The Problem With RuPaul's Drag Race UK
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 22 ก.ย. 2024
- Oh how the mighty fall...
Drag Race UK has had quite a wild trajectory over the last 4 years. From 2 of the most beloved Drag Race seasons of all time, to 2 of the most forgettable and controversial by fans. In this video we're going to be deep diving the series, talking about the highs and lows, the beginning to where we're at now, and discuss some point thats I think the show could re-focus in order to bring it back to the peak it was once at.
From controversial eliminations like Charity Kase, Dakota Schiffer, Cheryl Hole, and Choriza May to queens who fans think production unfairly pushed such as Scarlett Harlett, Krystal Versace, Jonbers Blonde, and Ellie Diamond. Lazy challenges and finales, odd production decisions and twists. There's a lot to talk about and we're going to get into all of it.
What do you think about the trajectory of RuPaul's Drag Race UK? Let me know in the comments below!
Drag Detective's Links
Merch: thedragdetectiveshop.com
Tiktok: tiktok.com/@thedragdetective
Instagram: / thedragdetective
Twitter: / dragdetective
Patreon: / thedragdetective
For me what gets really annoying is that queens of color are severely undercasted in the series. Compared to s1-4 of rpdr usa where the majority of the cast is qoc. To wherein DRUK only 2-3 queens of color getting casted is to me very inexcusable.
And to me I feel like their limiting themselves cuz we're not getting a wider breadth of what UK Drag offers. Like the fact that there's an entire South East Asian Drag Community in the UK basically ignored by the series is like. Super disappointing!
Idk I just want them to do better but even after people pointed this out when the series3 cast was revealed and nothing was done idk man...
All of this.
This problem is bigger in the US seasons though, like the US is the most diverse country in the world yet they cast so many skinny white queens it’s ridiculous
also the fact that all of the asian queens have gone home on snatch game and each season since UK 2 has had a black queen lip sync 4 times….
Adding to this, I'm tired of seeing black UK queens relegated to the "lip sync assassin" role - Tayce, Peppa, and Vanity all got that edit
@@charlesdahlman9650 I mean Black Peppa deserved those bottom placements, but Baby, Vanity and Tayce definitely didn’t
Potentially controversial opinion: the reasons the UK (and Down Under) seasons are being dragged into the mud are bc they're trying to design them with a US fandom in mind. Philippines, France, Thailand etc. aren't aimed at an international audience, they're aimed at their country of origin with the bonus of an alternative audience available (looks at the sad google-translate subtitles) and so have a much better reception. Think of it like the US vs UK versions of The Office - there's a reason the humour is different, even though they're both English-speaking tv shows
Agreed
Agreed!
Absolutely. I think that's especially true of the last two seasons of DRUK too. Season 1 especially felt much more like it was aimed at a British audience.
Very well said! I found Drag Race Philippines SO CHARMING because it felt particular to that part of the world (that admittedly I don't know much about). It was a really cool opportunity to learn about queer culture in the Philippines, and it didn't feel over produced
Totally agree! Ru and Michelle are not immersed enough in the cultures to be the best judges for the UK/DU series. It's unfair to the queens from those respective countries to get chastised on the runway or in challenges just because Ru and Michelle didn't get a reference that would have been clear to someone who better understands British or Australian/NZ styles of drag.
Let’s not pretend like the lack of an actual prize isn’t a huge issue as well.
I’d argue this is the biggest issue. Imagine how much more competitive it would be if they got something. Like at least give them some snag tights gd.
Well, remember: the BBC is a publicly-funded network. It would be immoral and also illegal for the queens to get a major monetary prize. Yes, they could be more creative than a webseries, but so long as DRUK is on the BBC, it's not gonna happen.
Like, not them raising the American prize to $200,000 while the Brits still get NO MONEY
Not their fault. BBC doesn’t give out money on TV
@@DkGamerTH-camIs there any particular reason why?
I think if they relaunched it with a new host like The Vivienne or Ella Vaday who are more in tune with British culture than RuPaul. Would help for things like snatch game especially
It NEEDS a host who gets the cultural references. 💯
Honestly this. Kitty, Viv, Bimini, Tayce, Cheddar. I could see any of them eating as host.
What about our number one british drag queen in our hearts.....Michelle Visage
@@MylingCyrus not after she sent home dakota 🙄
@@SaraMcNutzdid you watch the episode or listen to people’s comments who don’t know what they’re talking about?
First she asked Ru who to send home. It probably wasn’t Ru but a producer who controls the narrative of the series who sent Dakota home. Stop hating on Michelle.
My issue is that Michelle and Ru don’t get the inside jokes and Britishness . Michelle tries to pretend but it all goes over their heads. I also notice this with a lot of American commentary channels of evaluate the looks but don’t get the references. And the Uk has a partial humour and style that Ru doesn’t appreciate. Likewise queens of colour are sorely under represented given how multicultural our island is
gil, the uk has 4.4 % lack people with the overwhelming being whit - which translate to 1 or 2 black queens per season, which is whaT WE GET
@@saxsan4191there are other races
@taya how many middle eastern people in the uk? hardly any, large asian group of about 9% mostly from India, and mixed race is fastest growing group in `uk
I think a more relevant statistic to look at would be the diversity of the drag community in the UK. A country may have a diverse population, but if the drag community is largely white, then the applicant pool they cast from will also likely be largely white. Is diversity in the UK's drag scene representative of the nation as a whole?
My main issue: Ru doesn’t understand British/Irish/Scottish culture. If there was a host who did, it’d get more praise and feel different.
Instead, we get…
Ru: “Who’s this?”
Ru: “What’s this/What does that mean?”
Ru: “Where’s that?”
Ru can barely understand timely and current US references, I legit don’t know what makes her think she can host UK.
@@ThePoisonLotus, Ru needs to Rutire.
And making the queens change last minute cause Ru OBVIOUSLY doesn't know them but just pretends to.
