Drag Race UK frocking destroys the girl group challenge

Tyler Mead
Nov 7 · 10 min read

Lackluster lip syncs aside, Drag Race UK continues to impress in a way that harkens back to the golden age of the original series.

After an all — star snatch game last week, the UK girls have totally hit the sweet spot. And after getting down and dirty on the floor, Crystal sent Sum Ting Wong packing.

With Sum Ting’s exit, it feels like everyone left is a strong contender for the crown. Except for Cheryl Hole.

Cheryl’s real function on the show is to stir the pot. Like immediately questioning whether The Vivienne and Baga Chipz (who’s name I’ve misspelled the last 5 weeks) both deserved the win.

Blue Hydrangea joins in, but no one gets quite bold enough to say who should not have won the challenge. More than anything, the other girls seem a little salty that the two strongest girls in the competition both won the most iconic challenge of the season.

Divina De Campo also comes after The Vivienne and Baga, accusing them of talking over people. It’s not the fairest criticism, because in reality television the rules are simple: get air time, or get out.

When the girls enter the workroom, Cheryl proudly declares this is another work for her to be mediocre. While leaning into the joke is endearing, it’s getting hard to take Cheryl serious in this competition when she doesn’t even believe in herself.

Blu comes in hot, clearly reassured after RuPaul applauded her comedy skills. With each week, our youngest queen continues to rise. It’s nice to see a look queen challenging herself, and actually progressing in other areas.

The video message starts, and with a few well placed puns, the girls get excited for their girl group challenge. We’ve seen this a few times in Drag Race herstory, but with UK drag focusing on live vocals, this feels like the most appropriate challenge yet.

RuPaul and the brit crew come out for the reading mini — challenge, and the girls open the library. A spot of tea acts as a nice nod that this is a British reading challenge.

Baga’s up to bat first, and already throwing out her “much betta!” catch phrase. Girl knows how to sell merch. She also knows how to dig deep, and goes after Cheryl as the most obvious bottom alive, and confused Blu with a Rentboy joke. When one of the producers explains it to her, it feels like another read. Solid editing.

Divina goes second, but she doesn’t so much read as she does tell Vivienne and Baga to fuck themselves. Effective, but not totally the assignment.

Cheryl gets in some good digs at Divina for her horse face, and Blu’s faux innocence proving once and for all she isn’t illiterate.

The Vivienne channels Madelyn Ashton with an, “I can see right through you” read directed at Crystal. When Crystal rebuttals, she calls Viv and Baga turds, and pulls out a Madonna quote to shade Blu. It was nice to see her get RuPaul laughing for the first time this season.

Blu’s gotten some recognition as a shady queen already, and doesn’t suck. She reads Cheryl for presenting as off — brand Alyssa Edwards, but her paper bag gag on Baga sags.

All in all, not a bad reading challenge by any means, but it felt more shady than a US version.

RuPaul then goes on a tirade of hating girl groups, which is definitely Willam’s fault. She then tells them they’ll form two groups, each write solo lyrics, come up with a look and handle choreography for the same song. There’s a lot to tackle, and with only two days to get it all done this is a huge challenge.

As winner of the mini — challenge, Crystal gets to pick her teammates. She immediately chooses Cheryl and Vivienne, leaving Divina, Blu and Baga as the rival team.

Crystal explains her reasoning for who she picked. Vivienne sings, and Cheryl dances. Simple enough. Cheryl knows this is the challenge for her, and Crystal says her strength is being fierce. Not the strongest vote of confidence, but when they agree on the name “Filth Harmony,” things start looking up.

The other team feels a bit like underdogs, but that lights a noticeable fire under their ass. Plus, Baga and Divina are singers, and Blu and Divina are dancers. It actually feels like they might be more prepared. And when the ladies take the mantel “Frock Destroyers” it already looks like this is the stronger group.

Vivienne finds out neither of her teammates sing, and tries to jump ship. It doesn’t get any better from there, and with Divina and Baga actually getting along things look good for the Frock Destroyers.

