The fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race continues to be highly entertaining, with numerous Mini and Maxi challenges as well as new queens from across the United Kingdom. Following a special Pantomime challenge that each queen had to perform last week, Banksie was the one to go.
Inspired by its American version, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is a drag competition series that revived BBC Three. Many drag queens are made to participate in trials and tasks; the one who impresses the judges, including RuPaul, wins and receives many more incentives.
The drag queen with the most votes this season will get to host her own fully paid show, which will help her become more well-known and wealthy—the fifth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK started with roughly ten contestants.
Sadly, this installment no longer features Banksie, Miss Naomi Carter, or Alexis Saint-Pete. There will be very tough obstacles, so the surviving queens will need to rise to the occasion if they want to earn the ultimate title.
Recap
The good news is that this week’s only truly bad incident occurred during the mini-challenge, where Ginger earns the privilege of pairing the queens for the acting maxi-challenge. Overall, the show is excellent, as the queens recover from a lackluster Snatch Game to present an even stronger acting challenge.
We even have a new RuPeter Badge winner before the end of the episode. Whichever former badge-free queen—DeDeLicious or Kate Butch—would win it all? This entertaining acting challenge has the following basic idea: in couples, conduct “screen tests” for upcoming TV shows.
All of these are parodies of genuine British TV shows, such as “Emmerdale,” “Holedark,” and “Footballers’ WAGs.” The crucial aspect is that, although the three tales center on the same fundamental notion of two women vying for a man, the settings in which the queens’ characterizations are emphasized change.
Ginger matches DeDe with Tomara Thomas and Cara Melle with Michael Marouli after selecting Kate as her mate. She claims that her only true plan is to choose Tomara, yet, interestingly, she divided up the roommates for this one.
Ginger isn’t allowed to choose the scene they desire, though, and after DeDe and Tomara seize Femmerdale without much delay, it becomes unclear which of the other teams will receive Footballers’ WAGs. Looking back, I’m not sure why that script was the source of the fight.
The two women are only shoving footballs into their dresses while pretending to be pregnant, which may sound entertaining in theory, but the scenario doesn’t allow them much to work with. Ultimately, neither Cara nor Michael—who gets the script—is bad; in fact, this week, nobody is. However, in a week centered on being seen, they merely become inconspicuous.
Tomara, who has been a standout in the confessional chair this season, is hardly going anywhere. She’s hot right now, and Ru is reacting so well to everything she does. I’ll confess that I’m not quite as into Tomara’s performance this week since her recent work feels a bit repetitive.
However, DeDe has truly impressed me. The most physically intense moment is in Femmerdale, where DeDe is flung around like a rag doll.
She does a fantastic job, and even though Tomara and she both have trouble remembering their set lines, Michelle Visage has almost completely forgotten about their difficulties by the time their performance is aired. I believe DeDe could have won this week if there had been a different pool of performances.
Spoilers
Making a few extra special makeover subjects into drag queens is the task given to the queens. Daphne Guinness, a fashion expert, will be joining RuPaul on the judging panel.
Release Date & Where to Watch
RuPaul’s Drag Race (UK) Season 5 Episode 8 will air on Thursday, November 16, 2023, at 9:00 p.m. The duration of every episode is 70 minutes. The release times in different countries are:
- United States: 5:00 PM, Thursday, November 16, 2023.
- Japan: 6:00 AM, Friday, November 17, 2023.
- Philippines: 5:00 AM, Friday, November 17, 2023.
- Australia: 8:00 AM on Friday, November 17, 2023.
- Canada: 5:00 PM, Friday, November 17, 2023.
- Germany: 10:00 PM, Thursday, November 16, 2023.
New episodes of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will premiere on BBC Three at 9:00 PM for viewers in the UK. Furthermore, MTV and BBC iPlayer will offer RuPaul’s UK series for on-demand watching. Canadian fans may watch RuPaul’s Drag Race UK on Crave.
