Welcome to our weekly look at what has been going on in the Werk Room and Main Stage of Rupaul’s Drag Race UK Series 3.
If you want to avoid spoilers for Rupaul’s Drag Race, stop reading now.
Last week, Ru decided no one would be going home, meaning that four queens still remain in the competition; Kitty, Ella, Krystal and Vanity. Surely this week she’ll get rid of at least one?
As the four queens returned to the Werk Room, Ella and Kitty were relieved. The subject of badges came up and Ella was feeling herself with the most; 3 badges. She keeps asking the girls if they’ve been sleeping on her.
The new week starts with Ru entering the Werk Room to tell the girls that this week’s maxi challenge would be a Pearly Gates Comedy Roast. Repenting for their sins, the girls must roast themselves as well as the judges (including Kathy Burke) and the audience of Series 3 alumni.
Ella was given the power of deciding the order each queen would perform in. She told the group she was going to be tactical and then asked each where they’d like to be in the running order. She then assigned Krystal first, then herself, Vanity and ending with Kitty: The weakest, herself, another weak one and then a strong one to finish as she described to camera.
As the girls got ready, Ella spoke about how she has had to hide her femininity growing up and in the theatre world, and was even asked at an audition to come back in a week and be more masculine. Vanity could relate as just joined in the conversation, but said how good her family had been to her.
To fit the heavenly theme all the contestants were dressed in white as they tried to be angelic. Krystal was up first and was clearly out of her comfort zone. Despite not really landing many jokes, she had a very likable quality that the audience and panel seemed to enjoy.
Ella was next and from the off she was landing joke after joke and nailing it. The judges were in stitches as were the eliminated queens. Good job!
Vanity followed Ella and seemed to be mostly trying to roast herself and forgetting to roast the panel and her fellow queens. It was only when she was heckled that she seemed to get feisty, but then didn’t have the quips to back up her attitude. Looks like her and Krystal for the lip-sync so far.
Then came Kitty, who’d been very confident from the start of the episode. She actually seemed a little nervous and kept looking down at her notes but the jokes were there and overall it was a good performance.
Following the roast, the queens came on to the runway in their best ‘Oh My Goddess’ looks. Krystal looked stunning with a gold headdress and catsuit (although unfortunately looked a little similar to last week’s She-3p-Ho look).
She was followed by Ella in a figure hugging catsuit and long blue wig; a pretty look if not as big as Krystal’s. Then came Vanity who also had a gold headdress and although the rest of her outfit didn’t resemble Krystal, I think she suffered from Krystal having the bigger headdress. Finally, Kitty came out in an Aphrodite esque look in pink and gold.
As the judges deliberated, the four queens were in for a surprise in the Werk Room as the siren went off and the TV screen sprang to life. First up was Ella’s partner, then Kitty and Krystal’s families, before Vanity’s husband (and of course costume maker) gave a message. This made all the girls a bit emotional but also lit a fire under them.
The judges gave their critiques and it was obvious that Ella and Kitty had smashed the roast and therefore Krystal and Vanity would be lip-syncing. Could the ‘lip-sync assassin’ Vanity scalp another queen? We were about to find out.
The girls had to lip-sync to Dua Lipa’s ‘Hallucinate’ and both gave a good popstar performance. However, it was Krystal who had the edge, despite some almost synchronised splits from the pair at one point. Ru agreed and asked Krystal to stay and Vanity to leave.
That means your final 3 are Ella, Kitty and Krystal. Next week is the finale where we’ll see who will be crowned the UK’s Next Drag Superstar. Ella now has to be the favourite with the most wins under her belt, but Kitty is more of a character and Krystal has the best fashion. Which way will it go? Tune in next week.
‘Rupaul’s Drag Race UK’ series 3 continues weekly, Thursday at 7pm on BBC iPlayer/BBC Three.
