‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Season 4, Episode 5 recap: West End winners

Few RuPaul’s Drag Race episodes are tougher to write about than when everyone does well in a challenge. Notable bombs are easy to focus on, as are queens who stand far outside the pack. But when everyone approaches a challenge with all they’ve got, performs their role ably, and Ru is left to split hairs to choose a bottom two? It’s enjoyable to watch, and leaves us recappers very little to dive into.

So for that reason, I’m glad there’s some intrigue at the end of this week’s episode—even if I don’t much like the result. I knew something was up with Baby’s arc after Ru came down harshly on her last week, but I figured it would lead to an earlier-than-expected elimination for someone who felt like a frontrunner coming in. The fact that it actually just led to Baby quitting the competition is a bummer, especially since this is now the third season in a row Drag Race UK has seen a non-traditional elimination. (It took until All Stars 2, sequentially the 10th season of American Drag Race, for someone to quit.)

Unlike in some other circumstances of an unconventional departure on Drag Race UK, however, I’m not sure if the natural result would’ve been different. Baby certainly delivered one hell of a performance to “No Way” from Six in the lip sync, and she’d be more than deserving of a shot to stay. But her opponent, Dakota Schiffer, more than kept up by doing her own thing. (Her fake exit really gagged the judges, particularly Michelle Visage.) Considering Dakota has two badges, and hasn’t gotten the critiques that Baby has, my guess is she would’ve stayed anyway. In fact, I think a double shantay was more likely than a Dakota elimination based on the edit of this lip sync.

Alas, we instead just say goodbye to Baby, and thus this season loses a major character. That said, any loss at this point would be tough to swallow—this is a ridiculously competitive cast. And it’s going to make every single boot, traditional or not, for the rest of the season all the harder to accept.

This week’s maxi-challenge is a Rusical inspired by the story of Mary Poppins. In this highly unauthorized sequel, Mary is given the hook, and the much less conventional “Lairy Poppins” comes to take care of the kids instead. It’s a cute concept for a Rusical, especially considering Mary Poppins itself is already a musical, but it does seemingly render Mary Poppins Returns non-canon. Sorry, Emily Blunt and Lin-Manuel Miranda!

As mini-challenge winner, Pixie Polite gets to distribute the roles, and does her best to give everyone something they want. Among these, she gives Danny Beard a Dick Van Dyke-esque chimney-sweep role, Le Fil the role of the OG Mary Poppins and accidentally sticks herself with the lead role of Lairy. This is not ideal for her, she realizes as rehearsal begins, and she’s considering swapping with someone else. Danny actually jumps at the chance to play Lairy, and the two change roles.

This pays off handsomely for the two, as they both land in the top three for their parts. Unlike last week, however, when the competition between Danny and Pixie felt tight, this is a clear victory for Danny. Pixie does quite well—everyone does!—and she’s also delightful in the musicals-inspired runway category in a Hairspray look. (Love the reveal!) But Danny not only smashes the Rusical, performing at a level that could pass muster on the West End proper, she also turns out a Little Shop of Horrors-inspired Audrey II look that blows the judges away. There’s just no denying her victory this time around.

This gives Danny her third RuPeter Badge, and she’s starting to feel almost undefeatable in this competition. Ru’s praise for Danny these past two weeks has been near-breathless, and it’s starting to sound like the kind of praise Krystal Versace got from the jump last season. The difference is that it feels like Ru has slowly discovered how much he likes Danny, as opposed to Krystal being his favourite from the start. That said, I do hope Ru makes room (Ru-m?) in his heart for other queens, because this is too strong a cast to limit the competition already.

Someone I thought had a chance at winning Ru over, but is starting to stumble a bit, is Dakota. At this point, I think Dakota is my second-favourite left with a real shot in the competition, right after Black Peppa. (I adore Le Fil, but for reasons we’ll discuss in a second, I’m concerned about his longevity.) And with two RuPeter Badges, she was well-positioned to make a deep run this season! However, her open dislike of musical theatre leads to her falling short of expectations this week.

To Dakota’s credit, she knows during casting that she needs to prevent herself from fading into the background. She calls being cast as one of the twins, next to Peppa, a “death sentence” in the challenge, and pushes to get the French roach waitress character that ultimately goes to Cheddar Gorgeous. (It’s a weird Rusical.) But she ultimately does accept the twin role, and she gives it her best go at showtime. 

I actually think, before their number begins, Dakota more naturally embodies the role than Peppa does. However, as soon as they start to dance, Peppa just runs circles around her partner. Moreover, Dakota seems to realize it, and shows some hesitation on her face. That, plus her open admission of not liking musicals, plus a Funny Girl-inspired look that the judges deem almost too cute, lands her in the bottom next to Baby.

