‘Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK 4×08’ Review
It’s crazy to think that has been almost four years since the first ever season of Ru Paul’s Drag Race UK was announced which shone a light on a much more British version of drag. I think when this show was first announced there was concern amongst the fans that the Drag Race format would overlook the much more camp and entertaining style of drag that British queens have become synonymous with. We are now in the fourth season of the show and people are starting to realise that the UK queens can easily stand toe to toe with many of the American competitors. In fact winner of that first-ever UK season, The Vivienne, put up an incredible fight during the international, all-winners season this year, proving that British queens are just as talented as their American counterparts. It is clear however that Ru herself did not have any hesitation in supporting a British version of the show as Drag Race UK is one of the few iterations of the show where Ru is a fundamental part of every episode… Until this week! In a shocking twist to the episode’s proceedings, Ru was not present at the time of filming which means that the icon Michelle Visage took over the role of head judge for the week! This week saw the regular front runners Danny Beard and Cheddar Gorgeous finish at the top end of the competition, with the latter claiming their second win in a row! This unique episode also saw the fan favourites Dakota Schifer and Pixie Polite in the bottom after their respective make-overs of the crew behind the scenes with the former being sent home. It was very clear that the queens were very saddened by Dakota’s departure as this week’s episode started with a conversation between the queens where Pixie and Danny seemed to suggest it should have been Jonbers in the bottom instead of Dakota which in all honesty would have upset me if I had been in Jonbers position!
The top five queens were informed by a returning Ru Paul that they would be taking part in an over-the-top, murder mystery acting challenge with characters inspired by some of the biggest TV personalities. Those who are a fan of drag as an art form (and not just drag from Drag Race) will be aware of the drag-tasting murder mystery play that is currently touring the UK called Death Drop and having just booked tickets for this critically acclaimed production, I was instantly excited when this week’s maxi challenge was announced and the integration of horrific Squid Games challenges provided a potentially unique fusion of drag, comedy and gore. However, I think this challenge tried to pull in too many references, as we had characters based on Davina McCall, the iconic Kim Woodburn, Bear Grylls, Ashleigh and Pudsey etc., all set within the Big Brother house while taking part in a Squid Games style challenge. I personally think there was just too many layers of disconnected references for this challenge to make sense to the audience. The show also managed to also shoehorn references to the wonderfully chaotic moment of “David’s dead’ from Big Brother in 2016, “You want it, your dying for it” from the viral video, a nod to “old maiden” which was a catchphrase coined by Sminty Drop earlier in the season. I think that the creative team on this episode could have really drawn back in the references so that the focus is on quality not quantity and in honesty, the audience could have done without the murderous Squid Game style twists as not only is the original Netflix show not UK produced (as previously discussed the British version of Drag Race should be a celebration of all thing British) but also added an unnecessary element into the narrative of the production.
As the winner of last week’s episode Cheddar was given the opportunity to allocate the roles for this production and it was clear that generally, everyone seemed to struggle during the filming process. Cheddar is given herself the role of a spoilt brat who live streams every single event that occurs in her life but while rehearsing her ‘Essex’ accent seemed to appear and disappear sporadically. Black Peppa was given the role of a tribal Bear Grylls-style character and she appeared to constantly ignore the advice and direction from the special guest director Michelle Visage with regard to her constant shouting. Jonber’s had one of the hardest roles within this production where she had to play both Sassy and Fugly the dog who was clearly inspired by the 2012 BGT winner duo Ashley and Pudsey. She had to overact while also controlling a puppet which did result in her messing up her lines and playing a much more withdrawn character than the other queens were trying to portray. Cheddar decided to give Pixie the role of a foul-mouthed cleaner based on Kim Woodburn. I thought that Pixie’s impersonation and look as an iconic cleaner was incredible where she even managed to squeeze in some of Kim’s most famous catchphrases from her time in the Big Brother house. Although even Pixie struggled with her blocking and line delivery during the rehearsal process! I will say however that Danny Beard as the Big Brother host really shone during the opening moments of the show as she introduced each parody of the famous faces.
The runway category this week was “ruff and ready” which basically asked the queens to showcase a ruffled look. Danny Beard used this opportunity to showcase a wonderful blue outfit which is unlike anything we had seen from them this season. The make-up and hair was much more conventionally glamorous which was kind of hidden beneath the a ruffled headpiece they decided to wear. The outfit had been constructed in a way that exaggerated many of Danny’s key features which complemented her body beautifully. My favourite look this week however would have to be Jonbers who decided to pull out all the stops for this week’s runway category. The mint green motif that ran through the hair, make-up and outfit itself creates an incredibly cohesive look. Not only did this colour scheme tie the whole look together but also the make-up itself was some of the best we have seen from her this entire season. The rest of the outfit was white including an amazing train that was covered in feathers which glided across the floor as Jonbers walked the runway! Cheddar was also very impressive in this runway category where she uniquely interpreted the category to showcase a vibrant pansy look which of course had a secret meaning. The pansy outfit was created from ruffled material that carried through both the headpiece and main body of the look. I thought that the unique make-up she decided to do for this runway presentation not only looked stunning but also fitted the rest of the look as it was influenced by the inside of a pansy. Cheddar discussed how the pansy project is a charity which plants pansies in places where homophobic attacks have happened and explained that she herself has planted many of these flowers throughout the years. I really enjoy the thought process and second meanings that Cheddar is clearly so passionate about as not only are her outfits wonderful but you also finish the episode learning something new! Black Peppa also had a unique interpretation of the ruffled theme where she channelled a denim club kid look complete with a mermaid sequin face-kini. I thought that it was really nice that her boots actually matched the face-kini part of the outfit which again helps to create a truly cohesive look. This was a very interesting interpretation of the theme as I know I would never, in my wildest dreams, would have thought of going to a club kid circus inspiration!
Before the winner of the episode was announced, every queen was treated to a backstage recorded message from their loved ones which is always a very moving sequence. In particular, the message from Pixie Polite’s parents was very emotional leaving many of the queens (and the audience) deep in their feelings. After this, however, Ru announced that Cheddar was the overall winner from this week and in all honesty, I believe that in any other season her performance would have been safe or bottom-worthy but it is clear the whole cast struggled with the strange acting challenge. In the bottom this week were Jonbers and Black Peppa who were very clearly the most reserved during the acting challenge. Peppa pulled out her regular bag of tricks with jumping splits and a plethora of roles being performed with Jonbers appearing to repeat the same movement multiple times throughout the lip-sync. Despite this, however, I do have to say that this was one of my favourite performances this season and so made total sense when it was announced that both queens would be continuing in the competition.
Overall, this week’s acting challenge didn’t quite hit the iconic status of some of the previous acting challenges on Drag Race UK (for example downtown draggy or beast-Enders) due to its surreal narrative and over-saturation of pop culture references. The runway category was really enjoyable as every queen interpreted the theme slightly differently while still making the ruffled the focal point of each individual look.
