RuPaul's Drag Race UK Season 7, Episode 1
"Brit Gala"
Host: RuPaul
Cast: Bones, Bonnie Ann Clyde, Catrin Feelings, Chai T Grande, Elle Vosque, Nyongbella, Paige Three, Pasty, Sally™, Silllexa Diction, Tayris Mongardi, Viola
Season 7. It has a ring to it — and in the Drag Race world, it has a connotation. RuPaul's Drag Race Season 7, which aired in 2015, is widely regarded as the worst season of the mothership show. That's up for debate, though, as Season 7's reputation has been reevaluated on repeat, especially as the Class of '15 continues to dominate the drag world. One season gave us Trixie Mattel, Katya, Violet Chachki, Ginger Minj, Kennedy Davenport, etc. It was good, actually. Now RuPaul's Drag Race UK hits the herstoric number, and you know people are going to naturally draw comparisons between the two. I mean, look at me. I'm doing it right now.
But no more, fearless subscriber (please subscribe)! I'm nixing all the international Season 7 comparisons right now, because I just do not have the energy to keep that up all season long. I'm exhausted by life, and we just need to talk about the season at hand. And wow, does this one feel ... interesting!
Top-level thoughts: I don't know who the winner is going to be. If UK has a consistent problem, it's that it telegraphs the winners early every single time — usually as early as their entrances. We get proof of that with the opening montage of the previous six winners, culminating with Season 1 winner The Vivienne, who we tragically lost earlier this year. This opening tribute is touching, and a great reminder that The Vivienne was a one-of-a-kind talent, truly excellent in her own way at every aspect of drag. The other winners — Lawrence Chaney, Krystal Versace, Danny Beard, Ginger Johnson, Kyran Thrax — they all have Viv's DNA in them (not like that, cheeky!). And, like Viv, all of them radiated "winner" energy the instant they hit the Werk Room.
Not this season, though! In fact, I think I'm more unsure of who's here for the long haul and who's a filler queen (neutral). Let's start with the Werk Room entrances, which I've split into three tiers.
Top 4 Entrances
Catrin Feelings is going places, undoubtedly. Sure, the entrance look was a basic gold gown (basic, but lord I'd wear it!), but her talking head and immediate need to fart in a corner of the Werk Room guarantees she'll be good TV.
Sally™ is my personal immediate favorite, despite having a keyboard character in her name that is absolutely going to drive my perfectionist ass crazy all season long. Her entrance look, a Jem meets Zootopia showstopper, is maybe the most memorable look of the episode.
Paige Three actually gave us a nod to US Season 7 with her newspaper schtick, an homage to Max's entrance. But Paige is a contender, right away, because she looks like a super tall, super skinny Pamela Anderson and she has the voice of a downright bloke. This ticks so many of RuPaul's boxes.
And Bones, the girl that has every other queen quaking. I could see why, with that bizarre, unsettling yet fashionable entrance look — turning from a sadistic leather daddy Gingerbread Man into a hot bitch.
Safe Entrances
Tayris Mongardi, Silllexa Diction, Nyongbella, and Bonnie Ann Clyde all got the job done. I did think there were a lot of fit issues in this episode, with looks being a tad too loose (unintentionally; all the puffer looks were, of course, meant to be too big). Tayris' bodysuit could've used some pinning to snatch it in a little more, and Silllexa's look — a crystallized nude illusion evening gown — had a droopy butt. Nyongbella entered the Werk Room a full-on production, and also her confessional look could be a runway look. And I have a feeling I'm going to appreciate Bonnie as the season goes on, as I tend to gravitate towards the "camp cows," but the look was just fine.
Bottom 4 Entrances
Chai T Grande — seems like a sweet girl, but the nude illusion and sparkly nips on her dominatrix bodysuit looked too much like loose skin. Also felt like a self read when she said she was a "door whore" at venues that other queens in the cast work at — not because of her rank in the London drag caste system, but because she didn't make enough of a joke out of it. It could've used a bit of a wink.
And then Viola, giving kind of Milk vibes with the way they seem to think no other drag queens play the violin (Thorgy Thor) or can sing (like, fully a third of the dolls).
Pasty is a cute boy, absolutely my type, and she's also a solid camp queen, which is also my type. But. There are a lot of heavy hitters here and her initial banter didn't land the way her confessionals did.
And then there's Elle Vosque, little in-over-her-head Elle, deer-in-the-headlights Elle. She gave me first-out energy right away, and that energy did not dissipate in the first challenge.
The Brit Gala
A two-part challenge: first, serve a stunning signature look on the stairs of the Met Brit Gala; second, survive an unavoidably awkward and/or hostile interview with a correspondent queen. Reporting from the carpet we have Baga Chipz, Plane Jane, Tessa Testicle, Angeria Paris VanMichaels, and Marina Summers — a pretty delightful assortment of international stars and breakouts from the 2024 seasons. And also Plane Jane, who showed up for a slumber party, not even in heels. All drag is valid, but this "look" (?) was ... pitiful. That's the word I'm going with.
