RuPaul tears Drag Race UK queens a new one after disastrous challenge: ‘Y’all are playing it safe’
RuPaul. (BBC)
RuPaul let the Drag Race UK queens have it in last night’s episode (21 October), reading them to filth for their disappointing team challenge performance.
She also declared there would be no winning team, and that every single UK queen would be up for elimination in a mass scolding that had echoes of her famous “I don’t want to see any f*****g H&M” rant at Joe Black last season.
It all started when the remaining queens were split up into two teams to film infomercials for Draglexa, a drag version of the ubiquitous virtual assistant. As the winners of a dog-themed mini-challenge (yes, really), Krystal Versace and Scarlett Harlett were able to choose their squads.
Scarlett picked Kitty Scott-Claus, Choriza May and Ella Vaday while Krystal teamed up with River Medway, Vanity Milan and Charity Kase.
It would appear that Scarlett’s team could have had the advantage as viewers found out that Choriza has a degree in advertising. Unfortunately, that seemed to count for absolutely nothing as her team went in a baffling direction and came up with the concept of the Draglexa having three functions embodied by different drag personas, which were supposed to be funny.
Sadly, funny was something the group struggled to nail down. In the commercial the queens each embodied a different persona for the device. Ella cheered on Kitty to have a poo, Choriza shaded Ella’s appearance and then Kitty partied in Choriza’s kitchen. It was all very weird.
The other team marketed their Draglexa as a virtual assistant tailored for the queen on the go. The assistant could give you a blowout, help with makeup and play white noise to help queens settle down for a snooze. While their team benefitted from at least having a concept that kind of made sense, their commercial was a baffling mess.
In the end, both commercials were as dreadful as you could imagine and completely disappointed the judges’ panel.
At that point, a frustrated Ru went nuclear and tore all the queens a new one for their horrific performances and lack of originality.
“These commercials this week, they weren’t cohesive, everyone was shouting and there was no originality there,” Ru declared. “It was all what we’ve seen before.”
She continued: “So I’m disappointed, I’m really, really disappointed.
“Y’all are playing it safe. That’s not how you become the UK’s next drag superstar.”
She then added that there would be no winners this week, and everyone is up for elimination because that’s how bad it was.
Fans were similarly disappointed with this week’s performance.
https://twitter.com/OhHeyDJ/status/1451411077959405578
https://twitter.com/jersey__bounce/status/1451389694856466436
https://twitter.com/devsavesdaworld/status/1451421961834409992
https://twitter.com/cloudydayes/status/1451382843201007636
Some also criticised Drag Race UK season 3 in general, saying it’s been lacklustre thus far in comparison to previous series.
https://twitter.com/imtreyroberts/status/1451392103754477583
https://twitter.com/iam_ADIN/status/1451422127870001152
https://twitter.com/yofknzah/status/1451425114734563331
https://twitter.com/isaacbell0/status/1451444208917782528
Finally, we’re just going to leave this here.
https://twitter.com/husamelzien/status/1451285106111520771
Like a disappointed drag mother, Ru also took some responsibility for the Drag Race UK queens’ terrible performances this week. She admitted she didn’t spend time going through the storyboards during their time in the werkroom. So she blamed herself “first and foremost”.
In a serious case of déjà vu, Charity and Scarlett, who were both saved last week, ended up in the bottom two this week.
It was ultimately Charity who had to sashay away after an intense performance to Shirley Bassey’s “Big Spender”.
