Welcome to RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Power Rankings! Every Friday, we’ll debrief the week’s new episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 3 to determine which queens are riding high, and which need she-mergency care. An entertaining but indecisive episode leaves us in much the same place as before, with one queen just waiting to be shown the door.
4. Vanity Milan (last week: 4)
There was a lot of talk this week about whether Vanity could survive a fourth lip sync, a feat that, at the time that this series filmed, had only been accomplished by Miss Abby OMG on Drag Race Holland’s first season. (Effectively concurrently, Tayce was doing it as Drag Race UK Season 2 aired.) I don’t doubt for one second Vanity’s ability to win a fourth lip sync; I saw what she did on “Scandalous”! But I do believe that the show is going to do its best to put someone up against Vanity who can take her out. They’ve seen all three of the other queens lip sync for the win now, and they’ve all won (or tie-won). There’s precedent for one to win when they must.
I’ve been a bit all over the map with Vanity this season, but have found myself rooting for her in the end because of her underdog narrative. She’s been judged more harshly than a lot of the other girls, expected to be accountable for her past performances in a way her fellow queens have not. And she continues to surprise: she really ran with the Baby Yolo character this week, wringing as much comedic value out of it that she could. If she’s able to pull out another top-tier lip sync and make it so hard to not eliminate her that she just has to be in the final three, I’ll be thrilled. But I doubt she’ll be able to, considering her storyline and track record.
3. Krystal Versace (last week: 2)
Once again, I think there’s a lot of meaning to be mined out of how Krystal reacted to things in mini-Untucked this week. She could tell that Ella Vaday and Kitty Scott-Claus got the most positive response, and that meant she would (in theory) have to lip sync against Vanity by default. Knowing how good a performer Vanity is, she looked about ready to shit bricks. But instead of positioning her fear as understandable and easy to empathize with, the edit made her seem a bit sour about it all.
I get why she felt sour: I thought it should’ve been her in the top this week for a genuinely pretty great C3PO tribute performance. She also looked by far the best on the runway in Cruella drag—this was, in a line of stunning looks from Krystal, absolutely my favourite. But the edit is pointing us away from her win. That said, Ru is the ultimate arbiter, and he once again gushed over her this week. If the decision is as simple as Ru’s favourite, then WOW Presents Plus series and other considerations be damned. I still think Krystal’s got this.
2. Ella Vaday (last week: 3)
I was far off the judges’ consensus with Ella this week. I thought she was fine as Darth Shader, but I really didn’t like her Oompa Loompa drag. I’ve had concerns about how the judges have not noted flaws in Ella’s drag, in particular that her makeup ages her; they’ve only said that about her wigs. But the problem this week was more fundamental: I just don’t get how her mind went to a sexy Oompa Loompa. And if it was killer, I’d have gagged! I just don’t think it was as impressive as the judges did.
Ella’s Nigella Lawson went a long way to making me a fan a couple weeks ago, but she hasn’t kept up the momentum. I wouldn’t have put her in the top two this week, but even so, I’d have given a solo lip sync win to Kitty. Could Ella win this season considering she now has the most RuPeter badges? Perhaps. She’d be an odd winner, considering we still know so little about her. But hey, stranger things have happened on Drag Race UK.
1. Kitty Scott-Claus (last week: 1)
Graham Norton and Russell Tovey this week finally said what I’ve been waiting to hear the judges acknowledge: Kitty is a fucking star. It’s been true since the very first episode, but unlike other high-personality queens like Baga Chipz and Lawrence Chaney, it took the panel a while to recognize it.
Her confessionals have been by far the best all season long, and she’s the only one who’s consistently managed to make the highly forced mirror moments feel like genuine bits of bonding. (Her chat with Charity Kase about Charity being HIV-positive remains one of my favourite scenes of the season.) And her impromptu audition for the queens during role-selection this week was a feat of production and performance: she made what is often one of the most tiresome moments of the episode, not to mention one that sunk poor Ellie Diamond, into a joy.
In the challenge and on the runway, Kitty was the most consistently impressive. I preferred Krystal’s look, but Kitty’s Rose-from-Titanic drag was a strong second. And in the challenge, she assigned herself the task of being the protagonist, Brabarella, and executed it beautifully. Then, in the lip sync, Kitty more than proved her performance ability, taking a Girls Aloud song and doing her favourite girl group proud.
She earned this second win, and she has the lead heading into the finale. If she can take a third win in a row in the comedy challenge, I’d say she’s got as good a shot of beating Krystal as anyone could in the finale.
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