Drag Race UK blame RuPaul for ‘worst Snatch Game ever’ after ‘sabotage’
Dakota Schiffer was the only highlight of the Drag Race UK season four Snatch Game. (BBC)
Drag Race UK season four hit its half way mark with the Snatch Game and a powerful lesson on HIV stigma.
Featuring the fourth Spice Girl to join the RuPaul canon, a guest appearance from two-time Snatch Game winner Baga Chipz, and perhaps the most important werk room discussion yet, this week’s Drag Race episode was not one to miss.
The only challenge to appear on every single season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, Snatch Game has been known to separate the queens from the flops, though fans were less than impressed with season four’s offering.
Featuring Strictly‘s AJ Odudu and Tess Daly, the challenge, while having some stand out moments, was not as riotous as previous Snatch Games have been. The verdict has been given by the fiercest guest judge of them all: Twitter.
The queens enter the werk room after Baby’s self-elimination and praise the South London queen for putting herself first. Cheddar Gorgeous, who really makes this episode her own, says: “I’m struggling to feel any sadness and that’s not because I’m gonna miss Baby, because I feel so proud and so in awe of what she’s done.”
With the tension ramping up, the queens point out that Jonbers Blonde is the only one yet to receive a RuPeter badge, despite high critiques following the Rusical.
As well as that, Black Peppa is gunning for her second badge, saying she will “devour” each and every one of her competitors. She’s got the seasoning covered!
The maxi-challenge is announced as Snatch Game, sending various queens into various spins. Dakota Schiffer is quietly confident, Peppa is dreading the challenge and Le Fil asks Danny Beard if she’s going to have to wash her tan off to play Louis Walsh.
However, RuPaul all but forces Danny and Jonbers Blonde to change their characters last minute, suggesting that they both rely on their accents and backgrounds rather than portray Louis Walsh and whimsical singer Enya, as originally planned.
Fans have called out Mama Ru for her apparent act of sabotage.
The cast list for the star-studded Snatch Game ends up being:
- Cheddar Gorgeous – Elizabeth I
- Le Fil – Marie Kondo
- Danny Beard – Cilla Black
- Pixie Polite – Shirley Bassey
- Dakota Schiffer – Pete Burns
- Black Peppa – Lil Nas X
- Jonbers Blonde – St. Patty (St. Patrick’s imaginary sister)
It doesn’t exactly live up to expectations, with even comedic powerhouse Danny Beard failing to land solid laughs.
Dakota’s Pete Burns, however, was iconic, birthing the immortal line: “You can still smoke indoors if you’re dead, it’s amazing.”
Le Fil, Black Peppa and Pixie Polite all struggle equally, although the complete lack of jokes was almost funny enough in itself. Black Peppa saying that he went to the club and drank water because he’s never had it before was CAMP.
In the werk room, Cheddar speaks to Dakota about the stigma that still surrounds those living with HIV, today.
As an ambassador for George House Trust, a charity which helps HIV positive individuals live long and healthy lives, the queen explains PrEP, the government’s notorious tombstone advert and what the legacy of queer sex being inherently tied to illness and death means.
Pixie contributes, saying: “The inaction of people in power was essentially the wilful genocide of queer people”.
It’s a sobering conversation, but one of the most important we’ve seen on Drag Race UK to date.
Cheddar also reinforces that those living with HIV can take medication to reduce their viral load and become undetectable, which in turn means untransmittable. TL;DR – if you’re living with HIV, but taking correct medication, you cannot pass it on.
On the runway, Cheddar’s ‘Tickled Pink’ look is “absolutely dedicated to everyone who’s fighting stigma around HIV.”
On the main stage, Mel B became the fourth Spice Girl to sprinkle some of their wisdom over the queens, with fans loving her appearance. And when we say ‘wisdom’, we do in fact mean her belief that Queen Elizabeth had her sister shot. History is important, kids!
The queens are divided up; Dakota and Danny are announced as safe, with Cheddar snatching the win from Jonbers, and Pixie narrowly escaping the bottom two.
Black Peppa and Le Fil lipsync to “Stop” by the Spice Girls in a fairly bonkers showing.
Le Fil and Peppa both using every prop under the Drag Race studio lights: Peppa takes the candy floss out of her wig while Le Fil essentially sets up camp on the stage, taking off her tent-inspired runway lewk, getting rid of her heels and producing a length of fabric from who-knows-where.
“That was nutty” – Jonbers Blonde, 2022. Truer words have never been spoken.
Peppa is saved from her second lip sync of the season, and Le Fil sashays away.
There are just six queens left vying for the Drag Race UK crown.
Next week, the ladies are participating in the dreaded makeover challenge. It’s not been seen since season one, so it’s sure to be another cracking episode – even if we still don’t know what the criteria for “drag family resemblance” actually is.
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