This challenge was designed to show off each queen's fashion and personality, and a few excelled. Sally™ won for me the instant she came out in that all over print facekini gown — and then revealed that she had her wisdom teeth removed and made into earrings, but she doesn't wear them because they are too yellow. Sally knows what she's doing. This is the kinda shit that RuPaul lives for, and so do I. And I thought Bonnie did well with her epic Dalmatian frock, and Paige served us a look by wearing essentially the contents of a man's closet.
A few queens struggled, like Nyongbella. Unfortunately she was dead in the water the instant she descended that staircase in a Marie Antoinette look. Her interview didn't start to sing until she started playing her "nose flute." And poor Elle — but really, a curse upon whichever producer decided to stick the sweet girl with Plane Jane, who is like if an awkward pause was both inherently mean and a person. At least Elle, in a neon velvet nightmare and one of the ugliest dresses I've ever seen (Season 7 callback), held her own with Plane and made the moment watchable.
The funniest moment of the entire challenge, though, was Pasty revealing that she has a vision impairment called bilateral coloboma and Marina Summers responding with, "... Werk."
Category Is...
... Queen of Your Hometown! I'll split these up into two categories: POP and STOP. Self-explanatory?
The POPs of the week, for me: Bones, Paige Three, Viola, Sally™, Bonnie Ann Clyde, and Silllexa Diction. My own top pop of the week — I'll give it to Bones, because she turned a puffer jacket into a synched-yet-huge bodysuit, and topped it off with some schoolboy bitch realness.
My STOPs of the week: Chai T Grande, Catrin Feelings, Nyongbella, Pasty, Tayris Mongardi, and Elle Vosque. Pasty and Chai were really middle of the pack for me, easily safe looks. Nyongbella's gave "I made this in the Werk Room ten minutes ago" down. But my bottom stop of the week goes to Elle Vosque who ... wore a cardboard box with tin foil wrapped around it and called it the Titanic museum.
So imagine my surprise when the top queens of the week are called as Paige, Catrin, and Elle!
This season wasted no time with the WTFery, you love to see it. But really??? And, to jump ahead, Elle winning this week — winning over SallyTM (I can't keep copying and pasting that symbol), who served three distinct and fierce looks and volleyed well in the Q&A, is wild. And Catrin, with perfectly fine looks being in the top over the over-the-top fashion of Bones and Sally is wild. The top three this week were clearly Paige, Bones, and Sally — but maybe I too have a vision impairment and am not seeing something.
But no hate to Elle Vosque. The personality is absolutely popping, and you know the producers clocked a story when Elle first walked into the Werk Room and had the nerve (complimentary) to ask if anyone knew who she was. She gave herself the underdog narrative that similar queens from small towns tend to avoid or downplay. But her being in the top, let alone winning, feels like agitation to get the gals. I'm looking forward to Elle proving me wrong, though!
This is where the twist comes in: we've got the Lucky Cow twist.
This is RuPaul's Drag Race finally looking to Canada's Drag Race, seeing that Golden Beaver, and saying, "I can top that." And, of course, it's not better, just more complicated.
On Canada's Drag Race, the week's winner gets to save one of the bottom three queens from lip syncing. It's a fantastic twist that gives the queens — not producers — a little bit of real power. Of course RuPaul's Drag Race is not going to let the queens have that much power. Instead, all the queens vote — secretly — for one of the bottom three queens to be granted safety for the week. But, confusingly, Ru won't reveal who the queens have chosen until after the lip sync. This is so frustrating, and so Drag Race.
We get to see this play out as Nyongbella and Pasty duel to Charli XCX's "Von Dutch" — which, oh shit, means that the hits of the truly epic Pop Girl Summer of 2024 are now eligible for lip syncs. Too bad neither Nyongbella nor Pasty really bring it. Pasty has some tricks, which are kinda surprising considering that her moves between the flips are mom-at-the-wedding. Nyongbella was way more concerned with keeping her wig on and not letting that clock precariously nestled in it snatch her bald. Her nerves were all over her face, and I just wish she'd chucked that clock to the rafters.
Nyongbella shantays, leaving Pasty the first out, potentially. Thus the Lucky Cow ritual begins, with a video screen rolling through all three possibilities: Tayris, Nyongbella, or Pasty. And — ta-da! — Pasty is saved! Hooray!
But, just like the Badonka Dunk Tank and the chocolate bar before it, this just feels inauthentic. We don't see who the queens voted for. We don't even get a tally of the votes. A Brit Crew member could pull a Probst and pull names out one by one. The credits could roll over a montage of us seeing all the queens vote. But nope! Without seeing how the votes shook out, we're low-key left to assume that the result is rigged. A twist that should introduce a bit of danger and strategy to the show, some unpredictability, is obfuscated to the point of not really mattering.
I don't know why the show has to be this way. But if it wasn't this way, would I have a job, a reason to write 1900 words about a reality TV show?
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