“RuPaul’s Drag Race” is no longer the secret show I used to pirate in middle school. It has now aired in 15 different countries, and we just crowned the winner of the U.S. season 17. One of the most successful spinoffs, “Drag Race UK,” recently had its series 7 premier, but it opened to a lukewarm reception and continued a few long-running issues.
RuPaul Charles, the figurehead and founder of “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” is an African American man in his 60s. He is not from Britain, and neither is his right-hand woman, Michelle Visage. The lack of cultural knowledge creates a uniquely difficult dynamic; a contestant must both be British enough to represent the UK, while at the same time being American enough that RuPaul can understand their humor and references.
This isn’t to say that British references are not made; they are incredibly common in the actual production of the show, but the major disconnect is that RuPaul is considered the main judge, and therefore her opinion, allegedly, matters the most.
Series 7’s lack of impact can be partially understood by examining the previous series,
Drag Series 6 Retrospective: Why it was so good
A personal and fan favorite series of Drag Race U.K. would be Series 6. This season has the highest-rated premier episode at 9 stars and has one of the most diverse casts in the history of the show. Contestants’ ages ranged from 21 to 48, and featured two Welsh queens, a Northern Irish queen and two St. Lucian queens for the first time.
I want to highlight two contestants in particular: La Voix and Kyran Thrax. (Drag names often involve puns or wordplay, such as La Voix meaning “the voice” because she is known for singing, and Kyran Thrax being a pun of a person’s first name of Kieran and the chemical, anthrax.)
La Voix is the epitome of an experienced and seasoned queen; she’s 43 at the time of filming, and was already known by all the other contestants. She quickly became what fans refer to as the “narrator” of the series, and it’s obvious that she was the one to beat.
She contrasted Kyran Thrax, a 26-year-old queen with a penchant for good drag and good television. She is polarizing, wild, free and willing to be a little gross for the sake of entertainment. This is exemplified during her win of the first episode talent show, in which Kyran Thrax acted out a comedy skit about a parasitic puppet serving in a restaurant, compared to an incredibly impressive improv song by La Voix. (I would again highly suggest watching this; it’s truly entertaining).
A running theme quickly became the pair’s friendly rivalry, made all the easier by how personable each individual is. A core aspect of their dynamic is their age difference, with La Voix’s experience making her the initial obvious choice for the crown, and finding an unexpected competitor in Kyran’s wit and fashion, despite the queen’s young age.
So, why is Series 7 falling short?
In my personal opinion, this series premiered with one of the weirdest episodes I’ve ever seen. There was a pervasive awkwardness, only made worse by the disconnect between RuPaul and the contestants.
A great example of this was actually during the Series 7 premiere, in which one of the contestants made a reference as a punchline that RuPaul didn’t understand. RuPaul then stopped the contestant’s interview to clarify and visibly disrupted the flow of the interview, despite the actual interviewer obviously understanding what the contestant had meant.
Thankfully, this awkward aura has dissipated over the next couple of episodes, but there is still something to be said for the lack of good ratings from both the fans and critics that this season specifically has faced.
One of the biggest issues that I believe is at fault with this series is that there is a severe lack of seasoned/older queens. The queens range in ages from 22 to 32, only a 10-year difference compared to the average of 16, and it’s the smallest difference of any UK series. There was no bigger difference than with its predecessor, Drag Race UK Series 6, which had the largest difference of 27 years.
The series proceeded with good ratings for a television show, but unusually low compared to the other seasons. They average a 6-7, compared to the usual 7-8-9 that fans expected. It definitely felt reflected in the season. There has been a lack of strong characterization for any of the queens, and the dynamics between them are more confusing than entertaining.
