Television

Drag Race UK’s latest episode marked yet another first for the series

By Conor Clark

4th November 2021

This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK saw two of the season’s lip-sync assassins face off against each other.

This week’s maxi challenge saw the five remaining queens compete in the Miss F.U.G.L.Y. (Friend, U Gotta Love Yourself) Beauty Pageant.

In yet another first for the UK series, the queens had to race against the clock to make an outfit after only finding out the category just before heading to the runway.

In the first category, F.U.G.L.Y. Swimwear, the contestants had 69 minutes to create a look.

The second saw them take on the theme of Charity Shop Chic in just 60 minutes, a fitting challenge given Charity Shop Sue’s cameo to give the queens some fashion tips.

F.U.G.L.Y. But Fashionable was the third category, with the queens then having a mere 30 minutes to deliver a runway-suitable look.

Joining the judges on the panel was singer Alesha Dixon, who was critical of Scarlett Harlett’s third look of the night.

“This look wasn’t fashion for me,” Alesha said. “F.U.G.L.Y yes, fashion no. But overall I still really enjoyed everything that you did tonight.”

Scarlett and Vanity Milan were declared the bottom two by RuPaul meaning that, with two lip-sync victories each, one of this season’s assassins was sure to sashay away.

After a hard-fought lip-sync to Scandalous by Mis-Teeq, Scarlett became the seventh queen to sashay away.

“Scarlett Harlett, from the Isle of Dogs to the Isle of fierce Drag Race bitches,” RuPaul told the queen. “You’ve come a long way. Now, Sashay Away.”

In her exit interview, Scarlett said she knew beating Vanity was going to be an uphill battle.

She stated: “Of course I’m gonna go home. I was up against Vanity, who is an amazing lip-syncer. There was no way I was gonna come out of that alive.

“I am so proud to be a part of Drag Race! This is a life-long dream fulfilled. Can’t wait to tell me mum. Mum, I made it to the top five! I’m gonna be taking that Macaulay Culkin scream all the way to the bank girls! AAAAAHH!”

In her mirror message, Scarlett made fun of the ongoing “one single talent” joke of the season.

“My one single talent got me to the TOP 5,” she wrote. “Maybe now you’ll get a word in edgeways!! Love you all, Scarlett.”

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK returns on Thursday 11 November from 7pm exclusively on BBC Three via iPlayer.