Ron Does Stuff

To be quite honest, I have been having a horrible past week and did not have the motivation to do anything else other than rot and hopefully pass away. It hasn’t gotten any better, but since me disintegrating isn’t happening anytime soon, I might as well do something before that inevitably happens.

Full disclosure: I was at most meh when it came to the first season of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World. It just wasn’t interesting after Pangina left. However, I am tuning in to this season because Marina Summers from Drag Race Philippines Season 1 is participating.

So. Up first is Tia Kofi, who we all know for her adequate dress.

First off, I actually find it endearing that Tia is wondering why she’s even been asked back for the season. Has her fashion improved? I mean, not a fashion gay but this animal print thing looks better at least!

Up next is Hannah Conda from RuPaul’s Drag Race Down Under Season 2 and I have to admit I only watched that season up until the first Kween Kong lip sync. So Hannah Conda’s quite honestly a blank page to me. She finished as a runner-up, apparently!

Then we get Arantxa Castilla-La Mancha who I remember from Drag Race España! She’s come out as transgender now and she has great chemistry with Tia and Hannah at least!

And then we get the first American queen of this season, Mayhem Miller. The queens are obviously intimidated because Mayhem is from the mothership RuPaul’s Drag Race and is a legend outside of the show.

Up next is Choriza May, who had me LAUGHING in Rupaul’s Drag Race UK Season 3 with her entrance line.

She says you can hate her for being beautiful now and okay!

The next queen to enter is Le Grande Dame from Drag Race France Season 1 and she was my pick to win back then! And she’s even hotter now out of drag than she was during her first season! And she’s up-to-date on the memes too because she did that whole Miss France intro thing!

Up next is Marina Summers and she said she wants to give some colonizers the chop and in the current line-up there are three countries who colonized us! Spain for more than 300 years, the British for 18 months I think? And America for 50 years. That’s a lot of work ahead of you Marina!

The next queen coming in isn’t a colonizer but comes from a fellow colonized country! Jonbers Blonde from RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 4 and she’s repping Ireland!

Drag Race Holland is up next with Keta Minaj and quite honestly I don’t remember her even if I did watch her season.

And then another colonizer enters! Scarlet Envy, who may or may not be the drama of the season. I do miss her long hair though!

Gothy Kendoll is up next and again I find it charming that she’s fully leaning into her Porkchop status from the first UK season.

There’s a little thing with Raven but no, she’s not here to compete, she’s just here to introduce RuPaul who just sounds like she’s got a sinus infection or something. But the real news — which was announced months or weeks ago I think — is that this season will have a 50,000GBP cash prize! That’s a lot of money!

In the Werk Room, it looks like Marina and Keta have become fast friends, bonding over their Southeast Asian ancestry. They’re even seatmates when the queens start talking about how the cash prize changes the whole competition.

Meanwhile, the UK queens have a tacit agreement not to eliminate each other should it come to that. Let’s see if that sticks until the end because Choriza doesn’t look convinced!

Leading up to the first Maxi challenege, the Talent Show, Mayhem says she won’t be repeating the sins of the past like forgetting the lyrics to her own song. Also, she’s currently dealing with long COVID and my goodness Mayhem. I dunno, maybe she should have prioritized her health first.

Choriza May opens the talent show and…okay. Scarlet Envy has a better performance that references different points in the American Drag Race canon that was entertaining enough. And then Le Grande Dame does the fucking stupidest DJ set and I love it.

Gothy Kendoll has the unfortunate task of performing after Le Grande Dame and before Marina Summers as the two put in really great work. Keta Minaj puts in a physical performance while Mayhem…oh my goodness I was the one hurt in my soul. After that performance all the queens that performed after were immediately better. Arantxa was particularly funny for me.

Particular standouts on this week’s runway are Marina Summers and Le Grande Dame, although to be quite honest I thought everybody looked great! Marina and Le Grande Dame, deservedly, are named the top two queens for this episode.

In the Werk Room, Mayhem is at least being realistic about her talent show performance that I really find charming. Gothy is bummed but…in an upbeat way? Sorry, like I said I have had a horrible week and I can’t do words well right now.

Mayhem and Gothy plead their cases to Le Grande Dame and Marina and I really like that both bottom queens find themselves nervous in front of Marina. Marina wins the lip sync against Le Grand Dame and sends Mayhem home and honestly, correct decision.