment on the pantomime influences (which has been very decisive online) helped not only pay tribute to their hometown but also showed the audience why they are such a revered icon. This pantomime-infused look was absolutely amazing with gold and blue working absolutely flawlessly together.
Over the years we have had a handful of performers from Wales who have taken part in a hometown runway (including Victoria Scone and Tayce) and so many of the most well-known Welsh concepts have already been explored. I do not think that anyone would have gone down the route that Marmalade did as they represented the lesser-known fable of the Mari Lwyd. For those who are not familiar with Welsh myths, the Mari Lwyd is a horse skull with glass eyes and an articulated jaw, mounted on a pole and carried around. Marmalade managed to perfectly capture this unusual fable with an almost bridal, all-white outfit below an incredible horse skull.
I do have to say that I was a little confused with the judging process this week as it was somewhat hard to follow. It was announced that six of the queens were safe and were instructed to return to the werk room and then the remaining six were hailed as the tops this week. The audience was then informed that no one would be going home this week but two queens will lipsync for the win, a badge and immunity next week. It was revealed that La Voix and Kyran were the winners of this week’s episode and so they will need to battle it out to crown an overall winner. I think it has been very clear throughout this review that I am a massive fan of La Voix but I was a little worried when it was announced they would be facing off against Kyran as the former is not known for their lipsync performance. Kyran was able to showcase a range of skills during this performance including pulling out the splits and a series of hilarious gags throughout and so it made total sense when they were announced as the overall winner of the episode and given immunity for next week’s challenge.
Overall, this was a very exciting start to a new season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK with the collection of challenges allowing the audience to learn more about each of the queens which is vital this early in the season. On a personal note it is fantastic having two queens from my hometown and a queen I know fairly well in one season is very exciting and I hope they are all able to showcase that they do best! I would rate this episode 4.5 starts out of 5!
Rhysreviews 
1 Comment