I wonder how many times tjats happened cause it's happened alot
YES I’d rather get true UK culture references that I as an American may have to research or investigate rather than have these queens feel watered down and forced to cater to an American audience in their own country. Like Ru reinforces so many awful American stereotypes and acts like we’re the center of global culture and they get reduced to stereotypes that are uninterested. Hate it when ru keeps suggesting American celebrities or a character that’s just a shitty stereotype for UK snatch game, you’d think after the success of jinx’s little Eddie they let queens pick a deep cut and let the performance speak for itself
I would be fine with Michelle staying as a judge but Ru just seems too out of touch with the UK. I feel like we need a former contestant on the panel
ru should stick to us and all stars us. we need a good uk host for both uk and down under since ru doesn’t understand the references. i think lawrence, ddc, viv, danny, bimini etc would be amazing for uk and for down under i think anita and kita would be PHENOMENAL cohosts. i truly feel that ru should stay in the US and that’s about it
Exactly. Ru needs to Rumain in the US.
OMG having Anita and Kita host together would be so good!!!
I'm honestly so happy she's not in Canada. It confused me at first but I'm happy we don't have anyone there Americanizing us like they do in UK and DU. We do enough of that to ourselves without her help XD
True! And maybe RuPaul would be less jaded and checked out to the seasons she's actually on if she's only on a couple franchises.
@@therobotdevil2284 exactly she would have less seasons to worry about and could focus more on the US seasons
It's easy for an American to say "Drag Race UK is dangerously close to being dropped by fans, myself included" because the US version will always continue, regardless of how good/bad it is. We need DRUK to stick around purely for the amount of drag talent on offer.
The year is 2284 & Ru's hologram is *STILL* to this day claiming that the final decision is his!
@@arnoldmogielinski93 Ai Ru & Revenant Michelle for season 69
Being from the UK, I can only say that aside from Season 3 which I thought was pretty weak, the other UK seasons have been pretty successful and are way more consistent than other spin-offs. There are some issues of course but nothing that’s sinking the ship or anything like that. I think it still needs more time as it’s still figuring itself out but on the whole it’s a really great watch and no matter the outcome, it’s always entertaining. Biased for sure but I think it’s the best spin off.
I legit just think it should be on Channel 4 rather than the BBC.
No cause idk why he hates UK4 and thinks the series is slipping.. even UK3 isn’t great but has its moments.
The series just needs to give actual prize money and not have Ru as host and it’s perfectly good 😊
@@gregatkins2156 because it's his opinion? you can't tell me a lot of the placements in uk4 were rigged
@@charliedixon6936 Not more than it’s usually rigged on every other season. I never saw multiple robberies or special treatment and even then I think the final two would’ve been the same regardless.
I'm aussie but UK is my fave of all the franchises. The US version is very stale to me.
@@charliedixon6936 i mean yeah some placements were rigged as they were every season. But him saying it was rigged for Jonbers was weird to me. Jonbers was pretty middling in every challenge so making the finale with no wins makes sense to me. (I might get hate for this) but for me Black Peppa got more rigging for her. There was a few times she could've went home or got saved from the Btm 2
One of the biggest problems I feel with UK drag race too is that all the queens chosen seem to be all from London recently and other parts of the UK are ignored. Having more queens from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland or even other parts of England would make the cast more exciting as they won’t necessarily all know each other and it will give people in different locations someone to root for. After the success of UK 2 I still cannot believe there has not been another Scottish queen on the show since.
Baby was the only queen In season 4 that was actually FROM London. All the others may have been based in London (except the Manc queens) but they aren’t from London itself.
@@sammccormick9109 therefore I think it’s essential that they cast more queens that aren’t just from the London scene in order to build more exciting storylines and give drag fans from scenes like Glasgow, Leeds or Belfast a chance to root for a queen who they’ve been supporting for years.
Totally agree! I was so shocked in UK1 that Blu was the only Irish girl. Many comments have noted that there is so much diverse drag in the UK, and it's just not being represented well on the show.
I think it’s that way atm because of covid, they’re trying to keep it local cause I’m pretty sure the filming is set in London~
i’m hoping it changes soon cause having a fellow Scot to root for just made UK2 even better for me☺️
Honestly? I felt like UK4's queens were such a good representation of british drag rather than queens trying to imitate US queens. My #1 problem with DRUK is it needs to be headed by someone who doesn't need every reference to just general UK pop culture explained. RuPaul butchered UK4's snatch game herself by trying to make the queens play caricatures of stereotypes she knew instead of actual people
I was about to comment exactly this. You said it perfectly. I also want to add that a lot of people were excited for UK4 because of Cheddar Gorgeous, one of the UK’s most famous drag queens!
Literally like Jonbers did great at snatch game but I found it uncomfortable that Ru basically forced her to do a walking stereotype
snatch game is starting to be an issue in the regular seasons too. im sorry but i really dont think shes gonna be able to keep up with all of the younger queens references to like trisha paytas and bretman rock 🤷♀️
i think one of the biggest issues is that as someone from the uk, it’s almost always english queens. every season is made up of 90% english queens. i personally feel like they should have at least 2 queens from each country in the uk bc it’s basically drag race england at this point
Like people have said about the whole supposed race issue, if you look at the U.K. that’s pretty damn accurate. Roughly 85% of the total population of the U.K. is English people, so of course they’re going to be able to find a vastly larger number of English queens than Scottish, Welsh or Northern Irish
The population of the UK is near on 90% England
oh I literally choked of laughter at 18:55 cause like Daya Betty really did fight her way. Like it's probably the best "how do I become production's favourite" campaign to have ever existed
Right? Lol. She deserves way more credit for doing that than she gets.
I’m glad the fandom is in agreement. UK 2 was one of the ULTIMATE drag race seasons.
