The inaugural season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” continued on Thursday with 4 queens still vying for the queendom’s newest crown. The artists still in the running are Baga Chipz, Cheryl Hole, Divina de Campo, and The Vivienne. In last week’s sixth episode RuPaul Charles awarded Vivienne with her third challenge win of the season on the strength of an inventive runway look. On the opposite side of things, Blu Hydrangea succumbed to a lip sync assassination by Cheryl.
“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 7!
Blu’s elimination was a tough one for the other girls because of their fondness for her as a friend, but at the same time it meant the they were the final four. Cheryl made it clear that she didn’t think Blu should have even been in the bottom, pointing the finger at Baga instead who had basically tapped out prior to learning that she was safe. The incident showed the insecurity of Baga, one of the strongest in the competition, and suggested that her weakness might be having to lip sync against a strong competitor in order to earn her spot in the final.
The next morning Ru greeted the girls in the workroom with their latest mini challenge: a puppeteering bitch fest! In the challenge each queen was randomly assigned the puppet of one of their competitors and after dragging up the dolls got to enter the puppet stage to roast them in a bitch fest. Baga roasted Viv, Cheryl roasted Baga, Divina roasted Cheryl and Viv roasted Divina. After some “brilliantly shady” roasts, Ru selected Divina as the winner.
And to present the maxi challenge to the girls, Ru brought in some special guests. This week they’d be orchestrating drag makeovers of their own mothers or sisters! To be clear, Ru wanted the women transformed into “glamorous and sickening” drag queens and maintaining a family resemblance to their own drag persona.
In their first sit downs with their loved ones it appeared that Cheryl was the most comfortable with the task, recognizing that she and her sister have the strongest resemblance already outside of drag. On the other hand, Baga seemed the most worried because of how polar opposite the energies of herself and her more shy mom are. When Ru stopped by he was able to pull out of Divina that his biggest worry on this challenge was executing everything in tandem with her sister. For Viv having her mom with her made the whole thing “emotionally hard” though she wasn’t worried about the work of the task at all.
During preparation the pairs experienced a variety of hiccups. The big snafu was for the Hole family when Cheryl’s sister while trying on a bodysuit broke a zipper, causing them to have to rethink their apparel for the runway. Meanwhile both the Chipz and Vivienne families were concerned with their inability to focus on choreo in the same way that the younger pairs would.
This week Ru was joined on the judges panel by Michelle Visage, Alan Carr and special guest Michaela Cole to help score the runway presentations. Cheryl and her sister Sissy Hole came out in showgirl fringe bodysuits and wavy blonde wigs. The Vivienne was joined by The Mother in demure black gowns that may have lacked resemblance, at least compared to the Holes, but Viv’s mom definitely brought an unexpected amount of energy to the stage. Divina walked next with his sister Delisha De Campo and let me tell you the resemblance was perfection in almost identical white gowns with rhinestones and then flaming red wigs that accentuated their flashy choreography on stage. Baga flipped the concept on its head by having her mother arrive as her daughter Sacka Spudz with Kim Kardashian as her muse and Kris Jenner as her own inspiration.
In critiques Sissy got knicked for being behind in the choreography, but Michelle acknowledged that it was the most complicated of the four. Michelle also pointed out that she hates body suits and thinks they’re a cop out especially in a makeover challenge. Alan was happy with how well Viv and her mother complemented each other, but the judges clocked her mom’s wig for being a bit out of sorts. With Divina Michaela admitted that she couldn’t tell who was who originally and the entire panel loved how much fun they were having, but Michelle asked Divina again to continue to work on warming up her face makeup. Baga and her mom were told their work was rough and that of all four the resemblance was the least there, including outfits that didn’t quite pair together. When the judges asked the pair about their experience Baga unfortunately threw her own mom under the bus quite a few times in a quite few different ways, all of which were cringe worthy, including her age and body shape.
After deliberating, the judges decided that Divina was the winner of this week’s challenge, making her a three time winner along with Viv and Baga. Vivienne was also safe, taking the runner-up position and leaving Baga and Cheryl in the bottom to lip sync for their spot in the final three. The girls performed Amy Winehouse‘s “Tears Dry on Their Own,” meaning Baga was already dressed for the occasion in her black garb. Both queens gave impassioned performances, frolicking across the stage together at one point in a display of solidarity, but Baga was more innovative with her movements while Cheryl misread the song and gave it perhaps too happy of a spin. Ultimately Baga earned her spot to shantay while Cheryl was asked to sashay away.
Next week we see Baga join Viv and Divina in the finale that the entire season has been working toward–the three three-peaters will have to prove which among them is going to come out on top!
