‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Season 3, Episode 10 recap: Honey, it’s Christmas, baby

How, exactly, is the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK determined? It’s a question that’s hung over this whole season for me, thanks to a shocking Season 2 finale that saw fan favourite and frontrunner Bimini Bon Boulash lose out to Scotland queen Lawrence Chaney. In retrospect, the choice: Lawrence was a clear favourite of RuPaul’s, and her track record was second only to Bimini’s. Moreover, she was the major character of the season, for better and (in the instance of her furious response to a challenge performance order) for worse.

That said, Bimini’s dominance in the competition’s back half gave her not only the report card and fan support, but also a ton of momentum heading into the finale. That’s why the choice to crown Lawrence induced so much whiplash in the fandom: it went against what we understood about how Drag Race picks its winners. Combined with the choice of The Vivienne over Divina de Campo in Season 1—which was a closer race with three wins each, but Divina had the fan support and no bottom appearances—and it was hazy as to just what, exactly, Drag Race UK was looking for in its winners.

I have two major theories: the first is that Ru, as he has many times before, picked his personal favourites, choosing who resonated with him most. This makes sense: Viv and Ru had a convivial relationship, while his appreciation of Divina was more muted. And Ru clearly adored Lawrence from the moment they met, while he expressed more respect than love for Bimini as an artist. If you believe this theory, then you likely expected Krystal Versace to win this season. After all, at every turn, Ru has been happy to gush about the 19-year-old fashion queen, even during critiques of her that were ostensibly negative. (I will seriously never get over Ru using Krystal’s low placement during Snatch Game as a chance to tell her that God meant for her to be a drag queen.)

But my other major theory (though I don’t want to discount the possibility that it’s utterly subjective and impossible to track) is that for both The Vivienne and Lawrence, the possibilities for shows on WOW Presents Plus were plentiful. I’m certain both Divina and Bimini would’ve done great on their own shows—one of which is the major prize for Drag Race UK—but Viv came packaged with her Donald Trump Snatch Game impersonation for a parody talk show, and Lawrence’s camp comedy made her a natural fit for a quick-and-funny web series. If this were the prevailing criteria, then this season would more naturally have favoured Ella Vaday after her Snatch Game win impersonating Nigella Lawson, or Kitty Scott-Claus with her comedy queen chops, over Krystal.

So while it’s impossible to know if either theory is valid, this finale gives us at least a hint as to which quality matters more for a UK winner this season. And in the end, Ru’s pick wins out. Krystal Versace, who Ru fawned over all season long, is the third Drag Race UK champion.

Though this has long felt inevitable—I bemoaned the decision being too heavily telegraphed a few times over the season—this finale makes a very good argument for her win. Although she had the worst track record of the final three, she didn’t let the odds stop her. Once again, after struggling with the choreography at the start (this time by choreographer Jay Revell), she comes out swinging in the performance itself. Her verse in the “Hey Sis, It’s Christmas” Rumix is great, and she more than holds her own in the final “You Don’t Own Me” lip sync.

But where she really clinches the win is for her final look. The way she proportions her body is actually jaw-dropping, and she pairs a dress with exaggerated shoulder pads with a wig that sits just right. And her mug is, as always, unbelievable—more than anything, her makeup skills set her apart from her competitors. When she comes out in her final look, I can’t help but say out loud, “She is so goddamn good at drag.” And that’s the kind of thing you want to say about a winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race.

Compared to Krystal, Ella and Kitty’s finale performances just feel a bit behind the curve. Ella does great in the Rumix, choosing to sing full-out instead of talk-singing. That can always be dicey, but Ella is pitch-perfect. It’s interesting to hear in her earlier chat with RuPaul and Michelle Visage that she hid her drag career from her West End community friends—and now she’s infusing her drag performance with her West End experience. Her verse is probably my least favourite, but “Have Ella a Christmas with Ella Vaday” is admittedly a terrific lyric.

Where Ella falls short is on the runway. Her glittery purple eleganza is worse than a lot of her previous output, largely thanks to her decision to pair it with an overly embellished gold neck piece (along with, as Graham Norton noted, silver shoes) and barely-there makeup. And then in the final lip sync, Ella all but throws away the crown, delivering a low-energy performance in which she seems to barely know the words. Coming from the frontrunner, it’s a pretty underwhelming finale.

Kitty does a bit better, but the judges make it clear in their critiques that they just didn’t really see Kitty as a viable winner. Graham knocks her in deliberations for going a bit too hard in the paint in everything, while even Michelle’s positive notes about her feel muted. It’s somewhat surprising to hear them all but dismiss her in the finale since the judges have repeatedly said what a star Kitty is—especially considering her verse is super fun, she looks beautiful on the runway and she camps it up in the lip sync.

On the bright side, I do think Kitty is the type to come back for an All Stars season and smash it. She’s got the comedy chops and performance skills, and she’ll benefit from not having been too much of a frontrunner in her original run. You do need to show growth in All Stars, and she strikes me as the best-positioned to do so. Ella, on the other hand, has demonstrated competence in nearly all areas. I’m not sure what more she’d have to show on a second run.

