I have just one word. Zahirah. Our girl has left, and it will be much quieter in the werkroom from here on out.
Raven appears for this week’s Mini Challenge; it’s the famous pink chair from the Graham Norton show. For those unfamiliar with the segment, an audience member must tell their funniest joke, and Graham decides whether it’s funny; if not, he pulls a lever, sending the person flying back. The queens must do the same, making Ru and Raven laugh. With their best jokes, some are just plain terrible. I feel it wouldn’t take much to make Rupaul laugh; aim for something that makes little sense and is as cheesy as possible, and he’d love it. That happens with Kiki Snatch who wins the challenge.
In teams, they must appear on the Graham Norton talk show, which is a staple Friday night fixture here in the U.K the best of the best guests appear, and this time it’s a drag addition. For her team, Kiki chooses: Kyran Thrax, Marmalade, La Voix, and Lill. The others are surprised she’s put herself with essentially the loudest bunch of girls. Leaving the second team made up of Chanel O’Connor, Charra Tea, Actavia, and Rileasa Slaves.
La Voix is queen of the mirror chats; last week she bonded with Lill, and this week it’s Kyran Thrax. The relationship these two have with one another is so precious; as you can see, they have a real bond. Asking where Kyran’s confidence comes from, he replies he’s had to force it over the years. Going on to tell the most heartbreaking story of essentially being groomed from the age of 13 by a man he met online. It’s so sad to listen to, and once again showing you never know what someone has been through. Incredibly brave to share such a personal story with millions watching.
Team Kiki Snatch are out first, and straight away La Voix is on top form, declaring how lovely it is to be sat amongst Graham’s fans. She’s such a natural storyteller, and as many of us who interview people know, she is the sort of person you want to interview. Naturally relaxed and easy to talk to. Kiki, on the other hand, was clearly nervous, and she had a great story to tell of jumping out of a plane in drag for charity, but the story never took off. Overall, this group was great and flowed nicely.
Team Actavia was more on the rocky side; each person never really excelled, sort of stuttering their way through the segment. Chanel’s story about a grindr hookup seemed incredibly familiar; for UNHHH fans, they might pick up on this from a hookup episode. Not saying it has been replicated, just very similarly told and laid out.
Category is: How’s your headpiece? and we have an iconic guest judge in 90’s pop sensation Claire Richards from Steps. La Voix looks fresh out of Mardi-Gra, and it’s old-school drag at its finest. Kyran brings the creatively weird, while Charra tea went outside the box as a broken bubblegum machine.
The critiques for La Voix are beautiful to see; she’s a legend in the scene and has been so close to snatching wins, so to see nothing but love for her tonight is a joy to watch. Back in untucked Charra Tea wishes she hadn’t complained about being safe or critiqued in the competition yet; her outfit was stunning; she just stumbled a little. This week has a clear front winner for the badge, and that win goes to La Voix.
The bottom two fall down to Kiki once again and Actavia. I did think this week’s song would be a Steps song, but what a track to choose to lip sync this week; it’s Let’s Dance by David Bowie, and straight away Actavia is a tornado of energy, plus her outfit reveal is perfect for the song. All eyes are on her. Kiki does great; she’s a good performer, but Actavia is eating that stage. The judges give probably their biggest applause to this lip sync; it was incredibly strong. Had the first few episodes had no eliamtions, this easily would have been a double shantyay. However, we do say goodbye to Kiki, which is a shame.
Tune in: New episodes of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” air every Thursday at 3pm ET / 12pm 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.
