For the debut season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World,” RuPaul Charles brought together nine all-stars from the series’ many franchises to compete against each other in the ultimate contest to find the “queen of the mother-tucking world.” Hosted in the United Kingdom, the new series sets three queens from the UK franchise as hosts to six other competitors. In episode 1 and episode 2, Canada’s Lemon and UK’s Cheryl Hole became the first international all stars to “sashay away,” while Jimbo plummeted from two top placements to the bottom as the third queen eliminated.
Below check out our recap of episode 4 to see the reaction to Pangina Heals sending Jimbo home and to find out who each of the final six portrayed in a “Family Edition” of the “Snatch Game.” “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Versus The World” airs every Tuesday at 4pm ET / 1pm PT in the US and in select territories exclusively on WOW Presents Plus, day-and-date with its local airing on BBC3 in the UK.
Following her elimination, Jimbo left a final joke for the girls, writing in her lipstick goodbye that “My name is Pangina and I’m a stupid idiot.” Pangina’s elimination of Jimbo meant that she sent both Canadian girls home, but everyone agreed that Jimbo likely wasn’t mad, but was disappointed. Jimbo’s best friend in the game, Baga Chipz, was actually upset and vowed to get “Jimbo’s revenge.” She wanted to know from Pangina why she sent Jimbo home, but Baga didn’t believe that it wasn’t strategic because Jujubee‘s runway look was deserving of an elimination. As the other top of the week, Janey Jacké revealed that had she beat Pangina in the lipsync she would have eliminated Juju instead.
The next morning, Ru arrived in the Werk Room to announce that it’s time for “Snatch Game: Family Edition.” In the twist of the famous challenge, they’d still dress up in celebrity impersonations, but would be competing as two families in a spoof of “The Family Feud.” One family would be head by Michelle Visage and the other by Katie Price. As the winner of the previous week, Pangina got to choose her team of Juju and Baga with Katie. That left Janey, Blu Hydrangea and Mo Heart on Michelle’s team.
Later, Ru returned to check-in with each of the girls to discuss their plans for the game. Pangina presented Mariah Carey as her choice, which surprised Ru because Mariah isn’t inherently funny. Janey optioned Tan Mom and James Charles, but was worried about doing James because of the controversy surrounding them. Juju, successful in past Snatch Games, threw out a shocking idea of doing Cher this time and though it seemed like an odd choice, Ru cackled at Juju’s initial interpretation of her voice. Mo said she’d be doing Gordon Ramsay or BeBe Zahara Benet, but Ru was worried about her ability to maintain the accents and suggested Billy Porter as someone she could do easily and really well. Blu went with Mike Myers as Austin Powers while Baga said she’d be doing Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes, both hoping to double down with strong Snatch Game performances in their original season.
On the set of Snatch Game: Family Edition, it turned out that Janey went with James Charles and Mo went with Billy Porter, after all. All of Baga, Juju and Blu had Ru in hysterics with just their introductions while the others got off to a slower start. As the game continued, Pangina and Janey’s jokes started to fall flat as they failed the take their characterizations any further. Baga and Blu were excellent at jumping in whenever the conversation had space for them, volleying with Ru easily. In the third round, Blu smartly changed from Austin Powers into Dr. Evil so that her impersonation reached a new height instead of flatlining.
The next day, after discussing the impact that “cancel culture” has had on their careers and their ability to be comedians, the girls hit the main stage for the “Luck Be a Lady” runway category with Ru, Michelle, Clara Amfo, and Michelle Keegan as judges. Blu opened in deep green as a “high fashion leprechaun,” followed by Janey in a simple pink dress with a huge roulette wheel attached behind her, Juju in a sleek golden dress resembling the maneki-neko cat, Mo in a Vegas flamingo contraption that lit up spectacularly, Baga in a short bright green dress like a scary leprechaun, and Pangina in a gold coin nude illusion catsuit with a slot machine attached to the front.