Baby, meanwhile, gets a tough break this week. She gives her all to the role of the twins’ mother, but the judges want to see more. And while her & Juliet-inspired runway look is incredibly cute, it can’t help but feel a bit underwhelming next to more conceptual outfits like Danny’s and Peppa’s Lion King-referential look. She admits in critiques that she feels like she’s struggling, and it’s an early sign that she’ll be looking to make an early exit. I’m glad, at least, that she doesn’t pull a Ginny Lemon and leave before the lip sync. She makes sure our last impression of her on the show is a great one.

We’re heading into Snatch Game next week with a very strong final seven, and though she had a hiccup this week, I’m not sure it’s going to be Dakota going home. She’s shown surprising strength in comedy tasks, and I can see a couple of characters she could do justice. So if not her, who?

Danny and Pixie seem like locks for a challenge like Snatch Game, and Cheddar showed she could hold her own in the improv task last week. Peppa is naturally quite funny, and I have a good feeling about her in Snatch Game. So that theoretically leaves Jonbers Blonde and Le Fil. And while Jonbers has certainly had a tough time in this competition, particularly regarding getting Ru to like her name, she actually enjoys a bit of an upswing this week. And her commitment to her bird lady character in the Rusical makes me think she’ll be able to pull off the character work that Snatch Game requires.

This leaves me feeling concerned that Le Fil is not long for this season. I’ve enjoyed his drag and his work a lot, especially his The King and I-inspired runway look this week. I would’ve given him the solo win for the girl groups challenge, and were the design challenge judged individually, I’d have given him that win as well. But even I, as a Le Fillion, cannot deny that his edit has been largely invisible; he’s landed in the low-scoring group twice in a row, and based on the improv task, Snatch Game does not feel like a good fit for his talents. I’m officially Le Worried about Le Fil.

That’s just how close this season is, though. It’s almost UK Season 2-esque in how evenly matched the competition is, even if it lacks some of the bombast of that legendary series. And if that comparison is any indication, we’re in for quite a ride in the back half of this run.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨ We get the Reading Is Fundamental mini-challenge this week! It feels almost a bit early, no? Often, it’s paired with Snatch Game, so I figured we’d get it next episode. Regardless, the queens are up to the task, and everyone does pretty well. Among my favourites of the non-winners: Dakota updates a classic Jujubee read to Peppa by saying, “I’d ask if your barbecue was cancelled, but with that grill, no one’s coming.” Danny gets an even more outrageous one off on Dakota: “It’s nice that Drag Race has embraced trans icons. And now, it’s nice that people can see a bit of trans mediocrity.”

✨ But Pixie is the big winner of the reading challenge, and she takes it with some pretty audacious reads. I thought my favourite of hers would be to Jonbers: “J Blonde, you’re so old, your first gig was chasing the snakes out of Ireland,” but then she pulls out the shocking “Baby? I’m pro-choice,” and the queens lose their minds in response. After that, there’s no question as to who the victor will be.

✨ Ru introduces this season’s vocal coach as “Michelle ‘The Voice’ Visage.” Come through, Dune!

✨ Michelle’s former Strictly Come Dancing partner, Giovanni Pernice, is the choreographer this week. He does well, and it’s fun to see his and Michelle’s banter for a bit. He joins Oti Mabuse, Johannes Radebe and AJ Pritchard as Strictly pros who have appeared on the show—and they’ll soon be joined by host Tess Daly and former contestant AJ Odudu as the Snatch Game contestants next week!

✨ Hannah Waddingham is an absolute delight as our guest judge this week. Not only is she capable of being at least somewhat negative in critiques (although it’s still a bit like pulling teeth—bring back guest judges with contrary opinions!), but she’s having the time of her life on this panel. When a guest judge says “It’s honestly a dream to see a Rusical,” and I believe her? You know it’s going to be a joy. My personal favourite note of hers: that Jonbers is “devastatingly watchable.”

✨ Danny ties Baga Chipz and Lawrence Chaney as the fastest queens to three maxi-challenge wins. Interestingly, both Baga and Lawrence got their last of three on the girl groups’ challenge, and then never won another RuPeter Badge. Danny started her run with the girl groups win; will that break the pattern and allow her to earn another victory down the line?

✨ More musical theatre lip syncs, please!

The next episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK will be available to stream on Thursday, Oct. 27, at 4 p.m. EDT on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada. You can subscribe to our drag newsletter, Wig!, for exclusive Drag Race content delivered straight to your inbox every Tuesday afternoon.