Last week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race Uk (which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2024/09/29/drag-race-uk-06-x-01-production-review/) saw a new batch of twelve new queens enter the werk room in a bid to win the newly introduced cash prize of £25,000! For those who follow the British drag race seasons, you will know that previously winners would just walk away with a collection of badges and the potential to star in their own online TV show so this cash injection can only further fuel the British queens. The queens were tasked with showcasing an entrance look, flexing their cabaret talents in the mini challenge and then paying homage to their hometowns on the runway with our friend La Voix and hometown sister Actavia ending up at the top with the latter walking away with the win after showing how much of a talented dancer they are! As well as claiming the first winner’s badge of the season, Actavia was also given immunity from elimination from this week’s episode but more on that later!
As no one was sent home last week, all of the queens entered this week’s episode and were instructed to group themselves together into four groups of three before they even knew what the challenge would be. This twist seemed like it was purely introduced to divide the queens although this didn’t actually cause any drama/fighting to take place so we are a little confused why this method was done so early in the episode as opposed to the ‘random’ grouping they have done in previous grouped challenges. After the queens had chosen their own teams they were informed that this week there would be a design challenge where the groups had to create a collection of outfits out of household items which again had an unusual selection process. One member of each team was picked to put their hand into a mysterious box where there was a collection of items that connected the teams to a certain room in Ru Paul’s house. One group pulled out a pair of pink fluffy handcuffs which was interchangeably referred to as either the basement or Michelle’s room, the next pulled an oversized dice to represent, there was a rubber duck to represent the spa/wellness room and the final had a disco ball that represented the disco room (which was actually highlighted in a recent house tour Ru did for Architectural Digest where the actual disco room was proudly shown off!) Due to this and the fact, I think I would have actually liked to have been given the disco room as this could have made for a fabulous outfit if I actually had any costume construction knowledge/experience! On top of these parameters, the queens had to decide amongst their own teams which category they would be showcasing on the runway which was between red carpet realness, boss lady couture and a cocktail party look which was actually done with very little drama between the groups! Between the queens could actually start designing their looks however, the iconic La Voix (who we most recently saw perform in Cardiff which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2024/04/22/la-voix-red-ambition-production-review/) made a point to tell the queens that she has very little experience constructing her own outfits which led to a hilarious between her and Marmalade where the former tried to argue that they have been to hundreds of fittings over the years with the latter quipping “I’ve been to Greggs loads, doesn’t mean Iknow how to make pastries” which I also do not think is true but the joke still stands!
As the queens had decided to group themselves prior to being made aware of the challenge that awaited them, this mostly led to each group having a mixture of seamstresses being paired with inexperienced sewers apart from one group but more on that later. Through the episode, we see the group referred to as the Haus of Cellar McCartney containing La Voix, Chara Tea and Kiki Snatch appearing to really struggle with the latter being seen to repeatedly starting over with their look. Within the Haus of Mirrors (containing Dita Garbo, Rileasa Slaves and Saki Yew), we saw the oldest queen to ever enter Drag Race UK Dita Garbo take charge of their group as they clearly had the most sewing experience of the three. This pseudo-random pairing meant that this sort of thing happened across all the groups as Haus of Kardz (containing Kyran Thrax, Actavia and Zahirah Zapanta) was headed up by the Filipina icon Zahirah. The final group of seamstresses containing Marmalade, Chanel O’chanel and Lill (referred the as the haus of zen as they were given the spa room) were an extremely cohesive and efficient team overseen by the pseudo-manager Chanel with each queen using their strengths to collectively create three incredible looks. The team appeared totally unstoppable until it it came to the runway presentations/judges deliberation but more on that later!
When the queens returned after a day of costume construction, Saki was seen entering the werk room on a pair of crutches as she informed the queens that she had slipped in the shower the night previously and so would need to leave the competition. This must have been extremely devastating for the Filipina drag queen and we hope them a speedy and safe recovery! As the queens dealt with the self-elimination of one of the competitors, we saw her teammates Dita and Relessa appear extremely worried as they used Saki’s outfit to tie their looks together which is a strange way to connect the collection and so they had to quickly edit their looks to make them more cohesive.
