UK S2, Episode 1 - Royalty Returns
 

(if someone else wants to take over the UK threads feel free :worry:)

I saw Farrah Moan complaining about the lack of a break and it's definitely something I can sympathise with... it seems so strange to think that even the UK Season 1 girls only got around 5 months to tour and perform before the pandemic... and this'll be the fourth season since then :skull:

Don't know if this'll embed the thread but there is one.

...so long as you’re happy to do the threads, that’s cool...it’s exciting to have both series going at the same time and I so enjoyed the first U.K. season so hopefully this will rise to that as well...

they cant justify holding off UK2 any longer, its literally been almost a year since they walked into the workroom

they shouldve really aired UK2 first, then 13 then AS6 so we had a continuous flow through to the end of summer

also just to have a moan, why is elizabeth hurley the first ep 'big' judge? I swear she hasnt done anything since 1999

yeah i thought this? especially when they have bigger guests coming up in the series :skull:

Yes in 1999 she appeared as Vanessa Kensington in Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and then died because she was an exploding fembot. The Liz Hurley you see in Drag Race will be an updated fembot sent by Dr. Evil.

https://i.pinimg.com/600x315/a2/95/f...d19e406f2a.jpg

V surprised with Joe going first, from the MTQ Vids I expected her to be in it for a while

A Decent first episode, but I find it a bit annoying that what is essentially a mini challenge on drag race US is the main challenge on drag race UK.

Screaming at them still not getting a proper prize And only a RuPeter badge for winning a challenge

Oh, also low-key annoyed that there is no trade this season

I really enjoyed the ep! I didnt think Joe deserved to go home, or even be in the bottom. I would've put either Tia, Awhora or Tayce in the bottom tbh.. Asttina winning was a bit random.. her looks were alright but not winning material?

I love Ginny :skull: shes a mess! Sister seemed really sweet. They were all alright really. I get weird vibes from Tayce and Awhora though, they seem like the mean girls.

This ep felt quite quick despite being over an hour long.. they didnt even manage to fit much of an untucked type bit into it either.

overall I thought it was great tbh and im so glad we have DRUK back :clap1:

Lawrence, Cherry, Ginny, Sister and Bimini are my faves so far

Favourite is probably cherry Valentine. I was scared she didn’t have a personality but I was proven wrong
Also here for sister sister, the two Scottish ones and bimmi. The rest are a bit meh.

I find myself completely disagreeing with Michelle Visage about 80% of the time.

She's a hypocrite too, she critiques one Queen and then gives the opposite critique to another one. :crazy:

The "You're amazing" to someone who made no effort and "There's not enough" to someone who made their entire outfit themselves is baffling.

I thought it was a very good premiere and a vast improvement on both S13/UK1’s. I agree that Joe didn’t deserve to go home, but I thought it was quite a tough one to judge this week anyway. A shame because I think he could have done really well. Personally I’d have put Sister Sister and Tia there myself.

Asttina was a well deserved win :love: fantastic runways. A’Whora & Tia seem to be getting the villain edits while Lawrence’s was incredibly favourable throughout, a little too favourable for me! (I mean how did Tayce not win the mini challenge?!)

Everyone seems pretty competitive and fierce though, I think it could be tough besides a few obvious early filler boots (Sister Sister mainly). Asttina, Tayce and Bimini are my initial favourites.

1. Tayce
2. Asttina
3. Bimini
4. A’Whora
5. Lawrence
6. Ellie
7. Cherry
8. Veronica
9. Ginny
10. Sister Sister
11. Tia

Joe was gonna be Glenn Close for snatch game by the way.

Not shocked

...Ru’s Engloosh accents guvna are so cringe...and then to shade Joe Black’s Brighton Pavilion as being not recognisable.....pfffft...isn’t the inside the pavilion all gold and jazzmatazz, I thought is was a good interpretation...awful to do a lipsync in, though...

Why are my comments being deleted!?!? Any one that is going to tell me that the person who won won because they truly deserved it is a liar, it just another example of their bizarre racist agenda.

OK where to start...

I like almost all of the cast. I'm getting kinda ****ty vibes from A'Whora and Tia, and I think Ginny will start to grate on me very soon. I love campy queens, don't get me wrong, but there's something so 2D about her that's just very uninteresting and... loud noise, to me. I do think A'Whora has something very "star" quality about her; she does command attention and just seems very wired and smart and present, but... also probably trying a little too hard to throw shade and start fights? I loved Tia's entrance and the talking head about Boutros Boutros-Ghali :love: but there's definitely something a little bit... irksome about her. Can't quite place my finger on it.

The mini-challenge... producers, for the love of god, stop hiring "celebrity photographers" just because they're attractive. The quality of those photographs - the lighting, the angle, the focus - was ****ing abysmal! Complete waste of time. S1's was (sorry) much better.

And the main course... I'll split my thoughts into each queen.

