‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Season 3, Episode 4 recap: Bop versus ballad

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The girl group challenge on RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is akin to what Snatch Game is to the entire franchise: the point that girls want to make it to, and the biggest test of how likely a queen will thrive outside of the competition. Back in Season 1, Baga Chipz, Blu Hydrangea and Divina de Campo launched to the top of the charts as the Frock Destroyers. “Break Up (Bye Bye)” was an utter smash of a song, and the trio went on to release a whole album.

Drag Race UK Season 2’s winning group, however, made “Break Up (Bye Bye)” look like small potatoes in comparison. “UK Hun?”, with its addictive “bing bang bong” chorus, made United Kingdolls members A’Whora, Bimini Bon Boulash, Lawrence Chaney and Tayce into instant frontrunners, and the song helped catapult Drag Race UK to new heights of popularity.

Though it’s not totally clear when this season began filming, I’ve heard speculation that it was right around Snatch Game last season. That means that Season 2’s girl groups episode may have been the last thing this crop of queens saw before heading to film their own run of Drag Race UK. Considering how excited they all are to learn they’ve hit this milestone challenge, it’s safe to say they’re hopeful they’ll be producing a “Break Up (Bye Bye)” or “UK Hun?” of their own.

But the odds of Drag Race UK topping itself again were high, and indeed, “Big Drag Energy” can’t quite match up to those songs of legend. There’s an interesting wrinkle, though: the song has both up- and mid-tempo versions. Scarlett Harlett, as last week’s maxi-challenge winner, gets to pick which one she wants for her group. And unfortunately for her, she misses the obvious trick: a pop song might be fun, but by taking the up-tempo, she hands her rivals a big, juicy underdog narrative to run with all the way to the win.

Scarlett, alongside Vanity Milan as last week’s lip sync winner, gets to choose her teammates in a familiar schoolyard pick. She snatches up girl band devotee Kitty Scott-Claus right away, while Vanity goes for the West End’s own Ella Vaday. Scarlett then picks up Charity Kase, while Vanity grabs River Medway, leaving two-time challenge winner Krystal Versace and iconic confessional queen Choriza May. Scarlett makes a grave mistake by picking Krystal. By giving Vanity Choriza, Scarlett has made sure all the RuPeter badges are on her team, making her rivals even bigger underdogs.

I keep emphasizing this because the show itself does it at every turn. Kitty practically recoils from the ballad version of the song when their group listens to it, underlining that the other group has a real uphill climb ahead of them. Vanity’s team also has much less choreography prepared when they meet to rehearse it, making them look a bit hapless.

All of this just fuels the narrative. Drag Race doesn’t love to give the win to someone you expect; it’s much more fond of a come-from-behind victory. (Think of Kylie Sonique Love winning the acting maxi-challenge in All Stars 6: her performance may not have been the absolute best, but Ru was clearly impressed with her growth and perseverance.) Watching a pile of what seem like advantages stack up on Scarlett’s team only guarantees that the tower must fall.

You get hints of what’s to come when her group, calling themselves the “Slice Girls,” meet with Steps members H and Claire Watkins to record their verses. Kitty does well, but Krystal is pretty tone deaf, Scarlett stumbles a bit and Charity has to be talked out of a voice choice that will make the group seem entirely discordant. By comparison, the “Pick’N’Mix” rehearsal goes much more smoothly. (They choose their name because they are all a bit different: Choriza is Spanish, River is Asian, Vanity is Jamaican and Ella is “me!”) Though Ella struggles more than you might expect of the trained singer, the other three get great moments, with River in particular highlighted as a standout.

So by the time the performances begin, there’s little surprise as to what will be happening. The Slice Girls are a bit of a mess, although Krystal acquits herself well and Kitty is actually pretty great. Charity does well, but something about her just isn’t landing with the judges—Ru in particular is stone-faced during her verse. But it’s Scarlett who stands out for all the wrong reasons. She forgets her words, fucks up her choreography and you can see her failure written all over her face the whole time.

Ru and Michelle Visage focus during critiques on her self-doubt and letting her emotions through. I do think this is a fair point, but I think they unintentionally make it sound like Scarlett would have been fine if she’d just put on a smile and kept going. Scarlett is by far the worst this week, and it doesn’t benefit her to not state that clearly. A good attitude is great to have, but being able to perform on the day is much more important.

Speaking of performing on the day: Pick’N’Mix clearly takes the win. I was actually worried when they first started, because Ella’s verse is just okay, and Vanity lacks some of the energy she had during the recording and rehearsal. But their win becomes obvious when we get to the chorus: they camp it up, and add some signature dance moves (including—and especially—a chest pop) that are addictive. River and Choriza then really nail their verses and performances, with River giving a sincere, beautiful vocal, and Choriza leaning into the comedy and even performing in Spanish. All four share the win, and all four get their first RuPeter badges.

