RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs The World has come to an end, so now let's unpack the first ever season (spoilers ahead!)
The new show is a global spin-off of the US’s drag race franchise All Stars, where queens from different countries compete for the prestigious title of “Queen of the World”. The rules stated by RuPaul are: “After critiques, I will choose the top two queens of the week, they will go head-to-head … in a lip-sync for the world, and the winner gets the power to eliminate one of the bottom queens.”
Representing the UK we see Baga Chipz, Blu Hydrangea and Cheryl Hole individually make their entrances on the main stage, who all previously competed on Drag Race UK season 1. Representing the Netherlands Janey Jacké, from season 1 of Drag Race Holland, is next to join the Brits on stage. Following Janey is a queen that hasn’t competed before, but is the co-host of Drag Race Thailand: Pangina Heals. We then see Jimbo followed by Lemon from season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race join the main stage. Lastly, the Americans: Mo Heart (formally Monique Heart) and Jujubee. Mo Heart has competed on season 10 of RuPaul’s Drag Race and All Stars 4, and Jujubee has competed on season 2 of RuPaul’s Drag Race, All Stars seasons 1 and 4.
Episode 1
While all of the queens got comfy, RuPaul descended on a cherry picker to greet them. He tells the queens that their first challenge is to perform in the talent show on the main stage in front of himself, drag race regulars Michelle Visage and Graham Norton, and special guest judge Mel C from The Spice Girls. The top performers of the week were Pangina Heals and Jimbo. Pangina sang and danced to their own original song, which introduced themselves to the competition and judges. Jimbo did a bizarre but very entertaining act in which they were in a white latex suit with an empty box with ‘Talent’ written on it, birthed some sliced meat and threw some on themselves and to Ru. The bottom two of the week were Lemon and Janey Jacké. Lemon performed their own original song ‘Sweet & Sour’ and Janey performed with several outfit reveals.
The category for the runway was “I’m a winner baby!”, which saw some incredible outfits. The two stand-outs on the runway for me were Pangina and Jimbo. Pangina paid homage to her heritage by wearing a dazzling, Thai-inspired dress with a gorgeous, tower-like headpiece and the Thai alphabet in crystals across her chest. Jimbo described themselves as an “evil chess piece”, in a stunning monochrome, striped dress, with a black crown headpiece, extremely extravagant shoulders, and sleeves down to the floor. Ru picked Pangina as the winner of the lip-sync to The Spice Girls’ Say You’ll Be There, which saw Lemon go home, and Pangina gaining a golden RuPeter badge.
Episode 2
Episode 2 kicks off with the remaining queens discussing the elimination and asking Jimbo if they had won, who would they have sent home. Their answer was Janey, which caused some awkwardness in the werkroom. Skipping ahead, we see Ru tell everyone what today’s challenge will be: The Rupaul Ball. The three themes were: Kitty Girl, Butch Queen and You Wear It Well, a sewing challenge in which the queens had to create a look that Ru himself would want to wear. The queens had to showcase their looks in front of Ru, Michelle, Alan Carr (who alternates with Graham Norton weekly), and guest judge Daisy May Cooper from This Country. In the Kitty Girl category, my favourite look has to be Pangina Heals’ “high fashion sphinx cat” look because of how incredibly detailed and thought-out it was.
Mo’s Butch Queen look really stood out to me in that category, especially when they pulled a lipstick from their crotch, with an honourable mention to Janey’s “orange is the new black” inspired look. The best ‘You wear it well’ look for me has to be Jimbo’s, who described their golden, glittery ensemble as a “glamazon straight from the amazon”. The top two of the week were Jimbo and Janey who then fought it out in a lip-sync to RuPaul’s song “Supermodel”. Ru chose Janey as the recipient of a golden RuPeter badge, who chose to send Cheryl home.
Episode 3
Again, the episode begins again with the girls discussing the elimination, and asking Jimbo who they would have sent home, and Jimbo reveals Jujubee. This rattled the girls as Juju revealed that Jimbo had formed an ‘alliance’ with her, meaning they wouldn’t eliminate each other. We also see Monique letting the group know that she would now like to be known as Mo as they feel it better fits them. Ru enters the werkroom and declares that “the library is open”, which is where the queens read each other. The shadiest queen and winner of the mini challenge was Jujubee, which allowed her to give out the parts in the main challenge: West End Wendys: The Comeback, a ‘Rusical’ about “iconic but faded” West End stars that are trying to regain their status. Jonathan Bailey from Bridgerton was the lucky guest to join the judge’s panel alongside drag race regulars Ru, Michelle and Graham.
The runway category was Dot, Dot, Dot. My favourite two runway outfits are Mo Heart’s ‘Sully’ inspired look from Monsters Inc, and Pangina’s abstract look because I loved how much detail went into both looks, and the concepts behind them. Meanwhile, my favourite performance in the Rusical was Janey’s as Meryl Streep because their performance was the most true to the character she was given. Ru chose Janey Jacké and Pangina Heals as the top two queens of the week, which resulted in them battling it out to We Like to Party by Vengaboys. Ru selected Pangina as the winner, giving her a second RuPeter badge. Pangina chose Jimbo to go home which was one of the biggest gags of the season as Jimbo had been pegged as a front-runner, and I have to agree with many others when they said that this was not Jimbo’s time to leave the competition.