As a British person, it was very interesting to hear your take on the UK seasons. I agree with what you were saying for the most part. And as some other people have mentioned, I think the lack of a monetary prize is a big issue that they need to address. The queens need to have some sort of stakes to aim for, not just a badge! Another great video from you 😀
Go away
I agree, I always thought Channel 4 or 5 would've been the best fit for the show. I'm surprised at how much of a good job the BBC has mostly done with just letting the show be itself but damn I wish they had a final prize and actual cash prizes on each episode. The pityful amount of money the queens get paid for how much episodes they are on is nothing close to the expensives they have to make to go on the show.
@@Jay-gy1ip: Get lost.
I've always said this about UK3, both Kitty & Ella were never gonna win that season, Krystal Versace was always gonna win from episode 1. The producers, specifically RuPaul had a boner for Krystal from day 1. Every episode they kept telling us about how amazing Krystal was and how we should all love her. Basically the producers wanted us to fall in love with Krystal however, that never really happened. Instead audiences fell in love with queens like Kitty, Ella, Vanity, Choriza, River & Charity over Krystal. The only other queen who could've won UK3 was of course Victoria
literally 💀 rigged placements just to get a white skinny twink to win again 🫣
That's why people are having a hard time accepting Krystal's win even though she completely deserved it based on the finale
@@haryoungstacruz5996 i don't see how the finale is a fair representation of the entire season
@@charliedixon6936 it still is because even if you are the best all throughout the competition but bombed the finale, you will never win. That's why ella lost
@@haryoungstacruz5996 so it wasn't because rupaul saved her from the bottom 2 twice?
I'm pretty sure the favouritism toward Ellie Diamond in particular is because of Rupaul. Ellie's drag style and aesthetic is far more American than British (big, padded, pageanty, fashion-oriented), so I'm guessing that Rupaul wanted her around because he felt more of a personal connection to her aesthetic.
"Fashion-oriented"? Ellie One Silhouette Diamond? Come on, gurl. A'Whora is much more like American queens if anyone
But A'whora was very much one of production favorites. Ru even took her aside off-camera and told her she "won everyone's hearts". The person who goes home right before the finale is very often given the "robbed" edit (Katya, Cracker, Nina West). It's not a disadvantage in any way, and instead the show boosting their favorites. There's more to production favorites than pushing them for the crown.
they definitely choose a few favorites to give different types of edits too, thinking ahead to future all star seasons.
@@elizabongwater yeah, i think one of the reason the fan favourite doesn't win usually these days is because they can get more bank out of them if they return for AS
IMO the problem is that they rig it in a very weird way. In the US version (non all stars) even tho there's rigging, I always feel like they crown the right winner. In the UK, however, it feels like the BBC/WOW makes choices very hard to understand from a reality tv production point and has problems figuring out which queens are gonna be popular in the fandom (for example Dakota IMO would obviously be a fan fave, but they directed favoritism towards queens that almost certainly won't get the same appreciation)
it's because the same favoritism in judging exists but the American editing team can create a storyline but the UK has laws surrounding reality television editing so they can't create a justification even if it's subtle via editing
It also feels kinda shitty that they make the one black queen casted each season the lip sync assassin. They are all great performers but Tayce specifically got put in the bottom for no reason. I hope that makes sense.
I'm still mad that joe black was treated the way they were. Sent home 1st and then screamed at over fricking H&M. That was so wrong and disrespectful.
Honestly I think Uk All Stars could be the thing to really turn things around.
I think UK3 is such a weird season because you can tell their desired Top got all messed up. They obviously wanted Victoria up there (and I think it wouldn't have required much rigging to get her there) and I think they were expecting Veronica to be in their Top 3 as well. But then because Victoria injured herself and Veronica was not emotionally in the right place, they had to figure out a different Top 3. It still doesn't make sense why they would eliminate their two most charismatic and likeable queens on the same episode, but you can tell the plot was lost.
There was nothing to be found to begin with I fear with S3, on the production's side imho. Idk if it was the pandemmie or just riding high off the acclaim of S2, but I feel like they were just winging it half of the time the day of the shoot.
Victoria is overweight and overrated and proved that pn Canada vs the world
The problem is that there is no prize money and the winner has to be funny enough for a web series. Roll the credits 😂
Black Peppa was a MASSIVE production favourite, I’m surprised you didn’t mention her at all. She had a strong first week and then completely flatlined for the reminder of the season but it seemed to be set in stone that she was making it to finale no matter what. It never felt that blatant before.
Did u not finish the video?
@@alicemichaelis9468 Yes I did... Black Peppa got a single passing mention when DD talked about UK4 but when they singled out UK's production faves Peppa wasn't mentioned at all despite being the most blatant example of favourtism from the producers. I don't know if it was to protect themselves from Peppa's stans attacking them because they got very defensive on Twitter when people criticised her.
She wasn't very good but she was likely kept purely for diversity reasons. Her lip syncing wasn't good either, it was messy, plus her comedy and design skills were atrocious.
The UK producers are not into asians ☹️ This is sad cause the few casted asian queens brought so much light and postiveness to their seasons
UK producers are also racist! Most white people in the UK are racist!
For me the biggest problem is the inconsistent storytelling (or lack thereof). On DRUK4, we had a lot of fun queens who made for great TV leave too early (see Sminty, Baby, Dakota), and then by the time it got to top 5, most of the queens left had no storyline so we didn't even care about them like we normally care about the finalists. I liked Jonbers because of her fun personality, but I feel like we didn't know anything about her by the end (as well as Pixie and even Cheddar). All of the queens that got storytelling screentime left by midseason, so by the time we were gone, we were no longer invested in the season. Plus them inexplicably pushing queens that the audience didn't really relate to and cutting queens that the audience loved. Super disappointing.
this
This is also very true. Story-telling wise they really did focus on Baby & Dakota a lot and didn't even bother to course correct after their departures, which seemed weird and made it tough to cheer anyone other than Danny on imho (their great performances aside btw).