This leaves us with Charity and Scarlett in the bottom, and as is appropriate for the week, they lip sync to “Who Do You Think You Are” by the Spice Girls. It’s not the best lip sync we’ve ever seen, but Charity—still in tiger drag from the runway—really keeps attention fixated on her. She’s energetic, moves well and compels the gaze. Considering she’s a good bit better than Scarlett in the maxi-challenge, too, it’s clear that Scarlett will be sashaying away….

But not quite! Because, in one of the stranger decisions I’ve ever seen, Ru calls this a double shantay. Not a “Kandy, wait!”-esque mulligan of Scarlett—no, a full-out tie. Usually when this happens, Ru will rave about the quality of the lip sync, or explain that they both still have more to give. Nothing this time, though. He just calls the double shantay, and sends them both to the back of the stage.

I ask this sincerely: Why? Is it because Scarlett has a RuPeter badge, and thus effectively has immunity from an early boot? (I will note that didn’t apply to Asttina Mandella.) Is it that Ru prefers Scarlett over Charity, but couldn’t justify booting Charity after that lip sync? Is it just because they’re low on episodes after Victoria Scone’s removal and they need to fill the count? Whatever it is, it produces a bizarre, inexplicable choice, and leaves us with a top eight for another week.

This is a fun-enough installment even if it doesn’t hit the highs of previous girl group challenges, and I grow more fond of this cast each week. But man, that double shantay really leaves a bitter aftertaste. A little Unnecessary Spice at the end of your Spice Girls tribute meal. Alas, we’ll just have to see what both Charity and Scarlett do next week.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨Emma Bunton returns to the Drag Race franchise as a guest judge, having first appeared for All Stars 3’s own Spice Girls-inspired girl group challenge. In that appearance, she came across a bit more reserved than she does here: this go-around, she’s fun, engaged and does well at expressing her own critiques even when they run counter to the other judges’. (She’s Charity’s biggest defender, both in the challenge and on the runway.)

✨Kitty doesn’t mind losing too much, since it means she gets the chance to chat at length with Emma. “This is Kitty’s best and worst day of her life,” Ella says in confessional. “I ain’t ever seen a loser look so happy!” Smash cut to Kitty grinning like mad. It’s so cute.

✨I was a little worried two weeks ago that my beloved Alan Carr’s critiques were not as fun or sharp as they were the first two seasons, but boy, he came roaring back this week. When Michelle Visage expresses that she wants more personality from Krystal, Alan fires back, “Who needs a personality when you’ve got an amazing body? I’ve coped!” He also pretty thoroughly dismantles Charity’s excuse for not wearing silver or white in the girl group challenge, noting the inconsistency of creativity compared to her runway look. “‘Cause that’s the irony, isn’t it? ‘Oh, I couldn’t find anything to look like I’m in a girl group.’ Yet you can look like a six-foot tiger?” he joked with the panel. “You managed to rustle that up!”

✨There continues to be some pretty clunky production decisions this season. I wrote about the queens’ odd expository dialogue sequences last week, and this week we got an utterly bizarre announcement of the bottom two. Theoretically, Kitty should’ve been called safe first, as she got nothing but positive critiques. Then, Scarlett as the clear weak link this week should’ve been placed in the bottom, leading to some tension about whether Krystal or Charity would be in the bottom two. It’s pretty obviously going to be Charity, but that is literally the only point of dramatic interest. Instead, Ru calls Krystal safe first, and then puts Charity in the bottom, making it incredibly obvious among the remaining two, Kitty and Scarlett, who will be lip-syncing. This kind of small stuff isn’t a big deal, but it’s weird to see the show messing up the details.

✨Ru shouts out Michelle and Steps’ “Heartbreak in This City,” and I cannot co-sign the recommendation enough. It’s a bop!

✨There really should be at least one “Night of 1,000”-themed runway every season. They’re so fun, and we’ve got plenty of divas who deserve tribute runways. (I’m still pulling for a “Night of 1,000 Rihannas!”)

✨ SCARLETT: “I’m sorry I didn’t pick you.”

     CHORIZA: “Don’t be silly. I’m quite happy you didn’t.”

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will be available to stream Thursday, Oct. 21, at 2 p.m. EDT on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and OUTtv in Canada, as well as on BBC Three and the BBC’s iPlayer in the United Kingdom. Additionally, episodes are available the same day on Crave in Canada.