It’s the finale of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK season 2 and the four remaining queens are set one more challenge before one of them is crowned Britain’s next drag superstar.
We’ve come to expect the double save, but this late in the game? Ru definitely surprised us with that one. Ellie went head-to-head against Tayce who has been dubbed this seasons lip sync assassin having won four eliminations to earn her spot in the final. They’re joined by Bimini and Lawrence who together represent some of the best drag artistry of England, Wales and Scotland.
Ellie who has recently felt underestimated by the other queens, and has had conflict with fellow Scottish queen Lawrence was able to mend fences and we’re happy to finally see that Lawrence was able to put the comedy line-up behind her. It took her two weeks but at least she’s finally let it go.
For the final maxi-challenge, Ru asked the queens to write a solo verse to her song “A Little Bit Of Love” and learn choreography to perform it on stage with the other queens.
It’s the final, and as usual the remaining four queens get to sit down with Ru and Michelle Visage for a tictac lunch and spill the tea to dig a little deeper into their journey. Tayce who has spoken briefly about her family before, explained further about the support she has received from them and how they’ve always let her explore her weird side and nurture her ambitions to perform. Ellie spoke about the support he received from her mother, and realising her love for drag after watching season six of RuPauls Drag Race (US) and being inspired by Adore Delano.
Lawrence told them about her love for Scotland and how it taught her to embrace her humour and personality. When asked by Michelle if she’d ever leave, Lawrence explained that Scotland is where her heart is and she had no intentions of leaving her home. Bimini opened up about her struggles with depression and substance abuse following the death of her best friend. Having done a lot of thinking over the lockdown break, and the return of drag race falling on the anniversary of her friends death, Bimini took it as a sign and came back to the competition fighting in her friends honour.
After their chats with Ru and Michelle, the queens hit the main stage to practice their choreography with Jay Revell. Tayce, despite wearing an awful wig reminiscent of Justin Hawkins from The Darkness, naturally slayed and was completely in her element. Bimini kept up a reasonable pace, but really proved herself when it came to solo performances pulling out all kinds of hat-tricks, while Ellie seemed to have a clear idea of where she wanted to go and how she was going to get there. A very beautiful thing that we saw, and that we’ve seen is how supportive the other queens have been throughout. We all know that Lawrence is not the strongest dancer, and she doesn’t deny the fact, however whenever she struggled the other queens were there to lift her up and help her through her solo choreography — and in the spirit of “A Little Bit Of Love” it was a powerful message in showing how you can compete but still raise others up at the same time.
On the judging panel this week it was “just family” consisting of Ru, Michelle, Alan Carr and Graham Norton who watched and critiqued the the final four as they performed their version of Ru’s song “A Little Bit Of Love”. Overall it was an energetic performance and with most of the solo verses being quite snappy and rap-like, we didn’t catch a word they said, but it was fun to watch. But, we wouldn’t put it on par with “UK Hun” because that repeatedly gets struck in our heads — it’s just too catchy.
What was a lovely surprise about the performance was that the finalist were joined on stage by all the eliminated queens — including Ginny Lemon who eliminated herself and Veronica Green who left the show after a positive COVID test. We can only imagine all the COVID procedures they had to go through for such a brief cameo.
Following the performance, the queens walked the runway for the final time: Category is… “Final Four Eleganza”
Bimini entered first with her take on a wedding gown and as she walked the runway all we heard was “White Wedding” by Billy Idol – stilling singing it actually. Ellie went OTT for her finale look with a huge ruffle hoop skirt (where was it last week?) and a monochromatic blush head-to-toe look inspired by Glinda the Good Witch from The Wizard Of Oz. Lawrence went with her signature silhouette, and purple drag race-theme inspire gown and Tayce chose a nude bodysuit clad with feathers to flatter her petite frame.
In the finale critiques, the judges pressed Bimini for her growth through the competition, having been in the bottom two the first week and fighting her way to the top. Ellie was praised for her ability to do makeup so well at such a young age, and her ability to put a look together. Alan Carr made the comment that if this is what she is capable of at 21, then she has a promising career ahead of her. Lawrence was praised for her her sense of humour, personality and being able to command attention with his stage presence, while Tayce was praised for her ability to transform songs as her own, and her ability to perform on a stage.
While the judges deliberated, the queens were back in the werk room and reunited with the eliminated queens. Darlington queen, Cherry Valentine who was eliminated early on in the competition posed the question “what were the gags?” At which point Ginny got up and left the room. Funny.
Well it was. Making the joking that she’s the only queen never to have been eliminated — which isn’t entirely true. As some may remember, Eureka was never eliminated from season nine of Drag Race having to leave the show for medical reasons (although was eliminated from season 10) and Veronica Green, technically was also never eliminated this season having tested positive for COVID and has an open invitation for series three.
Among other “gags” was A’Whora brining up the comedy challenge, but like Lawrence has let it go. Coming to the conclusion that she can’t blame Ellie for her own failure. Thank goodness that over.
After a final runway, that saw all the queens walk for he final ti,es the judges brought the final four back on stage for the decision. In the first reveal, Ru announced the top three as Bimini, Lawrence and Tayce.
With one more lip sync everything would be announced — and let us just announce our displeasure that we didn’t get a lip sync battle. Trying to watch three queens on a stage is like trying to keep your eyes on a tennis match. All we know is that we wanted an epic song to finish off the series and we got one, Elton John’s “I’m Still Standing”. It’s a great song and really speaks to the year we’ve all had. However, it wasn’t a fantastic lip sync, there was definitely been more “finale” worthy performances. Maybe you had to be there?
But, having left everything they had on the main stage, the series winner was announced… Lawrence Chaney!
What makes us happy about this is the fact a curvy queen has FINALLY won Drag Race. For years we’ve rooted for curvy queens and they’ve always come so close only to get piped at the post. Congratulations Lawrence Chaney you beautiful, funny queen — keep making the world happy.
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