One of my favorites challenges on UK was the ball of S3, the time aspect of it was really entertaining to watch since they had to pull together looks literally right there without really have to think about it. It really felt like every single one of them could either bomb or win
Being from the UK I think that my issues with DRUK lie with both Ru being the host as well as the them majority casting queens from just London & Manchester.
I think that Spain and Canada (with the exception of the first season) really proved that Drag Race is able to function without Ru and if not better. The majority of the times this shows is throughout snatch game where you can just see Ru doesn’t understand the pop culture references as well as the acting challenges which at this point need to go on a whole (but that’s a whole different conversation). I can understand why Michelle is on the judges panel as she has really been embraced as a part of British culture with her frequent appearances on UK television as well as her understanding the majority of the references the queens make which Ru just doesn’t. There’s so many great queens they could have as the host from Viv, Divina, Lawrence etc as well as some great queens who haven’t appeared on the show such as Jodie Harsh. I think that the show would benefit so much in the judging department as well as the overall quality of the challenges by stepping away from having an Americans eye judging what’s “funny” and what isn’t.
As to my latter point I think DRUK is really missing out showcasing some amazing talent by mainly casting queens who are based in London & Manchester. Don’t get my wrong by doing so they have cast amazing artists who’ve absolutely killed the competition but it’s getting to the point now (which showed in season 4) where they’re only being cast due to their noterietay rather than the stuff they can bring to the table. UK drag is so diverse in the sense that we have so much to offer depending on where you go and I really do feel the show is missing out because of that (plus as a fan it’s a lot harder to be emotionally invested with a queen in the same way US fans are with the US seasons casting queens from a lot of different states each season).
SIDE NOTE: I am begging DRUK showcases some “traditional” UK drag in the next seasons instead of just going straight to the trendy fashion queens. I’ve noticed such a decrease in the quality of drag shows across the UK with fewer and fewer “traditional” queens being booked in favour for a fashion girl who just stands on the spot whilst doing their number. Some of these queens have been working for YEARS in the industry and have so much to give in terms of comedy, singing ability etc and they’re just being sidelined for queens who for lack of better terms lack in the personality department but have a bit of money in their pockets.
RuPauls' Drag Race
I loved UK3, but that season was damaged by several things.
1. Victoria's injury ruined the storyline between her and Krystal and one of the frontrunners and early favourites left the competition.
2. Veronica got eliminated early and failed to redeem herself.
3. Unnecessary double shanté between Scarlet and Charity just to see them lip syncing against each other again in the next episode.
4. Double elimination of two fan favourites. Lip sync was worthy of double elimination, but cast felt empty after River and Choriza left.
It was honestly a lot of factors out of their control (Victoria going home, Veronica not meeting expectations) but some choices were just bad production.
Option 1: in the lipsync with scarlet and charity send either scarlet home (2 challenge winner surprise elimination) or charity home (quirky queen that was expected to make it to the end at the start) and then you don’t have to do a double sashay of choriza and river.
Option 2: send either river or choriza home and don’t have the no-one goes home top 2 lipsync with Ella and Kitty.
They had one too many “twists” for my taste and I would prefer option #1
The humour in the uk seasons is a million times better than the us ones
It’s weird I feel so differently about UK4. It’s one of my favorite seasons ever. Because the cast was so good and my favorite, Danny, slayed so much I really really enjoyed it.
My top 5 in order:
UK 2
All stars 7
All stars 2
UK 4
US 5
My top 5 queens are
Bob Lawrance Danny Jinkx Monet
It just felt flat like there was no good dynamics and relationships between the cast
Fair but I liked the cast so much I still really enjoyed it. I loved all of then other then copper top and JB.
right ?! tbh it’s the better season of druk next to uk2. the cast was phenomenal and the challenges were improved eventho they are expected ✋🏻
World of Wonder could try offering a prize other than 'exposure'.. and yes BBC productions can offer prizes they just can't be directly from the BBC themselves, which considering how much money Wow is presumably making from these queens shouldn't be an issue :) We need to talk about how weird it is that UK queers are expected to drop ridiculous amounts of money to compete on their show where they're judged by an American who not only knows nothing about UK queer culture but seems to relish berating them for their looks/performances as if they're not competing for literally nothing LOL
They’re competing for a career. That’s the prize. That’s why they spend all that money
@@jae5103 They have careers already which is why they can afford to drop that amount of money on the show lol..what they need is an incentive to compete and the ability to recoup what they spend thru the show :-)
I want Ella back so badly my cats named after her so in my eyes she’s always perfect to me 😭
I get your points more regarding Season 3 but Season 4 felt like a return to form definitely. Maybe it was better received here in the UK? I've heard nothing but praise for it. The Rusical was one of the best ever - the queens were really likeable and really strong and the humour was back.
I would like it if maybe Baga Chips, The Vivienne or maybe Lawrence took over from Rupaul (& maybe Michelle too) as the host because then maybe it would’ve marketed better at a U.K. audience & I think they’d appreciate the queens that are alternative better
Drag Race Down Under is the first season I've dropped. I don't think I'll drop UK cause even though the last season of UK wasn't that great it was still more entertaining for me than the main series
Dropped down under after that HORRENDOUS S1. It will never be redeemed!!
@@Sadude13 lol s2 rudeemed.
@@johnnybaxter8078 i actually dropped during season two…
@@Powhart well your taste sucks then bc season 2 was really entertaining
You know who I can see as a main judge in UK? Katherine Ryan.
Absolutely get it. She has such a jokey host attitude on other shows that would translate really well to drag race.
YES.
@@camomiletea7357 She'd be a naturally funny, less tough-love Michelle, it'd be such a great dynamic with her ;-;
UK4 from my perspective was very good.
My only issue was perhaps the Snatch Game Suffered because queens had to change their characters to someone Rupaul knew which was also a problem on UK 3.
I'd like to see Drag Race UK with a British host....I think Kitty Scott Claus would be ideal because she's highly representative of traditional British drag.
