The inaugural season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” continued on Thursday with 5 queens still vying for the queendom’s newest crown. The artists still in the running are Baga Chipz, Blu Hydrangea, Cheryl Hole, Divina de Campo, and The Vivienne. In last week’s fifth episode RuPaul Charles selected the three members of pop group Frock Destroyers (Baga, Blu and Divine) as the challenge winners. Cheryl was the only one safe from the group Filth Harmony, meaning Vivienne and Crystal were left to battle it out in the LSFYL. In that duel Vivienne came out on top, which means we said goodbye to Crystal.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” airs every Thursday on the BBC Three section of BBC iPlayer in the UK. The series is also made available day-and-date in the US and other territories via WOW Presents Plus at 3 pm ET and on Logo Fridays at 8 pm ET/PT. After you check out the episode for yourself, be sure to read our own analysis of the show in our weekly recaps. Below is our take on episode 6!
Following Crystal’s elimination the remaining five queens sat to discuss the week’s events. What everyone wanted to know is that knowing now that her team would lose would Viv still pick the same teams? She solidly said she’d still pick Cheryl and then refused to select any of the other three, suggesting that, yeah, she probably would have still picked Crystal, too. Divina took most offense to this considering she’s been in the business for a long time and no one seems to understand the scope of her skillset. What started as a slight disagreement quickly escalated into a full blown fit between the two.
The next morning the argument persisted, but luckily Ru arrived to inform the queens of their next challenges. For the mini challenge they played “BBC,” a game to guess what kind of underwear the Brit Crew men were wearing underneath their sweatshorts. After the shorts came down, it was Divina that got a leading 5 out of 6 right and earned a video chat call with US alum Katya! And for the maxi challenge, Ru asked the girls to create, market and brand their own product of bottled water and then start in a commercial for it.
Later Ru stopped by for check-ins with the queens as they prepared their work for the challenge. With Blu Ru wanted to push her in a new direction after hearing that she came to the competition “as a shell” and was starting to come out of it. And though Baga was certain on her own idea, Ru asked her why she wasn’t using this as an opportunity to brand her true self instead. Both Cheryl and Vivienne had ideas that already branded themselves and so Ru didn’t have much advice to throw their way, but was ready to gag with Divina over the rumors that the rest of the queens weren’t respecting her in the competition.
On set to direct the queens in their commercials was Graham Norton. He was surprised with how far Blu was willing to push the envelope with her water that helps girls unfrazzle themselves. Cheryl found all her confidence on set and Graham was eating up everything she did. He also appreciated the character Viv had created and her execution of it. Divina’s talky script confused the other girls as well as Graham, but she remained steadfast in her vision convinced that it would succeed. Baga closed out the session with her standard raunch and everyone on set was soaking every drop of it up.
After the tape sessions, Divina sat down with Katya for their chat. Divina was inspired by Katya’s advice to not let the “invention” and “false dialogue” of worrying about the other queens get to her. Katya also told her to let go of the patterned thinking that she’s used to and do the opposite.
The next day while the queens got ready for the main stage presentation the conversation turned toward what it’s like to have a career within the nightlife scene. For Vivienne the topic hit close to home and she told the story of her struggle with an addiction to party drugs that lasted almost 4 years. She admitted to almost dying because of it, but she was able to pull herself out of it, meet the love of her life and has been sober for two years since.
Later, judging the queens on the main stage were Graham as well as Michelle Visage and Cheryl of Girls Aloud fame, as well as being Cheryl’s (the drag queen) inspiration! This week the queens paraded down the runway in “Rainy Day Eleganza” for judgment alongside their bottled water branding commercials. Divina wore a yellow fisherman’s mack which revealed to a cute yellow and black dress. Cheryl went more high fashion with a metallic space age garment, Baga went the comic route again with an upside down umbrella on her head with a rubber ducky inside, Vivienne went conceptual with a thundercloud look and Blu wrapped it up in a pastel candy girl look.
Michelle loved Divina’s ad because it had a message and was sarcastic in the right way. Graham even mentioned that in rehearsal it wasn’t working, but it’s true that it all came together in the end. Cheryl’s ad fizzled for the judges because of its repetitiveness and Baga’s was smartly branded for everyone except for Michelle who was not impressed. Vivienne’s concept was a hit because it was easy to understand and the judges also really loved the intrigue of her dark runway outfit as a contrast to her typically glamorous presentation. Michelle was tough on Blu, as well, and Graham pointed out that she didn’t use any of the props or boys for her commercial to help enhance the ad.