The girls go in to record their verse’s with esteemed British producer MNEK. Filth Harmony goes first, and The Vivienne smashes it right away. Despite struggling with some grade — school level spelling, her vocals are strong.

Cheryl was right right about her singing prowess. Not the best, but her enthusiasm carries it through. Her ad — libs are hysterical as well.

Crystal stands out as the weakest link during recording. Her nerves quickly get the best of her, and she can’t quite get her energy up enough. Her teammates even call her the Michelle of their group.

When the Frock Destroyers come up to record, they’ve got matching turbans and spit curls. Baga’s dirty lyrics get some confused looks from MNEK, but proves her singing chops.

Blu has no experience singing, but manages to keep close enough to pitch to pass. She then goes too blue with her ad — libbing, and needs a reminder that this song is radio friendly.

Divina mention her singing chops in episode one, but actually undersold herself. Her rap goes lower than her speaking voice, and then she whips out whistle tones that actually leave MNEK speechless.

When choreo comes around, Cheryl confidently takes the lead for her team. Despite claiming her moves aren’t too hard, neither of her teammates can really keep up. In her effort to show off her dancing skills, she throws her other, less graceful, teammates under the bus.

Frock Destroyers lean on Divina to lead choreo, but they work together rather well. She even admits her strength lies in her ability to work with less skilled dancers. Every moment of this episode seems to tip the scales in favor of the Frock Destroyers.

When the girls all get back to the workroom to prepare looks, a small pissing contest goes down. Both teams claim MNEK was blown away by their performances, and they size each other up before elimination day.

Filth Harmony even loses the pissing contest when it comes out that Crystal’s biggest strength in the challenge is she’s the thinnest, and Frock Destroyers have more wins on their side.

While the girls get ready, they have a totally unforced conversation about bullying. Blu and Crystal both open up about their high school experience leaving long term scars.

Divina brings up section 28, a law put into effect by Thatcher in the 80’s that prohibited the promotion of homosexuality. That meant, teachers couldn’t even stand up for Divina growing up because they’d be violating the law.

However, Divina also shares about her time as an educator working with troubled children. After a girl called her a slur, the entire class came to Divina’s defense. She tears up in confessional from how reassuring she finds the next generation’s level of tolerance.

On the judges panel this week, RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Graham Norton and Little Mix’s Jade Thirwall.

Filth Harmony performs first while the Frock Destroyers watch, and the girls immediately clock Vivienne’s pink wig in contrast to the other girls blonde. It’s a bit too obvious of an attempt to stand out.

The girls have the attitude down, but each time the camera cuts to a judge things spiral more and more out of control. The Vivienne hardly lip syncs at all, Crystal’s dancing is three steps behind the other girls at all times and Cheryl’s verse sounds rough.

Michelle’s face says it all for this train — wreck of a performance. To quote Baga, “and Cheryl did a death drop.”

Michell Visage was not amused with Filth Harmony’s work, from home or otherwise. (Screenshot from World of Wonder Presents app.)

Immediately, the Frock Destroyers win the challenge. The choreo is simple, but effective, each girl’s verse delivered, and holy shit Divina’s high notes. Their version of the song even made it to the top 20 singles charts in the UK.

Runway Theme: Day at the Races.

Another strong showing from The Vivienne on the runway. (Photo courtesy of The Vivienne’s Instagram @Thevivienne_)

The Vivienne can do no wrong on the runway. This bronze lady look took silver for the night. Simple, elegant and classy. She nailed this assignment.

Cheryl’s style has been questioned all season, but her day at the races runway placed last. (Photo courtesy of Instagram @cherylholequeen.)

Cheryl’s look never made it out the gate. The fascinator is the only component of her look that reads day at the races, but the shapeless purple dress is unforgivable.

Crystal went out of the box once again, and delivered the most memorable look. (Photo courtesy of Instagram @crystal.will.see.u.now)

Crystal continues her streak as the wildcard on the runway, and I love it. The gimp mask paired with a classical hat takes the assignment to the dungeon. By far the most unique take of the week, and she looks incredible in it.

