RuPaul’s Drag Race is keeping its fifth season as entertaining as ever, with a ton of Mini and Maxi challenges and new queens from all over the UK. Last week, Banksie was the one to leave after each of the queens had to complete a unique Pantomime challenge.
Inspired by its American counterpart, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is a drag competition series that revitalized BBC Three. Many drag queens are forced to engage in trials and tasks; the winner, who also receives numerous other incentives, is the one who impresses the judges, RuPaul included.
The drag queen who wins this season will have the opportunity to have a fully paid show of her own, providing her with an opportunity to increase her notoriety and income. RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’s fifth season began with about ten competitors.
Sadly, Banksie, Miss Naomi Carter, and Alexis Saint-Pete are no longer included in this installment. To win the ultimate title, the remaining queens will need to step up to the plate because there will be unexpectedly difficult hurdles.
Recap
It’s most definitely not six queens, which is something we’ve seen occasionally and which nearly always results in a boring Snatch Game. The drawback of having a small cast is that you have to spend a lot more time with any silent flops than you would with a larger one.
The editing in Snatch Game is comparatively quick, giving us only the best moments from each performance. I was essentially convinced by All Stars 7 that eight was the ideal amount for both of its Snatch Game rounds.
The eight collected winners’ jokes were distributed far more evenly in the first round, demonstrating how balanced it could be. However, the second round was dominated by Jinkx Monsoon’s legendary Judy Garland impression, suggesting that if one queen is shining, you can also highlight her in an eight-queen format.
Conversely, Drag Race UK appears to have generally determined that seven is their magic number. But I would contend that this has frequently resulted in some pacing problems that, in the past, have been readily overlooked due to a single strong performance. Imagine Ella Vaday in Season 3 as Nigella Lawson, or Bimini as Katie Price in Season 2.
The issue is that you end up spending a lot of time on mediocre performances if you don’t have a legendary main character to concentrate on. And for that reason, Snatch Game in the UK for Season 5 is a little underwhelming, if not completely disastrous.
Ru’s walkthrough in the workroom gives us an early indication that this won’t be a firecracker Snatch Game. Ru has faced a lot of criticism in the past for becoming overly engaged in pressuring queens to modify their characters, especially with the UK, so it’s a compliment to him that he appears to have mostly recanted from doing so.
The difficult part about that, though, is that he doesn’t provide an alternative when he flags anything fishy, such as in the case of Cara Melle, a purported Dionne Warwick superfan who can’t name a single song other than “That’s What Friends Are For.”
Comparing Cara’s selection of Dionne with Ginger Johnson’s selection of Dame Barbara Cartland—the author known as the “Queen of Romance”—becomes an intriguing case study. I believe that they are choosing characters in both situations so that RuPaul will find them appealing.
Cara’s Dionne, though, is modeled after the Twitter persona of Dionne, which has gained a lot of traction among users of the network I won’t be referring to as “X.” Cara is pretty fast at the game and keeps up with the comedy, and her portrayal is hilarious. It’s not, however, what Ru adores about Dionne. Therefore, it won’t work.
Spoilers
The romantic drama tests the queens’ acting prowess, and the melodrama goes on. Alan Carr, Michelle Visage, RuPaul, and comedian Joel Dommett are the new judges.
Release Date & Where to Watch
RuPaul’s Drag Race (UK) Season 5 Episode 7 will air on Thursday, November 9, 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 9, 2023.
- Japan: 6:00 AM, Friday, November 10, 2023.
- Philippines: 5:00 AM, Friday, November 10, 2023.
- Australia: 8:00 AM on Friday, November 10, 2023.
- Canada: 5:00 PM, Friday, November 10, 2023.
- India: 2:30 AM, Friday, November 10, 2023.
- Germany: 10:00 PM, Thursday, November 9, 2023.
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK returns to BBC Three, with new episodes premiering at 9:00 PM for UK audiences. In addition, RuPaul’s UK series will be accessible for on-demand viewing on MTV and BBC iPlayer. RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is available to Canadian viewers on Crave.