Episode 4
As always, the episode began with the queens discussing the elimination, revealing that Janey would have sent home Jujubee. The challenge this week is, in my opinion, the most iconic of them all: Snatch Game. In this challenge, the queens do a celebrity impersonation whilst playing a game show with Ru and a special guest, this week being Katy Price. The top two contestants of the week were Blu Hydrangea as Austin Powers / Dr.Evil, and Baga Chipz as Kathy Bates’ character in Misery, while at the bottom was Pangina Heals as Mariah Carey and Janey Jacké as James Charles. My favourite performance of the week was Baga Chipz because, although I’m not familiar with the character, I couldn’t stop laughing every time they were talking. The category on the runway was Luck Be A Lady. The judges panel consisted of Ru and Michelle as usual, alongside Clara Amfo from BBC Radio 1, and Michelle Keegan from Coronation Street and Our Girl. My favourite runway look of the week was Mo Heart’s Las Vegas inspired light-up look because they really said “light up” with it, and that colour palette was potentially my favourite of the entire season – a sentiment shared by Ru, who told Mo that they could “spend the rest of their life in this colour palette.” The top two of the week were the two remaining Brits: Baga and Blu, and Ru revealed a twist: if you’re not in the top, you’re in the bottom. Blu and Baga lip-synced it out to Alexandra Burke’s Let It Go. Ru chose Blu Hydrangea as the winner of the lip-sync which resulted in Pangina Heals’ time being cut short.
Episode 5 - Semi-Final
Launching the semi-final, Baga reveals that they would also have sent Pangina home to avenge their good friend Jimbo, who Pangina previously eliminated. The challenge for this episode was the queens adding their own solo verse and choreographing to Ru’s new song: Living My Life in London. The queens also received some help from Little Mix star Jade Thirwall in the recording process of their solo verses. It’s worth noting that all of the queens performed exceptionally, however I feel that Mo really commanded the stage like no other and I could not take my eyes off of them. The category on the runway was Work of Art. My favourite was Janey Jacké’s Andy Warhol inspired look as Marylin Monroe because you understood the concept instantly, and the details in the makeup and hair really tipped it over the edge for me. In my opinion, the weakest look of the night was Baga Chipz as Vincent Van Gogh, Sunflowers. The top two of the week were the Americans, Jujubee and Mo Heart which saw them lip-sync it out for the golden RuPeter badge to Netta’s Toy. Jujubee was chosen as the winner, resulting in Janey’s time on the show coming to an end, making the finale UK vs USA. The Amsterdam icon’s exit line was “She may not have snatched this crown but she will always be a catch.”
Episode 6 - The finale
Commencing the finale of the first ever series of RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs The World, Mo reveals to the group that she too would have sent Janey packing. Ru announced their final challenge: a lip-sync smackdown. The category on the runway was Grand Finale Eleganza Extravaganza which saw all of the final four looking absolutely stunning, but not before each of the eliminated queens stomped down the runway, showcasing some beautiful looks. After the final four received their last critiques, all of the queens from the season return backstage and have a somewhat icy and awkward discussion about the season. Once back on the main stage, a wheel is spun picking Mo Heart as the first queen to lip-sync who then chose to perform against Baga Chipz. As a result, Blu Hydrangea and Jujubee were second to lip-sync against each other. The winners of the two battles were Mo and Blu, making them the final top two. RuPaul crowned Blu Hydrangea as the first ever Queen of the World.
Thoughts?
Firstly, a huge congratulations is in order for Blu Hydrangea for being the first to win the title of Queen of the World (and for being one of the shadiest queens of the season!). I must admit I was on team Mo Heart in the final four because she really knocked every look out of the park for me, and I could not take my eyes off her whenever she was on screen. That is not to say Blu was not deserving of the crown because they clearly gave it their all – my favourite moment being their hilarious performance in snatch game!
My top 3 looks of the season are Pangina Heals’ “I’m a Winner Baby” look, Mo Heart’s “Lady be a Luck” look and Janey Jacké’s “Work of Art” look, because come on, look at them! The biggest gags of the season hands down have to be Jimbo and Pangina’s eliminations, and honestly I’m still not over Pangina’s reaction! I can’t lie, I was also surprised at Lemon’s elimination, but I’m so glad we all got to see what Janey has to offer.
My favourite moment from each queen kicks off with Baga Chipz at the Snatch Game. Baga was absolutely brilliant in this challenge and made me cackle every time they were on screen. For Blu, my favourite moment was her lip-sync against Jujubee in the finale; I really felt like she put on a show and I loved their outfit. Cheryl Hole’s confessionals will never fail to make me laugh and Janey Jacké as Meryl Streep was phenomenal. I loved Pangina Heals’ talent show performance, because although a lot of the girls chose to sing/dance, I really enjoyed theirs because of how different she made it. Speaking of the talent show, It’ll be very hard to forget Jimbo’s – and who would want to? I’ll admit, I was confused to begin with but I was crying genuine tears laughing at Jimbo throwing that meat. Although we didn’t get long with our main squeeze Lemon I thoroughly enjoyed their song and still can't get it out of my head. As my personal favourite, Mo had a lot of great moments for me, but the one that really stood out to me was their performance in RuPaul’s Living My Life in London, because although the other queens were also amazing in that performance, Mo really kicked into high gear and went full steam ahead for me. My eyes were stuck on Mo because of the way they owned that stage combined with their incredible look. And finally, Jujubee. I have loved Juju for a long time so it was heartwarming to see their snatch game as Cher. Although she didn’t get to the top two for this, I was still thoroughly entertained by this performance.
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