While Baga Chipz always looks right, her style gets a bit repetitive. (Screenshot taken from World of Wonder Presents app.)

Baga looks good, but there’s no denying we’ve seen this silhouette already. She tends to dress a bit like an auntie, and while this look isn’t bad, one would expect a bit more from the top six.

Michelle Visage nicknamed her Glue Hydrangea for this Elmer’s ready runway. (Photo courtesy of Instagram @Bluhydrangea.)
Divina De Campo sets pace for this week’s runway. (Photo courtesy of Instagram Divina De Campo

While most girls went to watch the races, Divina came dressed to win one. Her high fashion jockey look, complete with heelless boots, whipped the other girls off the floor. She won the runway for me this week.

When the judges critiques come, there are no surprises. The Vivienne breaks down almost immediately, because everyone, Vivienne included, knew she stumbled.

Cheryl’s already crying when they get to her, but they give her some positive feedback. After that, Cheryl talks about how much she loves girl groups for the third time this episode. Her only negative critique is that her outfit looks pedestrian.

Crystal gets told she fell into the background during the challenge, but the judges fawn over her exquisite runway.

Filth Harmony gets absolute 10s across the board. They more get judged as a group, because of how cohesive their performance was. Baga and Blu both cry a bit.

The girls go to untuck, and Vivienne and Crystal already know they’ll lip sync. Seeing Vivienne this vulnerable rounds out her storyline well, so this seems like a necessary step in her Drag Race Journey.

Crystal starts to get upset, meaning every single contestant cries this week (well done production,) but Cheryl cuts in to talk about girl groups yet again. Her complete lack of social grace really is next level. Almost everyone chimes in during confessional telling her to shut up.

Despite Divina getting the best feedback, and pretty much leading her team to victory, all three members of the Frock Destroyers win this week. The first ever three — win, and it does feel deserved since the group killed overall. Not having expensive prizes makes it way easier to hand out multiple wins.

Cheryl’s safe, so The Vivienne and Crystal are left to lip sync. Having fallen into the bottom last week, and failing to bring presence, the writing’s on the wall for poor Crystal.

When “Power” by Little Mix comes on, it’s clear by the look on The Vivienne’s face that she’s staying. Not even a wig reveal can save Crystal.

As viewers, we have to face facts. Lip syncs are clearly an inappropriate decided for UK drag queens. The girls don’t traditionally perform lip syncs like their American counterparts, and it shows. In season two of Drag Race UK, a format change is necessary.

The Vivienne gets to stay, meaning Crystal’s time in the competition has come to an end. Her East London sensibilities brought a lot to the show, and her parting line, “fuck diamonds, try Crystal” serves an appropriate send off. Of the girls sent home so far, she’s the one I’ll miss the most.

Next week, the top five must sell bottled water. A marketing challenge that requires wit, comedy and a cohesive idea. Here’s my power ranking.

  1. Baga Chipz — she’s the most solid comedy queen in the game, and she could sell anything. I won’t be surprised if she gets her fourth win.
  2. The Vivienne — after falling into the bottom, Viv needs to prove she hasn’t burnt out. She’ll pull out all the stops to place high again.
  3. Divina — the preview made things look dicey for Divina, but she’s smart enough to stay out of the bottom.
  4. Blu — she’ll probably go dirty again, and make it an ad for douching. I expect it to fall a little flat.
  5. Cheryl — quite frankly, it’s time for Cheryl hole to exit the competition. As the only contestant remaining without a win, and a shaky track record, I see no reason for her to stay.
Welcome to a place where words matter. On Medium, smart voices and original ideas take center stage - with no ads in sight. Watch
Follow all the topics you care about, and we’ll deliver the best stories for you to your homepage and inbox. Explore
Get unlimited access to the best stories on Medium — and support writers while you’re at it. Just $5/month. Upgrade