RECAP: “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK 6” Episode 7 (Rusical)
In a week where reality is a very dark place for many of us living in the United States, I am so grateful to have “reality TV” competitions to distract me for even a little while. This week’s “Drag Race UK 6” was among the best of them. I have been enjoying this season the entire time, but still putting UK Series 2 and UK Series 5 above it in my personal rankings. This episode — the Rusical, a celebration of British (mostly!) pop icons in which the queens sang LIVE — may have pushed the season ahead of Series 5 for me. This was an astonishingly good episode, and RuPaul was not lying when she told the queens at judging that 1) they are among the most charismatic and likable group of girls they’ve EVER had, and 2) nobody is doing poorly, so these eliminations are genuinely painful.
This whole Top 7 — La Voix, Kyran Thrax, Rileasa Slaves, Charra Tea, Lill, Marmalade, Actavia — is excellent, each with their own unique strengths. I honestly don’t want to see ANY of them go. But I’m so thankful to have them on my screen every week.
Read on for my takes on “Drag Race UK” Season 6, Episode 7, “Tops of the Pop.” SPOILERS AHEAD!
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First I’ll say, I can’t recall the last time we had a Rusical sung LIVE on “Drag Race.” Did the UK5 girls it for Panto? I know they sung those tracks, but I feel as though they recorded them in advance. Over on U.S. mothership, the last live one I can remember is Season 6’s. But by all means, someone please correct me on this. Overall I thought all seven queens did at least well, with half of them doing an amazing job. I’ll go over each queen’s performance in order of from most impressive (to me) to least, but again noting: nobody did poorly. I’ll also share my thoughts on the Night of 1,000 Princess Dianas runway looks, which were overall OK, although the wigs were frequently a big issue.
Rileasa Slaves as Adele: Genuinely gagged that Rileasa did not win this week — I’m not even sure she was technically Top 3. I was stunned at what came out of Rileasa’s mouth in the challenge. I had a hard time even believing that was her singing live, because I think it was the best live vocal I’ve ever heard on “Drag Race,” including the other, higher-ranked performances from this Rusical. I thought Rileasa’s vocals in the E1 talent show were decent, and I thought her verse in the Girl Groups was wildly overpraised. But this? Mama. This was exquisite. I get the criticism that she didn’t sound like Adele, but aside from La Voix, none of them really “sounded” like their assigned pop stars. But as soon as she went into the comedy parts of the Adele bit, she was hilarious. I bought everything she was selling. I quite liked her Princess Diana runway. It wasn’t a super well-known reference, but it was such a curveball for Rileasa stylewise that I appreciated the risk. I’m glad the judges also took note that there wasn’t even the slightest hint of Rihanna this week. Amazing week for Rileasa, and desperately needed after that appalling Snatch Game.
La Voix as Shirley Bassey: Surprising absolutely no one, La Voix nailed her impersonation of Dame Shirley. She’s had ample practice at it — she’s done her in her act for years. Still, that doesn’t make her performance here any less impressive, or delightful. She looked like Shirley, she sounded like Shirley, she had her mannerisms. It was a dead-on send-up that both celebrated and took the piss out of the icon, with the repeated, “she hasn’t got the range!” lyrics. I also appreciated La Voix’s completely unconventional approach to the runway prompt, and points for taking a literal bucket of water to the face before walking out on the mainstage. But sis really went out there in a mid-2010s Justin Bieber wig, a novelty t-shirt, and pink bike shorts. Delta Work’s impact. La Voix absolutely should have been a Top 3 for this challenge, but giving her a third win in three weeks is…a lot. Especially when there were several other deserving options.
Charra Tea as Kylie Minogue: This was the week I officially fell in love with Charra Tea. I’ve always found her likable, and I think she generally brings some interesting looks to the runways, even if they don’t always actually fit the prompt. But I was feeling the Ellie Diamond “How Did You Get Here?” run as we went on. Not after tonight. I didn’t care for her Snatch Game, but Charra was hysterical in this Kylie bit, arguably the funniest one in the show. I literally have no notes. She crushed that, and absolutely should have been Top 3. She knew she fucked up that Diana wig, but literally half of them did — there is clearly good business to be made in the UK for Diana-inspired hair units. Get on that, someone. Still, great job Charra. While I wasn’t on board with last week’s “breakthrough,” you can consider my seat booked going forward.