I'd like to see the girls get similar prizes to the other franchises. This could quickly be arranged if Drag Race UK left the BBC for a network that has adverts like ITV or Channel 4.
I sincerely hope no one in production thinks it is more interesting for the audience to think the queens are all strangers.
Because that is a rookie error. Obviously, everyone having relationships prior adds subtext and backstory that we want to try and figure out. It’s waaayyy more interesting.
My biggest issue with this franchise is the horrible choices they make, the US producers see the star quality in the queens and make them go to the finale but here they cut off the stars, the ones who could give the most content are always cut at the beginning. And the challenges, are really bad.
I truly don’t understand your dislike for UK 4
less of a dislike, more of a disinterest
@@DragDetective honestly I feel the same, uk4 just didn't do it for me
The casts of S3 and S4 were actual dynamite it’s so frustrating they can’t utilise these queens’ potential.
I disagree. Found them so boring.
@@Sadude13 so boring. They were all just clones. UK2 and 1 had much more variety. The talent is the absolute key, not the judges, not the prize money. It’s all about the girls.
I dont think UK3 deserves that much hating from the fandom, I really enjoyed the cast and it had unique challenges, like the ugly ball that was timed, the roast (probably the best roast ever), the girl groups ( definetly better than UK4), the lipsyncs were also definetly better than s4
What I love about UK3 you ask? One reason: ELLA VADAY!! So funny, so sexy, in and out of drag, giving that uncle Nick energy. I have watched the season 3 times and I still can't get enough. The only bad thing is seeing Ella dropping it all in the last episode 😭😭
In my view there should be a shake up with the judges. I’d replace Alan carr with Katherine Ryan and replace graham Norton with someone who knows fashion possibly tan France from queer eye?
But also there is a major lack of diversity. Not just with the lack of queens of colour but with also the lack of queens from different places in the uk. It seems like only London and Manchester queens are selected and then thrown in one or two from elsewhere. Where’s the Scottish queens, welsh queens, queens from Newcastle or small towns.
It also needs to move away from the BBC and move to itv or channel 4 and offer the queens a cash prize.
I agree with you on everything except one thing - I loved the Jonbers underdog storyline. I saw her as an early out but by the end she was one of my favorites.
Even then, they had a way to justify her being in the finale. Jonbers could have easily won the Snatch Game and the Stand Up Roast with just a tiny bit of editing where they don't focus on Cheddar and Danny as much. It wouldn't have even fucked up those twos track records much, because they'd both have 3 wins still. In this scenario, we'd have Danny & Cheddar with 3 wins, no bottoms. Jonbers with 2 wins and 2 bottoms and finally Peppa with 1 win and 4 bottoms. Just statistically, it looks nicer and more fair.
I'm British and I think Michelle and Ru's critiques of Joe Black's Brighton Pavilion runway looks really showed their ignorance to British culture and heritage the most.
There’s also a race issue on the season on all four seasons we have never seen a black queen or Asian queen do well on any of the seasons the only exception think would be le fil or maybe River( not mention they two of the 3 only Asian queens on the four seasons of the show) we have never had a queen of color exceed over 1 win Blk queens are basically just used as meat shields to send the girls home and almost never are seen or used for anything other than that Asian queen are barely represented and if they are they are barely on the screen for more than a collective minute
I'm shocked that the show gets away with its lack of racial diversity and treatment of queens of colour considering BBC's diversity remit. Black queens are always the mistreated 'lipsync assassins' and reduced down to that one characteristic and Asian queens are always either forgotten altogether or used to push a twist. Le Fil could've been an easy frontrunner but she was rigged against, and River also could've been an easy frontrunner but was rigged against for the 'double sashay' gag
@@whosthatpanda7935I definitely agree I’m hoping in this next season we see something different either be more diversity or just more diverse storyline for theses queen of color on the uk franchise it would be nice to have a pic front runner for once or a black girl didn’t make to the final just by virtue of being a good lip syncer and lip syncing majority of the season
Lol. ITS THE UK. A VERY RACIST COUNTRY AND NO REAL ACCOUNTABILITY ON THIS ISSUE!
Oh, come on! Season 4 was FAR from being a dud!!!
The first few episodes were good but it was drag race on autopilot
this right here ^ imo
This video feels like a big overstatement for a problem thats not really there. Expecting a franchise to keep up after a massive success is a big ask for any season. And fans do not have to keep up with every single drag race season that comes out. Drag Race UK’s success literally brought a channel back to TV
RuPaul i what's going on with Drag race UK. To me it seems like Ru is not only trying to make it into American Drag race with the British accent but he also is too reliant on gimmicks and forced drama especially since production can't twist the queens' words like they do in other franchises
I 100% believe that UK3 or 4 would've been stellar if they opted to showcase the cast's talents instead of prioritizing gags and supposed fan favorites
6:00 finally someone admits the quality of a season is primarily based on how good the cast is and how well they work together ...
uk2 premiered a YEAR and 2 months after uk1, not just 2 months after haha
If I were to make a change it would be for production to hire talented writers for the acting/comedy challenges etc so that the queens have something to work with and have guaranteed laughs. I don't get any entertainment from people being set up to fail.
Are you kidding? I enjoyed UK4 more than any other season this year.
I'm glad you did! Just wasn't my cup of tea :)
I really didn't think it was that good. Did still watch it
@@MsAnitawilson I dropped it
imo, cheddar should’ve been the host of the show rather than competing.
Lol. Who?
Yea or Viv!
The lack of consistency and pure f***ery of the judging is it for me. Danny was a well deserving and beautiful winner. The beautiful cast are the best thing about the show and they really let them down. Dakota’s Pete Burns was classic.