It finally came time for the runway section of the episode where each group presented their werk-room-made, self-categorised looks starting with Haus of Cellar McCartney. My favourite look of the trio however would have to be Charra Tea who leaned into the cocktail dress category in a leopard print outfit with wonderfully puffed, black shoulder pads which was heavily inspired by classic strongmen in touring circusses. While I enjoyed the concept and colour scheme of this outfit, it must be said that it was extremely short which led to her having to pull down her outfit multiple times on the runway. La voix also walked the runway in a leopard print outfit but her boss lady lady included leopard paws rapping around the top part of the outfit to inject a wonderful amount of campness to the look. Within this group, however, KIki really struggled as she showcased a rather chaotic look. I think some of the parts of this look were really nice (specifically the red bosque) but the entire ensemble did not work alongside each other! The next queens to showcase their werk-room-made looks were the sadly reduced duo of the Haus of mirrors. As previously discussed, this team clearly made an effort to tie their outfits together with Dita using matching purple fabric with Rileasa Slaves’s dress. I thought that the latter outfit was extremely gorgeous with the colour working perfectly with her skin tone and the matching disco ball/vinyl headpieces further helped to show the cohesivity.
The clear winners of the episode however were the haus of Zen who had created three incredible outfits which all worked wonderfully together as separate additions to a cohesive collection. Of the three Chanel was the first queen on the runway who showcased an incredible blue outfit that absolutely nailed the cocktail party theme she had been given but also gave a certain sense of classic Hollywood with the ginger hair working wonderfully with the rest of the look. The Manchester-raised Lill was next up as she showcased a Marlene Dietrich-inspired suit that looked absolutely amazing! She had even managed to create a handbag with the words “haus of zen” printed on that showed that Lill is extremely detailed focussed with her looks! Now I might be a little be biased (as they recently judged alongside me in Jolene’s drag race which you can read about at https://rhysreviews.com/2024/08/13/jolenes-drag-race-week-three/) but my favourite look of the week would have to be the self-taught seamstress Marmalade’s as she had showcased a cher-inspired look that showed off her body perfectly! The blue fabrics dropped wonderfully on the look and the addition of feathers helped to add the perfect amount of drama to the look!
It was announced that Actavia and Kiki are in the bottom this week with the latter making total sense but we personally do not agree with the Welsh-raised queen being lumped in. As we had already had a sort of elimination in this episode, it was announced that no queen would be going home this week (which makes Kyran’s well-deserved immunity null and void) but instead, we would be having a top three lipsync for the win. It was clear that Ru Paul was in a rather strange mood throughout this episode as she had already read Actavia in the werk-room for her out-of-drag eyebrows, and referred to Kiki Snatch’s look as that moment in ET when they put the alien into drag and even called Chanel O’conor a b*tch which was absolutely unhinged! The latter comment came as a direct response to Chanel making a conscious effort to inform the judges that she had actually made the majority of Lill’s outfit which caused many of the judges to be visibly confused as to what the Manchester queen had actually created. Despite being the most cohesive group of the episode, this is why the audience was extremely confused when it was announced that all three members of the haus of Zen were in the top three this week. Considering the earlier discussion about the contributions of Lill to her look, it came as a total surprise when Lill was declared as the overall winner of the episode. While I agree that she did win the lipsync, it sounded like the judges were against Lill after her teammate threw her under the bus on the runway.
Overall, this week’s episode of Ru Paul’s Drag Race was a rather unusual one with strange structural issues throughout. Going into the episode I was sure that my other hometown sister Marmalade would absolutely dominate this challenge but I think the non-elimination and top three lipsync inclusion meant that she missed out on the badge. I appreciate the fact that so far this season we are having a plethora of twists and turns (such as the cash injection, immunity and unique challenges) which makes each episode exciting and keeps the audience on the edge of their seat throughout, It does raise a few issues in terms of the competition. I would rate this episode 4 out of 5 stars!
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