The highly anticipated RuPaul’s Drag Race UK series 5 kicked off with a bang on Thursday night, bringing fans an unexpected twist that left them on the edge of their seats. The Werk Room was once again graced with ten fierce queens, each vying for the coveted title of the UK’s Next Drag Superstar.
The episode began with the queens entering the Werk Room, all decked out in their finest daytime drag. It was a moment of anticipation and excitement as viewers got their first glimpse of the fabulous contestants. RuPaul, flanked by judges Alan Carr and Michelle Visage, was joined by special guest supermodel Kristen McMenamy to oversee the proceedings.
The Maxi Challenge of the week, known as the “Fierce Impressions Ball”, required the queens to strut their stuff on the runway in three distinct looks. First up was the 2daytime drag” look, where the judges carefully assessed their initial impressions upon entering the Werk Room.
But the real drama unfolded as the queens prepared for the next runway presentations themed around “Up in Da Club” and “Fierce Impressions Extravaganza Eleganza”. The former saw the queens’ present club-themed looks for “Club Tickety-Boo” (“Tickety-Boo” being RuPaul’s new favourite British slang, which he said alongside “Bob’s your uncle” – although he totally missed out on also saying “and Linda’s your aunt”).
These club-themed looks saw them strut their stuff on a runway in front of some superstar international drag queens from various franchises of Drag Race. Their comments and reactions would be taken into account by the judges.
We saw the return of:
- Blu Hydrangea – contestant on the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK placing fifth and the winner of the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs the World
- Jimbo – contestant on the first season of Canada’s Drag Race placing fourth, the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs the World placing seventh, and the winner of the eighth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars
- Lady Camden – runner-up on the fourteenth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race
- Nicky Doll – contestant on the twelfth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race placing 11th and host of Drag Race France
- Pangina Heals – co-host of Drag Race Thailand and contestant on the first series of RuPaul’s Drag Race: UK vs the World placing sixth
- Silky Nutmeg Ganache – contestant on the 11th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race placing joint-third, the sixth season of RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars placing 11th, and runner-up on the first season of Canada vs. the World
- Sminty Drop – contestant on the fourth series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK placing ninth.
The latter, described as a “show-stopping look”, challenged the queens to showcase their unique personal style on the runway, giving “Fierce Impressions”.
As the queens presented their runway looks, tension mounted, and the judges had some tough decisions to make. Half of the cast was sent back to the Werk Room – Banksie, DeDeLicious, Kate Butch, Miss Naomi Carter, and Tomara Thomas – leaving RuPaul with a “surprise” for those still on stage.
In a shocking twist, RuPaul revealed that the remaining queens – Alexis Saint-Pete, Cara Melle, Ginger Johnson, Michael Marouli, and Vicki Vivacious – were declared the Tops of the week. In a departure from the usual format, no one would be sent home. Instead, Cara Melle and Vicki Vivacious were selected to Lip Sync for the Win to the infectious beats of “Ooh Aah… Just A Little Bit” by Gina G – another Eurovision song as a lip-sync, please keep them coming, RuPaul!
In a euphoric moment, Vicki emerged victorious, securing the first coveted RuPeter Badge of the series.
“It feels fantastic to win the first RuPeter Badge of season 5. It’s real validation, I’ve worked so hard to get here,” Vicki exclaimed during the episode.
However, the queens were reminded that the reprieve was temporary. RuPaul warned that the first elimination of the series would definitely happen next week, setting the stage for even more drama and fierce competition.
Talking about fierce drama that has not only shocked the nation but has got most Drag Race fans playing “Where’s Wally?” – or should we say “Where’s Waldo?” for the US fans? – there’s actually an 11th queen on set who has been edited out of the series due to reports of sexual assault. The editors of this series have done an absolutely incredible job and we believe they deserve awards as many fans didn’t even realise and are now rewatching the episode to try and find the 11th queen.
BBC and World of Wonder have yet to make a statement about this, and the only clues we had originally were the fact that there were only 10 queens announced, whereas previous series’ have seen 12 queens revealed, as well as a now-deleted Reddit post from someone allegedly within the Drag Race UK production – which can be taken with a pinch of salt since anyone can post to Reddit and claim to be whoever they want to be, but it seems they’ve sort of been correct within the post.
Turning this episode into more of a spot-the-difference, eagle-eyed viewers got to see glimpses of this so-called queen. with shots of her hidden behind other queens, or cut off in certain scenes – leading to just some fur or a ring, that can be spotted on the far side of some shots.
Brett White from Decider delved right on in, searching for all signs of this queen in his article, so check that out if you want more information. (Although, we highly suggest you quickly share this article before you leave us).
As fans eagerly await the next episode, they can dive deeper into the series 5 premiere’s drama by tuning into the brand new Drag Race after-show, “The After Shave”, with Danny Beard, available on BBC Three and the iPlayer now.
“RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” continues to captivate audiences, airing on BBC Three in the UK and streaming on WOW Presents Plus in the US and worldwide, apart from Canada where viewers can tune in on Crave.
You can follow all your favourite queens from this new series of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK across all social media by checking out our article here.
Stay tuned for more fierce runway moments, lip-sync battles, and unexpected twists in this series’ quest for drag supremacy.