I feel with the UK Queens that had "riggory in their favour" it's not even that it was rigged for Sister, Ellie or Jonbers. It's that they kept passing them along to the next ep to deal with so that they can achieve some other thing in that ep, until they realised close to the end that this queen was still there and they were like "OH shit what the fuck can we do with them". Which arguably is much much worse than just normal production favour cuz these queens are left as massive loose ends. That's why Sister, Ellie and jonbers got such weird storyline towards the end, and the show straight up admitted it re Jonbers.
What do you mean the show admitted it to Jobers?
@m m at the end they literally said "we did not expect to see you at the top." They tried to spin it into the "wow they got better week after week storyline" but when the earlier eps don't share the same storyline, it seems kinda flat and forced. I love Jonbers, dgmw, I fell in love with her even before the season started. But when the show straight up tells a finalist "Wow, we didn't think you'd make it here", it's kinda a give-away that they didn't give a shit abt them.
@@psychopathetic5341 Oh, that's very true. I was curious if there had been a statement made by WOW about Jonbers, but no, you're right, they told it to her face - more subtle that way, haha.
I also really enjoyed Jonbers on this season, she has a natural charisma to her that is unique. So sad it didn't come through properly this season. At least we got to see more of her since they kept her around. Hope to see her back again in one of the billion spin-offs we get :D
@@psychopathetic5341 The funny thing is, they could have justified having her there by editing the Roast and maybe editing the Snatch Game in a way so Jonbers could have had 2 challenge wins.
Honestly the only particularly weak series has been series three, we had some immense talent in series 4 with Danny and Cheddar two UK titans being involved with other really fun queens felt really impressive!! The UK needs drag race because UK drag desperately needs to be represented as there's such a thriving scene over here and many more stars to be found!
I'm from the UK, and UK 1 was my introduction to drag race and I agree on some of this. I agree with the fact it's the same challenges, at the same points. I think this is for 2 reasons, 1. The budget. We, each household in the UK pay £159 a year for a TV licence, and that money goes to the BBC as a public service and if you don't pay that and you watch TV (even if you use a phone etc, doesn't have to be an actual TV) you can face a criminal fine of up to £1000. So because of this,the BBC gets no money from advertiser's and they have to be tight at how they spend their money, cos it's not their money, it's ours, so the budget is incredibly tight as the only money they get is from the British public, this is also the reason for no prize money, even quiz shows on the BBC the prize money is always much lower or even non existent, like Mastermind all they win after a whole season competing is a glass bowl, but on ITV the main rival channel, which isn't paid for by the TV licence you could win a couple of thousand on a quiz show. And UK Vs The World was filmed in the same studio as UK 3, directly after UK 3, as all the crew and set were already there so it was cheaper essentially I think the BBC deducted some of the budget for UK 3 to use on Vs the world, so the fugley ball was created as a cheap challenge they could film in one day to save money to put aside for Vs the world, rather than say, the make over which would need at least 2 days.
2. the BBC is very stayed. Soa good show I think to compare drag race to is the BBC's most watched regular show, Strictly Come Dancing, which is our version (well it was the original) of Dancing With The Stars. On Strictly it's the exact same theme weeks every year, the only times it's been changed is for specific reasons. So week 3 is always movie week. Then Halloween week. Around a week or two after remembrance Sunday is always Blackpool week (except when it was too difficult to relocate to Blackpool due to the pandemic), then the quarter finals are always Musicals. This year they had a one off additional theme week of BBC week to blow their own trumpet for the 100 years since the BBC was set up. They tried in around 2012 -2014 to change it varying the themes such as dance fusion week but they ended up by like 2015 being back to the old schedule. It's the same on Christmas day, you know what's going to be on and when because it's the same every year. The BBC doesn't like change, for example, on strictly they have never had a drag queen contestant, despite Blu presenting a TH-cam show on BBC's TH-cam page a few years back and them promoting drag race around strictly. They don't like rocking the boat incase they get middle aged- older viewers, the ones most likely to be home owners and paying the TV licence, complaing about changing things so they never change anything. Even drag race UK started off only on BBC iPlayer (so online essentially), I guess as a way to test the waters with it before they then decided it was so popular they'd bring back BBC three & put it on there.
What worked in season 4 was the casting of Dakota as she had an amazing backstory and had those levels that we talk about. What worked season 3 was drama around Scarlet Harlett, if they gave these two longer runs I would’ve enjoyed both seasons more.
The problem is simple. It’s being dumbed down deliberately to suit American audiences. The dry sense of humour the U.K. is being replaced by poop and fart humour that the US is more accustomed to.
Plus many U.K. cultural references and snatch game impressions have to be dropped in order for Americans to ‘get it’
That’s not fair at all!
I totally agree with your last point. Drag race has become so formulaic and manufactured with all the same challenges and production interference. Just give us something new and real
Another thing I want to note is that the queens the US seasons rig FOR are often fashion queens (or are polarizing) compared to the overlooked queens which tend to have less “exciting” or “revolutionary” fashion (undoubtedly connected to the producers’ collective boner for thin, white, “digestible” queens). The US seasons have a HUGE draw to fashion culture, whereas in the UK it’s (generally) very comedy based (with Krystal Versace as an exception ofc). The US seasons will push queens who look good more often than not because fashion reviews, inspirations, etc. are all just so much bugger here in the us. The queens that “bore” the fans (tina burner, deja skye) aren’t held in nearly as much regard. In the UK, if you can’t perform at all, you’re done. Simple as that. Krystal Versace only lasted so long bc she could lip sync better than most of the cast ON TOP OF her fashion/youth storyline
You: producers never let the narrative of people who do well make it to the end.
Also you: Danny made it to the end by slaying all season
who *unexpectedly* do well. You need hearing aids
@@johnnybaxter8078 your willingness to take time out of your life to explain the dialogue and offer suggestions for the future is not only brave but also very noble of you. I can’t wait for Netflix to make your documentary
@@craigslist4428 are you ret ard3d? Wtf did you just write???
