We’ve reached the semi-finals and we said goodbye to no one last week. So we get a mini chat on the sofas reflecting on their time thus far. It’s been a rollercoaster season, and once again kept up the reputation of how good the UK drag scene is.
A new week a new challenge, and it’s a political comedy roast. The exact thing Black Pepper was hoping wouldn’t happen. Last week’s bottom two Jonbers Blonde and Black Pepper get to choose the lineup and order for the roast. They spend time debating, and dont want to be shady or upset anyone. In the meantime, the remaining queens try to sweet talk across the room to gauge attention. Cheddar Gorgeous explains she wants middle placement due to her dry and sarcastic humour. Well, the lineup is revealed Danny Beard is our opener, and Cheddar is last. But dont worry she’s fine about it, totally fine (it was not fine.)
The queens get a one-on-one comedy workshop with bafta comedy queen Aisling Bea. Jonbers is delighted to be back in the company of an Irish accent. I loved how Aisling helped each queen, she offered critical and helpful feedback. Everyone got well-rounded advice, and Cheddar and Black Pepper are on the struggle bus edit for this week.
It’s time to campaign and get the election running, this week we get special guest Olly Alexnder from Years and Years. He also appeared in the smash hit and bafta-winning TV show ‘Its a sin,’ once again I’m pushing for you all to watch something again. But its message on AIDS/HIV in the ’80s was on prime-time mainstream TV and gained critical praise. Back to the roast and we also have some familiar faces present. The queens of season four are sitting front-row to this year’s roasting. They all look stunning and also how the seasons flew by in the blink of an eye.
Danny Beard is here to set the tone and firstly love the outfit. Secondly, he killed it, from the get-go he had me and everyone laughing with his quick wittiness and sharp tongue. Out next, we have the drunken Irish diva Jonbers Blonde who surprised me. We saw a different side to her, when in doubt just say your drunk it worked wonders. My favourite segment went to her reading her fellow eliminated queens. Referring to them down at the job centre, in which Rupauls chimed in “What’s a job centre.”
Others may say Black Pepper was on the struggle bus, yet we all wanted to be onboard and help her drive. It was funny in places, and knowing she was bombing yet encouraging us to laugh at her made it charming. Yes, it was awkward to watch in places, but I loved it. Pixie Polite the frontrunner for the win of this week’s challenge however flatlines. Nothing lands and the jokes are sloppy and quick-paced. Closing the show is the reptilian politician Cheddar Gorgeous who starts strong, but that’s when things stop. After it feels like I’m back at university listening to a long lecture. The downfall was the audience’s fault for not being clever, basically, we’re all dumb, and Cheddar is smart.
We get a phenomenal runway and it’s Pretty In Punk, it’s rough and conceptual. Following the lineup of the roast, we see Danny Beard in a drop-dead Vivienne Westwood tartan dream. Jonbers outfit although I loved it, all I could look at was the sad mullet. It let the outfit down just a little, but a great night for Jonbers. Black Pepper once again looks like a runway model ready for Paris fashion week. Without a doubt, her strengths lie in her performance and runway looks. Pixie I see what the idea is, the execution just didn’t work. Finally, Cheddar comes out as a sexy bondage-Esque punk. It screamed punk, and oozed confidence, this semi-final was an incredibly strong runway.
The critiques echo my sentiments with Danny and Jonbers praised for their routine. The funniest part of Rupaul exclaiming to Jonbers for the first time “You didn’t suck this week for once.” The looks and the laughs emitted from the stage were all fun and games. Pixie, Black Pepper and Cheddar land themselves at the bottom. In untucked we get all the queens back together for a reunion and chat about the season. It has been a fantastic cast, and another group of queens to fall in love with.
The Rupeter badge falls back into Danny Beard’s lap once again, I did think it would go to Jonbers but that wig may have hindered her. Jonbers is through to the final with Danny and is joined by Cheddar. Leaving Black Pepper and Pixie to lipsync for the final spot in next week’s final. It’s an iconic number ‘Another one bites the dust’ by Queen. As expected Black pepper throws herself into the song, and embodies the beat perfectly.
Pixie started strong, but then, unfortunately, slipped on her dress. As she fell it was kindly edited in slow motion. From then on her words are stumbled and Black Pepper continues to shine. We say goodbye to Pixie Polite, with Black Pepper snatching the final spot in the final. A very strong top four, I would say it could go to any of them, but statistically, Cheddar and Danny are on par with each other and badge wins.
So are we happy with the top four, and who do we want to WIN RuPaul’s Drag Race season 4? Let us know below.
