Drag

The Vivienne’s 9 most iconic Drag Race moments, from Donald Trump to ‘I’m drippin’!’

Acting, improv, comedy, design, dancing, fashion – The Vivienne could do it all. (BBC/World of Wonder/Canva)

The entertainment industry and Drag Race universe are mourning the loss of a multi-talented giant, following the death of The Vivienne, who passed away aged 32 over the weekend (5 January).

The Vivienne, born James Lee Williams, was known for an impressively eclectic, wide-reaching range of skills, spanning all facets of the entertainment world.

In musical theatre, she excelled in productions of The Wizard of Oz and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. On TV, she became a frequent, much-loved personality on shows including Celebrity Karaoke Club and Celebrity Hunted, though she could turn her hand to drama when needs be, in series like Emmerdale and This Is Going To Hurt.

On Dancing On Ice, she expertly followed the rhythm (making it all the way to the finale). On her EP Bitch On Heels, she made her own.

The Vivienne was far more than the inaugural winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season one. Yet it’s Drag Race where she came to find her immense fandom, winning over the hearts of RuPaul, the judges, her drag sisters, and millions of viewers in 2019 and again in 2022. In the years since, her impact on the drag world has been immeasurable.

Here are just nine of The Vivienne’s most legendary Drag Race moments, including her viral and ever-iconic Donald Trump impression.

Her very first runway 

If it wasn’t immediately apparent that The Vivienne would be taking home Drag Race UK’s first crown from her ballsy entrance line (“Don’t get too comfy girls, this isn’t gonna take two minutes,”) then her first runway sealed the deal.

She appeared first as her hometown Liverpudlian hero Pete Burns, decked out in Vivienne Westwood – the designer that gave her her namesake. Yet it was following her second runway, for which she embodied Queen Elizabeth II in a hunting-on-the-grounds-of-Balmoral get up, where she delivered the episode’s most memorable moment.

In addition to completing a cheeky floss dance while dressed as the queen, she then hilariously left judge Michelle Visage with egg on her face; when the judge suggested she was wearing prosthetics, Viv instantly retorted: “I haven’t! This is my face!”

Her rightful self-belief shone through here too, as she firmly stood her ground when RuPaul questioned why she was wearing flat shoes on the runway.

The Vivienne’s Donald Trump impression

The Vivienne backed herself into a corner with her instantly iconic Donald Trump impression on Drag Race UK season one, as it was deemed so brilliant that she had to revive it multiple times in the years following her victory.

After Drag Race, Vivienne’s Donald Trump impression could be seen and heard on BBC show Trump in Tweets, web shows Morning T&T and Trump Learns Things, and on tour. “I don’t believe I’ve ever seen anyone do Donald Trump better,” RuPaul told her, while Michelle Visage described the performance as “phenomenal.”

Let’s not forget her turn as Joanna Lumley and Catherine Tate which, on any other Snatch Game bar All Stars 7, would’ve absolutely won the challenge.

Red wig and a silver dress

Though her fellow Drag Race UK season one finalist Divina De Campo may have coined the much-memed phrase “I don’t think”, it was all down to a scathing – yet equally funny – read from The Vivienne. At the beginning of season one’s sixth episode, she was asked which queens she would’ve selected for the girl group challenge in the previous episode, had she got the chance.

Selecting Cheryl Hole over Divina because her choreography was more “fresh”, Divina felt Vivienne wasn’t putting respect on her drag career. “I’ll be 100 per cent honest with ‘ya, now that I’ve seen you here, you are 20 times the drag queen you are on the outside world,” Vivienne told Divina. “‘Cos for the past ten years, I’ve seen Divina in a red wig and a silver dress.”

Jaws dropped, internet gays gasped, and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season one cemented itself in history.

I’m drippin’!