I think with 3 and 4 they wanted more drama when they were necessarily happy and getting along with each other - sometimes an easy happy families season is amazing, for example Daytona wind untucked, if there’s no drama make it happy but if there is drama show - don’t make drama if there is none
I did enjoy season 4 more than season 3, but that is mostly because I’m still not over River and Choriza going home when they did the way they did. Idk if I’ll ever forgive RuPaul for that one…
Especially since in the Draglexa episode, River could have got a 2nd challenge win in a row since her runway was good, and she wasn't as shit as everyone else, so she would have went home with a good track record.
they can easily make it up to us by crowning bailey j mills when she gets on the show :D
This 🤣
whilst 3 & 4 didn’t reach the heights of 1 & 2, i think it’s harsh to call them duds. UK is still a top tier spin off. i just hate there’s no cash prize!! it’s become insulting
Eff the BBC's rules with sponsoring. The queens can't get proper compensation if the BBC is hampered by the origin of their funding (British taxpayers).
@@funnetick which is what confused me about The Traitors currently airing - up to £120K cash prize?!
@@lloydneal3137 Exactly!! It annoys me so much when people blame the BBC for not giving a cash prize for DRUK. BBC shows can have huge prizes, it just needs to be provided by the production company rather than a sponsor. WoW have been absolutely raking it in for almost 15 years now - they need to cough up and pay themselves. We know they can damn well afford it. Blame WoW for being tight bastards, not the BBC!
I've mentioned in another video on another channel while UK4 was in its first weeks that it was very clear to me that the producers were trying to recreate the UK2 magic on this season. Despite in the beginning making everyone excited for it (the meet the queens was great + the first leg of the competition being pretty intersting) eventually started to feel more and more autopilot after Baby's exit, especially with the mistreatment of Dakota and Le Fill. I love Danny and Cheddar, but their overall dominance sucked the air out of the competition, it was a two person's race from the mid season to the finale. It was very frustrating seing the rest trying to keep up with them, JB and Peppa just doing what they could, the rivalry with Pixie going absolutely nowhere... Ok the finales are mostly a battle between the two strongest members in the competition but it's not always that exausting to follow the other one or two contestants that have made it to finals too. It's funny that a lot of people dropped Italia and Down Under because this year they served the most enjoyable seasons to watch from beginning to end, you never know with reality TV.
I couldn't agree more. You took the words outta my mouth
On the subject of all the queens in the UK knowing eachother before the show starts as opposed to the US queens who frequently don't, I think that definitely has an impact on their behaviour.
On US drag race I have noticed people who live near to eachother forming cliques. For example the people from NYC who are always friendly with eachother. They know that if they argue with a contestant who lives on the other side of the US then there is a high chance that they won't see eachother again if they don't want to.
UK contestants have to ensure they behave decently to eachother because they will definitely run into eachother in future. I am sure that this has an impact on their behaviour.
I forget which season it was, but I remember one year there was some low level rivalry between the queens from East London and the ones from South London. As a Londoner I can completely understand this because the cultures of these parts of the city are rather different, but because in the great scheme of things they don't live and work too far away from eachother, the rivalry was never fully investigated on the show.
I always find it funny when Americans come in and say something in the U.K. is ‘lacking diversity’ or ‘POC are underrepresented’ because they never seem to be able to understand that the U.K. is around 85-90% white British, so even two non-white queens per season would arguably be bordering on over representation.
Also just find it funny that people never seem to question the lack of diversity on things like Drag Race Thailand, which, correct me if I’m wrong as I’ve only seen clips and pictures of the lineup, does not have one single queen that isn’t of South East Asian descent, in S1 at least. That’s perfectly fine though, imo, as that is accurate to the country’s demographics, I just don’t see why there’s only a demand for diversity and over representation in media based in white majority countries
Sorry but are you forgetting cheddar had almost the same track record as Danny? The reason those two were in the top 4 is they dominated the competition to a ridiculous extent so it wasn't rigged with those two. They earned it
For both Seasons 3 and 4 they didn’t do a good enough job of making me want to root for the finalists more than one of the eliminated queens.
The main issue is that its on bbc and not channel4
Now after 7 seasons combined, DRUK and DRDU just need new local hosts who truly understand. UK can hand it to Viv, Bimini, Ella, or Cheddar imo. DU can hand it to Kita & Anita, Spankie, or even Courtney (if she ever wanted to work with WOW again)
RuPaul should stop hosting international seasons tbh. we saw with B hytes that having someone who understands the culture is so important. there’s a difference between being the joke and being in on the joke.
I was pissed at Gottmik being saved for the Discomentary and the drink ad tbh 👀
But yes, DRUK is pretty boring and I blame it all on production. If I am not totally in love for someone like Cheddar, which is exactly my cup of tea, something is not working
FACTS! Uk production is failing dismally
Not showing sister sister when u said love to hate 😭 REAL!!
What annoys me most with UK seasons (vs The World included) are the blatant favoritism and questionable placements queens receive. At this point it becomes more obvious as to who’s the ones that’s getting favored and who isn’t.
Man, I guess I must be an outlier in the drag race fandom because the #1 reason I enjoy DRUK so much more than the US series is BECAUSE there's less focus on drama & rivalries & more focus on the actual challenges. I actually get so annoyed with the catty, bitchy drama & love that the UK queens seem to genuinely bond with one another. Though I'll give you that the challenges could use some variety.
I also wish the entire panel of judges was comprised of Brits. Ru -- and to a lesser extent, Michelle -- has made some serious culture faux pas that had me cringing so hard I could've imploded. I want a real window into UK drag, not an Americanized version of it.
Being from the UK, I love all the Uk seasons and have enjoyed them much more than the recent US seasons. That being said, there are some immediate issues that I have with the show.
First, I whole heartedly believe RuPaul shouldn’t be hosting this show. She doesn’t understand any of the references the queens do in the comedy and as a result, they’re forced to act more American. It’s all really shown in snatch game where RuPaul tells everyone to change their character and literally told Jonbers to be Irish for her snatch game, probably just cuz she finds the accent funny.
