RuPaul’s Drag Race UK finds its footing again after a sloppy girl group number last week. With an excellent design challenge, thrilling Lip Sync For Your Life, and hilarity from start to finish, DRUK continues to be the most joyful hour of television each week.
The NAFTAs: The award goes to...
For this week’s mini challenge, the queens were asked to vote for each other in certain categories in the ‘NAFTAs’. Akin to previous DRUK awards challenges, the NAFTAs is a chance for us to really see what the contestants think of each other, often leading to some great shady moments.
The NAFTAs is probably the best interpretation of the challenge so far in the series, simply due to how funny it was. The trophies each queen received in their winning category is an upscaled knock-off Christmas bauble of RuPaul, referencing the same ornament that went viral on Twitter last year; it was a genuinely hilarious beat and I always enjoy when the show pokes fun at its own absurdity.
Black Peppa got ‘Beast in Show’ as the queen that has displayed the most star quality, while Copper Topp was labelled as the queen most likely to fade into the background and Sminty won ‘Best Hot Mess’. The mini challenge played a surprisingly large role in these girls’ storylines for the rest of the episode.
But is it fashion?
In this week’s maxi challenge, the queens have to work in pairs to design two complimentary looks. As a slight twist, the contestants are partnered up using a bingo blower, with each ball labelled with a queen’s name. As the ‘hot mess’ of the season, Sminty got to assign each pair with a box of different coloured fabric.
Sminty was absolutely the star of the show this week, actually making me ache with laughter as she slipped further and further into a humorous meltdown over hers and teammate Le Fil’s box of blue fabric. Frustrated with nearly all of her material, we see just how chaotic Sminty can be.
I’ve really enjoyed the storyline Drag Race has been building so far with Sminty this season, as she continues to move out of her comfort zone and experiment with different styles. Sminty and Le Fil did a fantastic job in the design challenge, turning out an aqua blue, ruched garment with sequined accents that made them look like a glittering pool of water as they swayed down the runway.
It was a great redemption for Sminty, even pleasing Michelle as she refrained from relying on her usual silhouette, and I was surprised that she and Le Fil did not win the challenge.
The win instead went to Dakota and Baby. It was definitely deserved; both sported high fashion glittering black dresses and floral-patterned accessories with beautifully shaped hair, that guest judge and supermodel Leomie Anderson astutely pointed out could be part of a Versace collection.
So far, season four has been excellent at neatly continuing storylines for certain contestants, with Baby finally earning a RuPeter badge after just missing out last week and Dakota continuing to redeem herself from the premiere, now with two wins in a row. It’s especially wholesome to see how close the pair become, with the shyer Dakota finally coming out of her shell.
Even Danny Beard and Pixie Polite – who went under the radar on the runway this week – got a moment to shine as they discussed their love lives in the werk room. Danny briefly got emotional discussing her decade long relationship with boyfriend Joe, while Pixie spoke about how she is still trying to process her break up with season two contestant Tia Kofi.
The discussion then segued into a really interesting conversation in the werk room about what it is like dating as a drag queen, with Cheddar Gorgeous noting that presenting as either masculine or feminine can have an adverse effect on trying to find a healthy, meaningful relationship, as everyone has certain preferences of what their ideal partner should be like.
An Ella Henderson lip sync... next!
Unfortunately, Black Peppa landed in the bottom along with Copper Topp, with their respective partners – Jonbers Blonde and Cheddar – dodging the placement.
However, I do think Jonbers should’ve joined Peppa in the bottom, with both of them failing to decently construct a mint green, hand woven dress, that despite using the same fabric, didn’t complement each other at all in overall appearance.
The bottom two may very well have been a production choice, as it concluded the arch set up during the NAFTAs segment. Peppa, revered by her competitors as the front runner, must lip sync for her life against Copper, who earlier in the episode was somewhat peeved over being seen to fade into the background, calling herself the dark horse of the competition. It’s a solid end to their episode-long storyline.
In Copper’s defence, she definitely didn’t fade into the background this week. While her Barbarella inspired runway was lacklustre and didn’t compliment Cheddar’s much more editorialised garment, she did serve a wonderful performance in the lip sync.
The lip sync battle between Peppa and Copper was stellar, but what a terrible week to use Ella Henderson’s This is Real, after the artist performed at the Conservative Party conference. The musician was criticised for attending the event, which subsequently followed her appearance at Brighton Pride, with many people on social media pointing out the Tories' problematic history with LGBTQ+ rights.
Although it was an unfortunate coincidence to use a Henderson track, Peppa and Copper’s lip sync was the strongest this season so far, as they really threw themselves into the music – quite literally. Both of them flipped, jump split and death dropped across the stage, but Peppa won out, truly embodying the song, and having the entire room hooked.
Sadly, Copper sashayed away, but her time on Drag Race ended with her finally showing her competitors just what she was capable of.
Comments