In critiques, Michelle loved that Blu was able to keep up with Ru during Snatch Game and thought the switch to Dr. Evil was really smart. On the runway, they liked the fun elegance of her dress and so it was a strong week overall for her. Janey was also noted for looking gorgeous on the runway, but the judges agreed that choosing James was too big of a risk and left her as a one-note performance that didn’t go anywhere. It was also a risk for Juju to do Cher, but Michelle liked that it was a “parody of a parody” because that made it work despite being a terrible impersonation. Once again, the runway was a letdown because there was still some explaining that had to do and incomplete makeup for what she was going for. Like some of the others, Mo had marks taken off for not going far enough with Billy, but earned some for keeping up with and going at Ru in the game. She further saved herself with a fantastic runway look that brought the drama and craftsmanship. Michelle thought Baga lived up to her legendary performance from her first season and the judges loved her commitment all around. The look on the runway bordered on costume, and Michelle challenged her to be more of herself rather than playing a “robotic game” on the catwalk. Pangina’s risk of Mariah didn’t pay off despite being able to “look just like her.” Clara thought there was a lot more Pangina could have done with Mariah as a character, but all of the judges thought that her runway was incredible.
Based on the critiques, Ru declared Blu and Baga as the top two queens of the week, and decided that “if you’re not in the top, you’re in the bottom” and so all of the other four were vulnerable to elimination. Before their lipsync, Blu and Baga took some time to meet with the other queens to get a better idea of who they would eliminate in the scenario that they get to decide. Janey’s pitch to the girls was that she tried and admitted that Snatch Game is not a strong suit for her. Baga liked that she owns up to her weaknesses. Pangina, a two-time badge winner already, was devastated by being vulnerable, but Blu took that as her being “really tough competition” and being tempted to take the opportunity to get her out of the way. Luckily for Pangina, Blu said that she wants to compete against the best of the best in the end. Baga told Mo that she thinks she would have been third from the top and that she will not eliminate her. Juju knew that her report card wasn’t great at this point, but asked that they go by her performance in the challenge and how she isn’t one of the bottom two of the week. Blu wanted to hear from Juju that she’d save her in the future, but Juju asked that everyone judge based on the challenge alone and nothing else.
Pangina tried to tell Baga that she hasn’t been shady about her votes in the past, but Baga wasn’t buying it because she still felt that sending Jimbo home was a way of getting rid of competition. Mo asked for “grace” from Blu and offered to keep Blu around in the event that Mo has the choice of sending someone home in the future. The two of them made a path to the final deal with each other. Juju told Baga that she should keep her around because she wants to compete against her in the final and Baga kept it straight-forward that she won’t send Juju home. Janey told Blu that she still has a lot to show in the competition and Blu replied that she really likes having Janey around.
Baga and Blu returned to the main stage in new outfits for their lipsync to Alexandra Burke’s “Let It Go.” Blu’s neon 80s look added a lot of visual personality to her performance, while Baga delivered her own sloppy version of tricks and moves that were also engaging. Though Baga had Ru gagged, the more polished quality of Blu’s performance won out. It was Blu’s choice then which of the bottom four queens was eliminated — she revealed the lipstick of Pangina, giving the frontrunner the chop. It was a shocking decision to everyone, including Ru who uttered a soft “wow” at the decision. On her way out, an emotional Pangina apologized to her fans and “all the Thai people” for not going all the way. Her sobbing from back stage could still be heard even as Ru’s congratulated the other girls on still being in the competition.
NEXT WEEK: The remaining queens added their own verse to a remix of one of Ru’s songs.
Be sure to make your predictions to influence our racetrack odds for “RuPaul’s Drag Race” season 14 and more reality TV. You can keep changing your predictions until just before each episode airs. You’ll compete to win a spot on our leaderboard and eternal bragging rights. See our contest rules and sound off with other fans in our reality TV forum. Read more Gold Derby entertainment news.