Secondly, I think the show needs more diverse casting. UK is a very white country with 88% of its population being white, which is reflected in the show but there is still some issues with the diversity of the queens. For one, there is a good lack of South Asian queens on the show despite the fact they represent the largest part of poc in the show. Also there is a severe lack of non-England based queens, which makes the show not very UK and more just Drag Race England. This is a problem for the entire franchise but I wish uk did cast more women and kings onto the show
Finally, the show brands itself to an international audience because UK1 brought in a large audience. UK1 was the most authentically British of the seasons and since it garnered attraction from other countries, since then the show has only began Americanising itself and has lost that charm UK1 had. UK2 only worsened the problem because UK3 and UK4 just feel almost completely Americanised. I think UK can start going on the right tracks again and gain a larger audience if it started trying to be more authentically British again cuz that’s what gave the show it’s charm in the first place
ALSO if the show doesn’t give money they should employ the allowance scheme (giving each queen a base of like $$$ so they can get shit made FOR THE SHOW) bc normally ppl argue that they make the money back in challenge wins etc
Maybe it’s just me but I’d love a live drag race season. Sorta like a Big Brother-esque season just with drag race mechanics. 2 episodes a week, one for the challenge & werk room shenanigans and the other for the runways, critiques, eliminations/top 2s. It could also just be one episode a week, but I like the idea of 2 lol. I think it’d help with those controversial edits & actually allow us to get to know the queens a lot better. It’d be such a fun season imo, I’ve always wanted it to happen just once
UK4 truly felt mid. Like, mid challenges, mid storylines, even mid lipsyncs. Usually there's one or two standout lipsyncs but there wasn't any that season.
I didn’t hate UK3 as much because my personal fave did very well (Ella). I was of course disappointed at the finale & the treatment of queens I did enjoy (River, Choriza, Veronica), but every time production rigged something poorly they then immediately did something good (Fugly Ball, Ella’s Roast, BDE).
UK4 was a definite drop in quality, but I didn’t despise UK3 as much as you seem to 😅
I def think UK4 was leaps and bounds more successful than UK3
Jombers was the UK4 confessional queen - definitely a light of the season.
I’d love to share my thoughts since I agreed and disagreed with a lot of your points on this video:
1. Having no cash prize isn’t a bad thing since a lot of UK contest shows don’t do it, you’re getting the exposure and (in my opinion) having a cash prize on a rigged show is bull**it since you’re robbing people from money due to making TV.
2. It really isn’t in your place to call out racial diversity when you aren’t in the UK, I’ll admit the show isn’t great with diversity but it isn’t just POC and white. UK3 and UK4 had a very diverse cast with nationalities and a Trans Queen but simply because only 1 or 2 queens are POC out of 12 (accurate percentage of POC population in the UK) and they don’t do the best, viewers call it riggory or racism when it really isn’t and it annoys me!!
3. UK4 worked for me since if you like the queens a lot then you don’t need all these storylines or friendships (since you already see the friendship) to be played out.
But I do agree with everything else, changing the finale would be very beneficial to the show and the production do need to know who the fan favourites are (Dakota) to push forward in making a better experience and Drag Series as a whole. I’m sorry if my comment isn’t great but these are only my views and opinions so you shouldn’t take this too seriously and I hope you see where I’m coming from
Is it bad that I try to keep up with every single season?!😭 Like I live for trying to remember all 800 names, what order they went home and to see how messy the season is. The only seasons I haven’t been able watch is Thailand S1 and Both seasons of The Switch bc there not available in Australia
The issue is they need to change the prize for one big reason...not every queen is going to pull off that mini series they win...it only works for a comedy queen.. I don't even recall Krystal making a series, if so, it's not on BBC IPlayer like The Vivs or Lawrence's...I think that's one reason why Danny was crowned this year. Danny has what Cheddar doesn't... and that's the comedy skills ( similar to The Viv and Lawrence ) to make a mini series. I also think production need to let a winner like The Viv host so the british humour isn't lost...it's so frustrating as a viewer sometimes to watch a British reference go over the heads of Ru and Michelle.
Lawrence Chaneys Series only came out late last year so I should imagine Krystals will come out later this year. Not that I am interested in watching it.
the overproduction just keeps creeping up as the seasons go on. it was obvious from day 1 in the last 2 seasons who was going to make the finale. they need to show more love all the way around the cast rather than the same 4 people all the time.
I just feel like DragRace UK would have been better suited for Channel 4 than the BBC.
If you want to hear a really sad stat in DRUK, there are only SIX rounds I can name in which a POC queen was on the season and was not in the bottom 3, and 7 I can name where a POC queen was not in the bottom 2.
Now, if they, you know, actually did the worst, then I wouldn't be annoyed at this stat, but I can also think of multiple where it was just like...why are they in the bottom?
Tayce's last two bottom placements.
Baby's bottom placement in the Rusical.
Vanity's bottom placement in Episode 2.
Tia's bottom placement in Episode 5.
If we're including the Low placements, can't forget about Vanity's super arbitrary low placement in Ep 5 for straight up no reason.
These are just a few, but there's more examples too.
You’ve got to admit, uk s2 was 1 of the best seasons in the whole franchise xx
I am a huge fan of Danny and Cheddar. Is it the best season? Nah. But are they two of my favorites.
pls update this vid and include UK S5. bc mama it slayed
Not you randomly inserting “sherry pie”’s name for no reason as a producer favorite at 11:16 😂😂😂
because she was a producer favourite before she was disqualified
I think they chose the wrong broadcasting channel BBC for the show, they would of thrived a lot better on Channel 4 or ITV where money could be an actual prize. So much money goes into doing not only drag, but drag race... and there isn't much insentive for UK queens to do it for what.. exposure? Go to anyone job and say you'll be paid by exposure and see how you feel... Especially if you don't win. If they want to revive this they need to shift to another network or change producers/hosts.