Major spoilers ahead for the fourth episode of Drag Race UK vs the World.
‘Unhinged’ is the adjective we’d use to describe this week’s edition of Snatch Game – and, to be honest, it’s the adjective we always want to use in reference to Drag Race‘s staple challenge. Rather that than “romper room fuckery”, huh?
For their fourth maxi, the eight remaining contestants on UK vs the World season two – Choriza May, Gothy Kendoll, Hannah Conda, Keta Minaj, La Grande Dame, Marina Summers, Scarlet Envy and Tia Kofi – flexed their best celebrity impersonations and, as per, there was one goal in mind: to make RuPaul laugh.
Again, major spoilers ahead!
Ultimately, Gothy Kendoll and Keta Minaj bottomed for the second time, with the latter losing her place in the competition, while Tia Kofi won her second consecutive challenge and Hannah Conda became the seventh queen in herstory to win the Snatch Game twice.
Read ahead for our ranking of all eight performances, and visit here for our exit interview with Keta.
8. Gothy Kendoll (Kim Woodburn)
Before she even donned the Queen of Clean’s gloves and pearl necklace, Gothy’s inner saboteur reached full power. Although we commend the UK’s Pork Chop for at least trying to channel Kim Woodburn’s signature breathy tone, the whole performance lacked her hilariously menacing personality and temperament, as well as her quintessential reads: “you chicken-livered shit!” / “don’t start with me!” / “you’re an adulterer!” etc. Gothy was just too nice. In a parallel universe, her version of Kim Woodburn thinks Nicola McLean is an upstanding, lovely woman and is best friends with Coleen Nolan.
7. Keta Minaj (Fran Drescher)
Fran Drescher is the perfect choice for Snatch Game, and there’s no denying that Keta Minaj completely transformed, aesthetically (and sonically?), into her iconic lead from The Nanny. While her characterisation elicited a few chuckles from me, particularly her delivery of “my fake tayth!” (no idea what that accent was), it wasn’t as strong as it could’ve been – especially when you take her winning impersonation of Sophie Anderson on Drag Race Holland into consideration. However, the juxtaposition between her all-smiley impersonation of Fran and her confessional, in which she pleaded with the “sweet lord” to “save” her from Snatch Game doom, was actually my personal highlight of the episode. Great television, loved it.
6. Choriza May (Catherine of Aragon)
‘My Pussy is Like a Peach’ singer-songwriter Choriza May as Catherine of Aragon is so stupid that, even if it was an absolute disaster, it still would’ve been iconic. Admittedly, some of her answers could have hit a bit harder. For example, with her comment about “the three rings of marriage”, I anticipated some kind of ridiculous Henry VIII spin on it. Or, like RuPaul answered, something filthy like “cock ring”. But whatever, I loved the entire thing for her accent alone. Whenever I now think of Catherine of Aragon (which is, like most people, every waking moment of the day), I will remember Choriza May’s satisfied face as she told RuPaul, “In my day, we made [condoms] out of cat intestines. It gave a whole new meaning to, ‘Stick it in your pussy!'” Protect queer art.
5. La Grande Dame (Carla Bruni)
“We always manage to have thousands of visitor… anal-ly” was funny and the Drag Race edit will not convince me otherwise! La Grande Dame’s impersonation of Carla Bruni, former model and First Lady of France, wasn’t much of a hit with the panel – Michelle Visage claimed that it was “not funny”. Hard disagree, actually. Was it one of the greats? Nah. Was it entertaining? Yes! The aforementioned response, as well as her unhinged facial expressions and decision to gobble like a turkey, made me cackle the house down. La Grande Dame committed to the bit, and for that she didn’t deserve to be bottom three.
4. Scarlet Envy (The Statue of Liberty)
Imagine being a straight individual who accidentally flicks the telly on to Drag Race UK vs the World to see Simon Cowell’s best mate Sinitta with two of Henry VIII’s wives (one beheaded), an Australian gay in his thirties pretending to be a seven-year-old tap dancer from Old Hollywood and a walking, Jersey-talking Statue of Liberty. LGBT is great! I love it. Whether you agree or disagree with queens impersonating non-living or made-up entities on the Snatch Game, Scarlet Envy made a wise decision for these reasons: a) nobody can say it wasn’t like the “colossal neoclassical” (I got that from the Wikipedia) sculpture’s personality, because, y’know, she no talky, and b) it was daft as f**k, which is the main objective of Snatch Game.
3. Marina Summers (Manny Pacquiao)
RuPaul always tells the queens that trying to channel Meryl Streep in the Snatch Game is a bit dumb, and that it’s wise to stick a little close to home, so Marina Summers’ decision to turn Manny Pacquiao – one of the world’s most revered boxers – into a camp, effeminate queen is kinda genius. Her physical comedy was great, especially her handjob gesture and duck-walk bit. I won’t lie, I was bit confused with RuPaul’s response to this: “You just go into the ring, think of very terrible person in your life. In your case, think of Michelle Visage and you’re good to go.” Why did Ru act like she’s never once made a Michelle joke? Confusing, and it deserved a bigger response than that. Deserved top three!
2. Tia Kofi (Anne Boleyn)
I have no idea what voice Tia Kofi was putting on for Anne Boleyn, but I was sold. At times, it sounded like Katie Price, then it was Tia Kofi, then it was quite masculine, and then it was Katie Price, and it just worked. The brilliance of her impersonation is that she brought her own sense-of-humour into it such as her use of the phrase “I don’t disagree”, which has come to feel like a Tia Kofi staple. She was smart with it, too, deploying every beheaded joke in her arsenal. Natalie Portman [imagine I said that in Shea Couleé’s voice] is shaking!
1. Hannah Conda (Shirley Temple)
Hannah Conda is the queen of winning Snatch Game with a character that’s already won Snatch Game. (That is not a diss, and to be fair to her, she filmed UK vs the World before she saw Jimbo on All Stars 8.) Her impersonation of child actress Shirley Temple was gloriously – as RuPaul said – “demented”, and her comebacks were instantly iconic, from “dating me would be a red fwag because I’m seven!” to “I saved everyone from depressions”, as well as her emotional response to Choriza’s aforementioned “stick it in your pussy” joke. A much-deserved win, and now Hannah has proven herself to be one of the all-time Snatch Game greats alongside the likes of Jinkx Monsoon, BenDeLaCreme, Baga Chipz, Trinity the Tuck and Bob the Drag Queen.
Visit here for our full interview with this week’s eliminated queen.
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