Joe - LOVED the Bowie look, very obvious to a Bowie fan. Haven't a ****ing clue what Michelle is on about here. However, I do think the Brighton look - whilst definitely 'Brighton' - was a little bit too much and she just didn't have a good silhouette or something about it that stood out. As a "look" it was definitely engaging but also a bit of an assault on the eyes. She should have been safe, and towards the top half of the 12 though.
Asttina - I'm in two minds about her win. On one hand, she killed the presentation... on the other, I preferred Tayce's Naomi :shrug: but I think it was clever to play it simple and subtle, and she did a great job with the London look. Definitely deserved top 3.
Ginny - The Kate Bush look was identifiable as Kate Bush and that's about where the goodness ended... but she did a good job on the runway. The hometown... I would have expected the judges to read her for having a manly physique. It was pretty much just a suit. Bottom 3 for me, with her safe over the other two.
Tia - I would have had her lipsync against Sister Sister. Whilst I applaud the novelty of trying to take "Alan Turing" and make it a look, it just felt like a major stretch and wasn't really that impressive. Her Robin Hood also looked really homemade and flimsy, and was completely upstaged.
Bimini - I really liked the Norwich City look :( really smart take on a football look, and I didn't really notice the visible tape. But... who the hell is that hero? Never heard of her, sorry :/ and as a result it just read "what A'Whora should have looked like"
Lawrence - definitely made the top three based on personality and a favourable edit. The stained glass look was very nice, and I did like the Avengers look too, but it wasn't stunning.
Cherry - I... may have put her in the bottom three? The steampunk look seemed unfinished and underwhelming, and isn't at all memorable aside from that sad billow of smoke she coughed up. The Freddie Mercury look was nice, but basically a Halloween costume :shrug: like... if you want to dress as Freddie Mercury for a drag competition, you surely don't choose the look where he looks incredibly busted in a music video, do you?
Veronica - really baffled as to how she wasn't top three. The Boy George look was spot on, and complete. And the rose dress was gorgeous. Robbed.
A'Whora - I really liked the Robin Hood look... but that first one was completely lost on me. It wasn't so much Westwood as it was... Alice in Wonderland, if Alice was dragged through a forest and left for dead. The makeup was ugly, the dress was just a bunch of mismatching patterns held together by an ugly green corset... boot.
Sister - oh dear. She should have been told to start packing her bags for the Dusty Springfield look alone. Horrific. And the Liverpool runway didn't really scream Liverpool either - there's SO much iconic culture about that city and you go for "manic-depressive housewife from the 50s"?!?!?! Worst by far.
Ellie - definitely in the top 3 of the challenge; the Beano look was fantastic and her Lily Savage was pretty strong too.
Tayce - I think a case could be made for her being top 3... she definitely would be 4th for me if there was a 4th. The Welsh look was simple but effective, and her Naomi trumped Asttina's imo.

All in all, I'd therefore have placed them thusly (in order of preference):

Winner - Ellie
High - Asttina, Veronica
Safe - Tayce, Joe, Lawrence, A'Whora, Bimini, Cherry
Low - Ginny
Lipsyncing - Tia, Sister

Lipsync was pretty bad. Joe seemed to visibly give up at some point :( so it left it a home run for Bimini.

Final thought: I do wish Lawrence had used the "desgusten" reference as her entrance rather than a random aside :sad:

I really enjoyed it, it's a strong batch from what I can see. They have a lot of work in front of them if they want to be as memorable as the first cast.

Lawrence Chaney should have won, or a double win with Ellie. Both great great looks, well put together, well executed.
Asttina was good, but not really the best to me. But congrats to her! And you can feel the upcoming drama with Tayce.

Tia and Sister Sister should have been in the bottom, I didn't get either of what they were selling. I feel bad for Joe Black, I really think she would have served so many great moments! And I'm sorry but that David Bowie look SCREAMED David Bowie. Michelle was being completely crazy again.....

The lipsync was not good and I have wanted this song in a lipsync for SO LONG. And both didn't do well. Vinegar would have eaten it.

My thoughts;

Joe - Shame she had to go home first, someone that accomplished should be given the benefit of any doubts on the first ep, not to mention that her look wasnt even that bad anyway.
Asttina - Basic, simple. Seems to be more of a dancer who loves to perform and this is her avenue to do so rather than that she really loves the art of drag.
Ginny - Over her already, thought she was going to be hilarious but it wore thin fast with the same stick over and over. Get Baga wannabe vibes tbh.
Tia - Yawn.
Bimini - Theres something special about her, she can make it far.
Lawrence - Nice to see a big queen doing well.
Cherry - Great looks, funny commentary. I was worried she'd be like gothy Ken dolly but its not the case.
Veronica - Nice enough girl, mid boot for sure.
A'Whora - What the show needs, literally the only one who doesnt give a **** about what the public will think. Hope she doesnt get too much hate.
Sister - She is really funny I can tell. She is the most comedic queen out of all of them i can tell. Lets see her make it to an acting challenge so she can shine.
Ellie - Good looks and ideas, hope she can bring the whole package
Tayce - Interested but i wish she would shut up about wales, its a bit embarrassing.

It's like Ru and Michelle watched Canada's Drag Race and took the level of bad judging on that show as a challenge. It's honestly bewildering how wrong they got it.

Joe Black should have been nowhere near the bottom, and Sister shouldn't have been safe. The right bottom 2 was probably Ginny and Sister since both of Sister's looks were underwhelming and Ginny's second look was outright ugly, her first I liked obviously because of Kate and the presentation but a Drag Queen could and SHOULD have done so much more with Kate's looks over the years.

My faves at this point are Tia, Lawrence, Ellie and Tayce.

Bimini Bon Boulash
Tayce
Asttina
A’whora
Tia Kofi
Ginny Lemon
Joe Black
Cherry Valentine
Lawrence
Veronica Green
Ellie Diamond
Sister Sister

really solid cast this season, last season was great but you could kind of tell very early on who was going to make it until the end and who wasn't. however I don't know this season. the first ep was good although there was a lot of bias towards lawrence? the judging was also a bit off now I love tia but that look.. BOOT. Tia and Sister defo should of been in the bottom, I thought Joe's bowie was top notch but the second look was a bif naff.

looking forward to see how this season progress :worry:

...I loved it, it was a dragged up version of Ziggy and really beautifully done...Michelle really needs to recap on Bowie...

It was odd that she considered the ginger hair and blue suit look to be a more obscure Bowie look, it's one of the ones I always think of when I think of Bowie.