Last week on “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” the top 7 queens unveiled their best celebrity impersonations in the iconic “Snatch Game” challenge. Three time challenge winner and comedy queen Lawrence Chaney showed her first signs of vulnerability and fell into the bottom two, but managed to outperform Tia Kofi in the lip sync. As the Baroness of Basic sashayed away, Bimini Bon-Boulash continued her rise, earning a first solo win and second overall.
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 7 to find out what happens when the queens turn themselves into “Lockdown Supersheroes”:
Because Tia had already been in the bottom twice, after her elimination the big question in the werk room was who was on the chopping block next. A’Whora named Sister Sister as the weakest left, while Sister called out Ellie Diamond for “coasting.” Of the six left, only Sister and Ellie were without badges as challenge winners so, though they disagreed, they were certainly in the hot seat heading in to this week’s challenge.
The next morning, Ru arrived to bestow yet another iconic moment on the queens with the infamous “Reading Is Fundamental” mini challenge. After some pretty deep digs at one another — Bimini called Ellie and Sister “filler,” A’Whora added fuel to the she’s-hooking-up-with-Tayce fire, and just about all of them called Ellie stupid — Ru declared Sister the shadiest queen of them all.
With the lockdown still on everyone’s mind, for this week’s maxi challenge Ru asked the queens to create their own original looks using everyday home goods to transform themselves into supersheroes. As the winner of the mini challenge, Sister was given a 15 second head start to claim materials for herself before the others could begin. Ru made it clear that their garments have to be constructed entirely from the “lockdown loot” and only their shoes, accessories and wigs would be from their personal stashes.
Once the mad dash for items was over and the girls started looking around at what each other grabbed, was it any surprise that Sister was unwilling to give up any of her items to an ogling A’Whora? After all, it’s been a few weeks since Sister allegedly copied A’Whora’s fish-n-chips look, but A’Whora was still giving her a hard time about copying the other queens’ ideas. Of course it was all in good fun, but the tension between the two seemed to be nearing a breaking point.
In the last design challenge, A’Whora spent a fair amount of her time helping out good friend Tayce, who admittedly is in no sense a seamstress. But this time A’Whora was determined to give herself all her attention in order to win the type of challenge she feels best suits her talents. That left Tayce “on her own,” but with more drive to succeed than Bimini who was comfortable just throwing some things on a mannequin and seeing which ideas stuck.
To inspire the girls to get more creative, Ru brought U.S. alum (and one of Ru’s Emmy nominated makeup artists!) Raven with her for a werk room check-in. Ellie got a boost of confidence from Raven who expressed her appreciation for what Ellie does to her face. Elsewhere, Ru and Raven seemed nervous for A’Whora who may have been biting off more than she could chew with an avant garde vision while Bimini concerned them for her, well, messy first draft that involved rolls of toilet paper. For Tayce, the main thing Raven wanted her to know is that using steel wool for her garment would likely be painful and for Lawrence she had one makeup tip, to fill in the space between her lashes and brow. Sure enough, not long into garment construction Tayce was already being seen by medical for a gnarly to her palm, but that didn’t deter her from continuing with her concept!
The next day — elimination day, to be clear — Lawrence was still finishing up her garment as the other queens began to apply makeup for the runway, but with sewing experience it didn’t take her long to catch up. During mirror time, Lawrence and Sister shared their experiences with being bullied as “weird kids” at school. They both opened up about being severely taunted by the other kids and in Lawrence’s experience laughed at the minute he would enter a room. For them, as for many creatives, they explained that the harshness they experienced fueled their fire to make something more of their lives and to “be the superstar they tried to stop [them] from being.”
On the main stage, Ru was joined by Michelle, Graham and special guest judge Maya Jama. Tayce was the first to reveal her new alter ego, Exfoliana Bolt, in a mini body suit made entirely of copper wire as a super-shero that would exfoliate all the crime away. Next, Lawrence transformed into Lawrence of Chania in a blue and orange body suit with a mission to tickle the world with her feather dusters. A’Whora’s alter ego was Covid Nine-Tina wearing an impressive bright blue dress with huge flowered armpieces. Bimini managed to put something respectable together as Dr. Isabella Blows-A-Lot in a black and silver gown made from a shower curtain. Ellie managed to stay in her comfort zone as Exuberant Ellie, remaining focused on bright colors and makeup inspired by cartoon characters. Last, Sister arrived as The Garden of Sh-Eden, a botanical-focused hero wearing fake ivy wrapped around her body and carrying a huge red flower made of pillows.
With only six queens on stage, Ru and the judges offered critiques to all of them. Tayce took a huge hit for not creating something as elaborate as the other girls on stage, but the judges all agreed that she’s gorgeously painted and Ru said that she certainly sold the garment in a great runway performance. Lawrence rebounded with positive critiques for using a hard-to-work-with material, for painting her makeup beautifully and for creating a great character. Michelle was impressed with A’Whora’s ability to show versatility in her look and Graham was wanting to give her a standing ovation. On the flip side, Graham thought that Bimini overdid most of her garment, but overall sold it with the entire look. Michelle loved Ellie’s look and called it perfect while Ru and Graham both appreciated that she was able to stay on brand with her cute look and fantastic makeup. Sister warned the judges that what she walked in was her “edited version,” but Michelle still called it a “blob” and Maya thought it was hard to see who the queen underneath was.
In their untucking session backstage, Tayce was upset about the reaction to her garment and for being told that she didn’t put in enough effort despite having the scars to prove it. Sister was also dismayed for falling in the bottom and stood behind what she called a “gorgeous” look. Ellie was sitting pretty at the top and was quick to call out all the girls that told her she’d be the next one to go. Eventhough she was clearly among the top, Sister and the others told Ellie she wasn’t taking enough risks and weren’t impressed by her creation this week.
After deliberating with the other judges, Ru surprised Ellie by announcing A’Whora as this week’s winner, leaving her simply safe as one of the top two. From the bottom Ru gave Bimini and Lawrence safety, which meant that Tayce and Sister would battle it out in this week’s lip sync, each for their second time. In the battle to “Don’t Be So Hard on Yourself” by Jess Glynne, Tayce gave another beautifully emotive performance using rhythm and her expressive face to tell the story of the song. Sister gave a more traditional drag rendition of the song, culminating in a clumsy faux shablam at the end of the track. For her decision this week, Ru gave Tayce another “shantay” and sent Sister home with a “sashay away.” Charmingly, Sister called the show “the stupidest experience of her life” and then “forgot” the advice she was about to bestow upon everyone.
NEXT WEEK: The final five put on a comedy night to celebrate love, but not everyone can bring the laughs so easily. In the werk room, Ellie and Lawrence butt heads over… what exactly? Can’t wait to find out.
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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