While Drag Race UK episode five saw The Vivienne fall into the bottom two for the first time during the girl group challenge, she swiftly reclaimed her space atop the pack. Episode six, the advertising challenge, saw her pay homage to the working class scouse women of Liverpool – hair rollers in one minute, impossibly glam the next – as she promoted her anti vaginal dryness elixir.

Her catchphrase “I’m drippin’!” defined the episode, and she won the challenge – her third in just six episodes.

Her impeccable All Stars runway collection

While The Vivienne’s collection of looks on Drag Race UK was hardly off the rack, on All Stars 7 she established herself as much for her style prowess as her comedic chops. Her baby blue, BDSM-inspired “Spikes on the Runway” look was dubbed “iconic” by RuPaul, who said it would be “one of those looks that would live on forever, and ever, and ever”.

Her “Knitty Knitty Bang Bang” gown, made entirely of wool, left her “sweating her minge off” but was still dubbed “magical” by the judges (and fans). From brilliantly gaudy Dolly Parton drag to stitch-perfect dresses made in the Werk Room, The Vivienne proved herself as the UK’s finest fashion queen during All Stars 7.

Ginger fanny

The Vivienne’s first All Stars 7 win came during episode four’s “Fairytale Justice” improvisation challenge, in which she played a heritage-confused, morally-bankrupt version of Goldilocks. In addition to showing off her versatile acting skills, moving deftly between comically exaggerated Scottish and German accents, she once again brought Great British, end-of-the-pier comedy to the comparatively stern US franchise.

“Let’s blame the Scottish person for eating the porridge,” she barked. “I suppose ya think I have a ginger fanny as well!”

Noelle please, please Noelle!

So hilarious was The Vivienne’s Joan Crawford-style delivery of “Noelle please, please Noelle!” during All Stars 7’s “Santa’s School For Girls” acting challenge that RuPaul, who was directing the skit, had to pause rehearsal to erupt with laughter. Viv won the week’s challenge, and the moment remains one of the highlights from her Drag Race return.

Her untouchable roast

The Vivienne may not have won the oddly named “Kennedy Davenport Center Honors Hall of Shade” roast challenge, but she didn’t need to: several years on, and it’s her performance that fans return to again and again.

Opening with “It’s so hard going after such a strong roast,” an off-the-cusp dig at her line-up predecessor Jaida Essence Hall who had just bombed, Viv showed that she had quick-wit that simply couldn’t be learned.

“After Drag Race, Monet’s career path was simple: do everything that Bob The Drag Queen did, but sh*tter,” came one blistering read, while the set’s highlight was this: “Trinity’s catchphrase this season has been ‘I live!’ and she does, until that backstreet, B grade silicon migrates into her vital arteries and then girl, you die!”

Never one to dish out what she couldn’t take herself, The Vivienne found the funny in her fellow queens’ reads, and made sure she was self-deprecating, too. “Thank you girls for acknowledging my K addiction,” she said. “After sitting through this sh*t for an hour, I think I’ll take it back up.”

Doing It

It’s not Drag Race, but it’s certainly one of the best things The Vivienne did with one of her Drag Race sisters. For that reason, it’s worth a mention. As part of Netflix’s Doing It, Vivienne, alongside All Stars 7 runner-up Monet X Change, embarked on a number of side-splitting skills classes, from perfecting their table etiquette, to learning how to rough it out in the wild.

When etiquette expert Liz Brewer informed Monet on how she could excuse herself from the table, by saying, “Excuse me, I’m going to powder my nose,” Vivienne quipped: “But if we’ve gone halves on the bag, we’d go together, wouldn’t we?”

Yet the very best moment of Doing It came when Viv and Monet were learning to be sex therapists. Greeted by a prospective client, Vivienne asked her name, to which the client replied: “My name’s Boo.”

“Ahhh!” came Vivienne’s instant reply, as she threw her hands in the air in mock terror. A simple pun and a bit of slapstick defined The Vivienne’s comedic mastery; effortless, innate, and endlessly joyful to watch. 

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