I have to imagine there will be some consternation about Krystal’s win despite her dominant performance in the finale. Her report card, as mentioned, was the worst of the final three, and she also had the least fan support on Twitter and Instagram. Lawrence and The Vivienne also enjoyed less fan support (and, in Lawrence’s case, a lesser win count than Bimini), but they weren’t dead last in their final groups.

While I ultimately stand by Krystal’s win, I do think there needs to be a reckoning within Drag Race production worldwide about how much the fan vote should matter. It seems really inconsistently applied: How much did Kylie Sonique Love’s record-breaking Instagram numbers boost her in All Stars 6, for instance? Conversely, why has the most-supported queen not won Drag Race UK three seasons in a row? If the show is going to continue to ask fans to show up and support their favourite queens, they should really find some way to be transparent about how much that matters—and be consistent about it.

But regardless of how we got here, Krystal Versace is our winner. And based on this finale, I’m feeling good about that. She isn’t my favourite winner this year (that honour goes to Symone, with a hearty honourable mention to Kylie), but I think she’ll make a great representative of the show. And hey, she now gets to hold the title of youngest-ever Drag Race winner!

I don’t think it’ll come as a shock to anyone who’s been reading these recaps this season that this is easily my least favourite season of Drag Race UK, and is the second-lowest in my estimation among the 2021 seasons I’ve seen. (I didn’t watch Holland’s second season, but I’ve heard it was a weaker installment as well.) Drag Race UK Season 3 hasn’t been a Down Under-level disaster, but it’s been a cautionary tale of what happens when a season speeds through production. No, Willam’s infamous “shot in 10 days” rumour wasn’t true, but the season was undoubtedly produced quickly to get BBC Three back on track after UK Season 2’s production delay.

Losing Victoria Scone and Veronica Green in the same early episode was clearly such a blow to the arcs of the season. Victoria was an obvious frontrunner, and Veronica as a returning queen could provide a lot of the narrative for the season. Instead, we were left with a lot of inoffensive queens, some of whom were either made into villains (Krystal) or never given the spotlight to become full characters (Ella). Kitty benefitted the most from former frontrunners exiting early, as she was given the space and time to really prove she’s a star.

But where the season fell apart, and why I just completely lost interest, was in the double sashay between River Medway and Choriza May. River was the emotional backbone of the season, opening up about her mother’s death from COVID-19 and triumphing despite adversity. Choriza was, without question, the comedic highlight—weeks later I’m still thinking about her elaborate origin story for one of her runways. Losing both in one fell swoop—especially after there had already been so many non-traditional elimination weeks—took all the steam out of the season, and suddenly left us with a final five that felt much emptier without the two fan favourites.

My biggest piece of advice for the show as it produces UK Season 4 is to keep things simple. Canada’s Drag Race is proving right now that you don’t need a bunch of gimmicky elimination weeks to keep things interesting. UK going back to basics in terms of format, and taking extra time to find the best possible cast, is the best thing it could do for itself. (Along with bringing back Victoria Scone, as long as she’s ready.) The first two seasons of UK remain among the best seasons of Drag Race ever, so I don’t think a less impressive season is anything but a speed bump. You just have to hope that this will be a learning experience for production, and that the series comes back stronger than ever next year.

Until then, we’ve got a Canadian season to finish—and undoubtedly another American season right around the corner. The Drag Race train never stops; it merely slows a bit before racing onto its next destination.

Untucking our final thoughts

✨Love all the involvement of the eliminated queens in this episode. It’s great to see them not just in the workroom at the start (“They’ve all got tickets to the meet and greet!” Kitty jokes) and during mini-Untucked, but also as part of the Rumix performance and in a final runway. Of the last looks, Anubis and Vanity Milan show my favourites.

✨Considering how often American Thanksgiving is considered an afterthought to Christmas in pop culture, it’s very funny that this Christmas episode comes out on Thanksgiving. We hadn’t even eaten Thanksgiving dinner when I watched this episode!

✨I do find it hilarious that Krystal spells her name with a K because there was already someone on Instagram named “Crystal Versace.” Name origins can come from anywhere!

✨It’s a lovely touch that Drag Race UK calls the final day of the competition “Coronation Day.” Gotta love the little things!

✨Graham Norton leaves out “cookies and a small bottle of poppers” for Santa. Naturally!

✨Kitty fully decapitates a Santa mannequin during the performance. Someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I think that’s the Mickey doll from the BeastEnders challenge judging last season?

✨Thanks as always for following along with our coverage this season. It’s not been the easiest season to power through, but I’ve got high hopes for the end of Canada’s Drag Race—it’s been pretty terrific so far.

Have you been keeping up with Canada’s Drag Race? Our non-stop Drag Race coverage this year will conclude with the last of our coverage of that season. You can catch up with the action so far on WOW Presents Plus in the U.S. and on Crave in Canada, and check out our previous recaps, power rankings and exit interviews here.