Last week on “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” Ru let the queens have it with a real kick in the arse. Both Tia Kofi and Joe Black, the latter of which had freshly reentered the race by a vote of her peers, were taken to task for leaving too much to be desired in their runway presentations. As two members of the losing girl group in the singing challenge, they found themselves in the bottom and lip syncing to stay. In the end, Tia bested Joe and sent the first eliminated queen home for a second time.
RuPaul Charles is back again to host the second season of the UK series alongside her longtime friend and collaborator Michelle Visage. They’re joined on the panel by entertainment legends Alan Carr and Graham Norton, as well as a collection of guest judges throughout the season. Read below for our recap of episode 6 to find out who prevails in this week’s episode featuring the infamous challenge known as “Snatch Game”:
While Joe’s elimination may not have been surprising to the queens, Ru’s unexpected rant against the laziness on the runway sent shivers down their spines. Tia, having already been in the bottom twice and with Ru’s ire pointed squarely in her direction, was especially nervous about her path forward in the competition. Meanwhile, Lawrence Chaney had just earned her series leading third straight badge as a challenge winner. Lawrence was joined in that win by Tayce, A’Whora and Bimini Bon-Boulash who each earned their first. The four of them performed the house down with their United Kingdolls song “UK Hun?” which since the episode aired has become a hit song on the UK charts and a bonafide social media meme.
When Ru arrived the next morning dropping hints of imitation it was clear that the girls had arrived at the iconic Drag Race challenge, “Snatch Game.” Foregoing the usual mini challenge this week, Ru set the queens loose to plan out their celebrity impersonation with one clear rule: make her laugh. During that planning stage, Lawrence was unsure of Ellie Diamond‘s ability to be funny and Tayce was nervous about a last minute switch in character choice.
Later in the afternoon Ru returned to check-in with each of the girls, starting with Tia. Once again Ru wanted to know why Tia doesn’t use her ideal body more often as an aspect of her drag and stressed that a large part of drag is just knowing what you’re working with. Ru also pushed Tia in a new direction for her impersonation, suggesting that she go with Mel B. rather than Shirley Bassey.
Ellie was more certain of which to choose between her two options, opting for Matt Lucas as the “Little Britain” character Vicky Pollard. Lawrence and Bimini both only presented one idea to Ru, Miriam Margolyes and Katie Price, respectively. A’Whora was just as certain about the direction she wanted to go as Louie Spence, but she also broke down in front of Ru when asked if she takes herself too seriously. A’Whora opened up about lacking confidence outside of drag and relying too heavily on the presentation of an image and sacrificing his emotional self in the process.
On the set of “Snatch Game,” Ru was joined by Michelle and guest Gemma Collins as the contestants. In addition to the aforementioned impersonations, the game featured Sister Sister as psychic Sally Morgan and Tayce as Jane Turner. In their introductions, Bimini got off to a roaring start by playing into Katie’s overt sexuality. She was able to continue that throughout the show and kept Ru and Michelle laughing nonstop. Riding the struggle bus was Lawrence and Tia, both of whom are known as the comedy queens of the season. A’Whora and Tayce also had a decent amount of jokes land while Sister and Ellie were hit and miss.
The day after, Lawrence and Tia rehashed their poor performance, showing an insecure side of Lawrence that we hadn’t seen yet. She explained that being a leader in the Glasgow gay scene compels her to always present a tough exterior, but Tia, always around to pick the other queen’s up with positivity, encouraged her to make room for vulnerability because it doesn’t make her any less strong.
On the other side of the room, Ellie told Tayce about her experience growing up in a household where her dad was disapproving of a queen son. Ellie explained that she was given an ultimatum by her dad to either stay in his house under his rules or leave. Eventually Ellie’s mom sided with her and gave her dad another ultimatum, essentially kicking him out in the process and creating space for Ellie to explore her own dreams. Prior to coming to the show, Ellie said that she and her dad met and were able to find a new understanding of one another with tears and apologies.
Later, on the main stage, Ru met up with Michelle, Alan and guest judge Jessie Ware for a “Pre-Herstoric Drag” runway presentation. A’Whora wore a bone corset that she explained was 3D printed to fit her body — and fit it did! Tayce followed in a voodoo priestess look with extra long nails and a performative walk with yells and running across stage like a feral queen. Sister wore a tiger print dress and high wig, matched later with Lawrence’s own form-fitted animal print dress (plus some gnarly fake teeth). Tia upped her game to show off her body with a hip-hugging dress and a pterodactyl hat, but was outsexed by Bimini who followed her in a skimpy dress inspired by bacteria. Ellie closed the show in a huge but underwhelming orange wig and a Flintsones costume.
Based on their “Snatch Game” performances and runway looks, Ru named both Sister and Ellie as the safe queens of the week, sending them backstage and leaving only five around to hear critiques. The judges gave A’Whora points for taking a risk in her impersonation choice, but they ultimately found it to be a weird and limiting choice. That being said, they thought she looked amazing on the runway and admired the attention to detail. Alan thought that Tayce knew the character of Jane so well that it made her performance really lived in. Michelle thought her runway look was different from everyone else, but Ru was disappointed that she could see her hip pads through her stalkings. Tia was told her relied on one aspect of Mel B. too much and didn’t live up to any of the many other impersonations of her they’ve seen. She also failed to impress them with a basic-by-comparison runway outfit. The judges didn’t quite know what Bimini’s inspiration for the runway was, but nevertheless found it to be gorgeous. Her take on Katie in “Snatch Game” was clearly their favorite of the bunch, especially of Jessie. Lawrence got emotional on the stage having to explain that she’s always relied on personality because of childhood bullying. Unfortunately the problem the judges had with her this week is that her charming personality didn’t come through in “Snatch Game.”
While the judges deliberated, Tia and A’Whora felt like they’d be lip syncing based solely on the fact that Lawrence, clearly in the bottom with them, was a three-time winner and one of Ru’s favorites of the season. That didn’t stop Lawrence from dogging herself, much to the annoyance of the other girls who were hoping that Lawrence would stop pulling so much focus her own way.
Following deliberation, Ru announced that Tayce was safe, which meant that Bimini was this week’s winner. Then, to everyone’s surprise, A’Whora was also safe, leaving Lawrence in the bottom alongside Tia. In a lip sync for their life to “Touch Me” by Cathy Dennis, both queens looked restricted by their tight-fitting dresses but managed to pull focus to their faces with armography. Fighting to stay for the third time this season meant that Tia had fewer tricks up her sleeve while the panel was seeing Lawrence battle for the first time, giving her a distinct advantage over Tia. Sure enough, in her third trip to the bottom it was time for Tia to sashay away, lip sync assassin status be damned.
NEXT WEEK: The top 6 must get creative with garment construction again, Raven visits the werk room, and Tayce might have a medical emergency.
You can catch RPDR UK each Thursday at 11am PT / 2pm ET on WOW Presents Plus in the US and select territories worldwide, day-and-date with its airing on BBCiPlayer in the UK. This season is paired with the 13th season of the US version which unveils a new episode each Friday night at 8 pm ET on VH1.
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