Kyran Thrax as George Michael: Speaking of bad wigs, the one on Kyran’s head was the worst part of an otherwise really good George Michael impression. Kyran is a great performer; I understand why the other queens would be irritated, watching her nail everything with similarly no effort. But I also believe Kyran when she says that she’s had to work her ass off to get to this place as a performer, and as a person who is truly proud of and confident in her accomplishments. I thought the Diana look — or looks, between the paparazzi coat look and the Revenge Dress reveal — were successful, but again: bad wig. While the win momentum may have switched from her to La Voix in this middle stretch, Kyran has yet to slip in this competition and is delivering one of the greatest overall runs in “Drag Race” history.
Marmalade as Elton John: Marmalade being ranked fifth of seven is an indication of how good this Rusical was, because she was also good as Elton John, and probably had the runway look of the night with that flawless polka-dot dress that she made herself. Incredible. Her visual aesthetic is pristine, and I was hypnotized by her make-up on the runway tonight. Her Elton lacked some of the punch of the other performances — I think it was the weakest of the songs, though — and there was some visual disconnect between wee Elton and string bing Marmalade. But still a perfectly serviceable job by Marm.
Lill as Cilla Black: Lill excelled as Cilla in the hosting role, delivering her lines with a ridiculous vocal affect and her natural charm. The trouble started in her song, where she even admitted she was totally bricking it trying to remember steps, service face, and hit her notes all at once. Understandable! This was a very difficult challenge, and not many casts could have pulled it off. Lill was the only queen brave enough to attempt to do Diana’s most iconic look, that massive wedding dress, and she topped it off with a reveal to Diana’s second most iconic look, the Revenge Dress. I think her Revenge Dress was the cooler of the two options, with the leather-like fabric giving it a more punk vibe, although Kyran’s was more flattering.
Actavia as Geri Halliwell: Actavia was at a disadvantage as she admitted to not really knowing much about the Spice Girls generally, and Geri specifically. Honestly, I get it. At this point, we are literally almost 30 years out from the Spice Girls’ heyday. Do you think 20somethings in the 1990s were super aware of The Supremes and Diana Ross? Because that’s the same delta in terms of time, and in my experience, Gen Z doesn’t tend to pay any attention to anything that existed pre-2000. So I don’t blame Actavia there. While Actavia’s Geri did not feel in any way like Geri Halliwell, it was still wildly entertaining. Actavia is just fun to watch. That stage presence is undeniable. She also had the worst runway look of the night, by a wide mile. The thing is, she knew all of this, and still went out there with her head held high. As she should. RuPaul specifically told Actavia during critiques that she just loves her, and is so impressed by her. I don’t think that was bullshit. I think Ru genuinely likes this cast, and I can understand her specific soft spot for Actavia. She’s just so damned likable. And talented!
And we got more proof of that as Actavia and Lill were put in the Bottom 2 to lipsynch to “Time Warp” from The Rocky Horror Picture Show. What a lipsynch! This was explosive from the very first notes, as the two performers just fully threw themselves into this campy, vampy classic, and gave us two incredible but very different performances. I was engaged for the whole song, there was no fat on this lipsynch; the energy in that room must have been electric, as everyone seemed to be losing their shit over both performers. More lipsynch songs like this, please. I think it deserved a double save, but we’re getting down to the end here — there HAVE to be eliminations. It was Actavia’s third Bottom 2 appearance, and Lill did a genuinely good job here. So it was Actavia’s time to leave.
A great, great run for this young Welsh queen. She has a huge career ahead of her, and I won’t be the least bit surprised to see her brought back for a “UK Vs. the World,” a “Global All Stars,” or dare we hope an honest-to-god “UK All Stars.” She’s got the charisma, she’s got the talent, and she had the nerve to wear many ugly wigs. With a bit more time and cash, she absolutely has what it takes to snatch a crown some day. Just not this one.
Next: it’s family makeovers, so expect a lot of tears, and probably some absolute bullshit judging.
What do you think of this season overall? Drop your thoughts in the comments.
