Haters Wedding Roast - RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World Power Rankings

I’m back with more coverage of the Drag Olympics of Drag Race! RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Episode 7 – Haters Wedding Roast, a stand-and-plant stand-up challenge delivered from behind a wedding dais paired with a “Take Me Up The Aisle” bridal runway.

If you engage in a retrospective Ru-watch of Drag Race, it’s interesting to watch how the show transforms over the years from a competition where drag queens must occasionally be funny to a full-fledged comedy competition. At this point, the show is known (and memed) as much for its laugh-out-loud absurd moments as for its fashion. At this point, there’s no way to win RuPaul’s lasting affection if you’re not at least a little bit funny.

The peculiar thing about that transformation into a full-on comedy competition is that it hinges entirely on RuPaul’s sense of humor. What Ru finds funny is grounded strongly in references that are older than most of her competitors. Though she’s twenty years older than me, RuPaul and I have an incredibly similar set of comedy references – Lucille Ball, Carol Burnett, 80s sitcoms like The Golden Girls, campy game show hosts and guests, and the deadpan early seasons of Saturday Night Live.

That’s a big reason why campy queens and old souls tend to do so well with RuPaul – they tap into her comfort zone when it comes to humor. Would someone learning to be funny today for the young consumers of now be funny to RuPaul? Would they do well on Drag Race? I’m never sure. I think we got a hint of this with Willow Pill, who has a darker, edgier kind of humor that’s right on the edge of Millennial and Gen Z. RuPaul ate that up. Yet, most times when we see anyone with a more youthful sense of ironic humor on the show, Ru is quick to serve them neutch and chop them down at the first chance.

This Haters Comedy Roast included two sets that were legitimately hilarious for audiences of all ages. That gave us a tiny but critical shuffle to the rankings compared to last week’s Strictly Come Prancing power rankings. What does that mean for next week’s finale? I think we have a clear powerhouse pair of potential winners, but also a black horse (wonk wonk) who could come through and surprise them both.

I’ll be back next week to congratulate our winner and reflect on my predictions and power rankings for the season!

(Want to watch RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World outside of the UK? For most of the world, it’s available with a Wow Presents Plus subscription as soon as the episode is done airing.)

Readers, start your engines. And, may the best international drag superstar win!

Reminders: I consistently refer to Drag Race artists with their drag names and with she/her pronouns even when they are not in drag, which is the convention of the show. Some performers may have different personal pronouns. Drag is inherently brave, political, and artistic, and all drag is valid. It’s also hard to do. Every drag artist in the world deserves endless essays dedicated to their talents and life stories. I’m commenting on drag artistry in how it fits the established expectations of this specific television program, but the reason I’m commenting at all is because I am obsessed with drag and the people who create it.

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World, Season 2, Episode 7 – Hater’s Wedding Roast Power Rankings

Before we get to this week’s Power Rankings, let’s enjoy a week of stellar and ever-so-slightly avant-garde fashion from RuPaul!

I am absolutely obsessed with this plain suit with neon blue lines outlining a smaller silhouette that connects the blazer and the pants. I love when queens wear dresses with this effect, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it on menswear before! It’s another Ru look to add to my list of “absolutely would wear.”

Then, on the runway, Ru wore a dress that looks like it was made of oversized cupcake wrappers! While I think the chest of this is a bit fiddly, Ru tends to look great in these multi-tiered “up-and-down” patterns because they accentuate her striking figure. It’s reminiscent of her Season 9 promo look.

#1 – Tia Kofi, 4 wins (was #6, 6, 2, 1, 1, 2)
[RPDRUK-S02 7th, Pre-Season #4]

Tia Kofi delivered one of the funniest comedy roasts in Drag Race herstory. It was a perfect, dominant performance on the heels of a string of weeks in which she delivered strength-after-strength. That makes her an obvious front-runner for the crown in next week’s finale.

I’ve now watched Tia’s roast set at least ten times over. I am still laughing at the jokes. Almost every one.

This “stand and plant” comedy format with a loose theme is the perfect platform for Tia’s deadpan delivery. She got in easy zingers and a few real thinkers, setting up and knocking down punchlines relentlessly throughout her set. There are so many memorable lines in here… “Michael Face,” “you’re sporty,” “it’s instant.” I’m laughing just typing them!

For me, the only one that went astray was her joke about having a tryst with La Grande Dame. Tia slightly tossed away the rhythm on that one – it needed a longer beat.

On the runway, Tia’s “Take Me Up The Aisle” alien bride was ever-so-slightly rotted, but also well-proportioned and detailed. Would I have liked her to look as drop-dead-gorgeous as she did last week? Sure, but with Tia, there will always be a small twist of comedy or transgression.

I wish the odd chrome panels on the back of the dress carried through to anywhere on the front. Every time I saw the rear I was so confused, like I had forgotton something about the front of it! But, no… that design element was only on the back.

Now, all that stands between Tia and the crown is a pair of lip syncs. We know RuPaul loves when Tia hams it up in a comedy lip sync, which should allow her to skate through her first round no matter what. Yet, I’m not sure we’ve ever seen a comedic route win a final lip sync. Is Tia capable of delivering one totally straight-faced (ha!) lip sync performance with £50,000 on the line? Or, is her goofball wit compelling enough to sway RuPaul to reward a funny final lip sync for the first time in Drag Race herstory?

I really thought Tia’s reward for returning to the show would be a “finalist edit” to prove her worth, but now it really feels like she’s on the verge of taking it all.

#2 – Marina Summers, 3 wins, 1 bottom (was #1, 3, 3, 5, 2, 1)
[DRPh-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #3]

Marina Summers did better with comedy in the Haters Wedding Roast than she did in any other humorous challenge this season. Was that enough to give her momentum to snatch a coveted Drag Race crown next week?

Marina’s roast was funny. I don’t know if it was laugh-out-loud funny, or memorably funny, but it was identifiable as a roast and she delivered it with confidence.

I think what separated this challenge from Drag Race World and Snatch Game is the fact that Marina was on the main stage and on the mic. That made this an on-stage performance challenge instead of a video shoot or a game of collaborative improv. Both of those settings took some of the shine off of Marina’s obvious star quality, but in this instance she was literally center-stage. Even if she never had a hope of defeating Hannah or Tia, to me this was a safe performance.

Marina’s “Take Me Up The Aisle” traditional wedding dress of the Yakan tribe was stunning. I got emotional just seeing her walk in it. I think Marina created one of those moments where a queen was able to show off an element of her own culture while still presenting stunning drag. The Yakan dress had so much embroidery and embellishment that it didn’t need to be rhinestoned to death to pop on the runway (although I definitely spotted some rhinestones in there). I was slightly suspicious of the white embellishments drawn on Marina’s face, but in motion they simply looked like reflections from the various beads and paillettes hung around her face.

Marina Summers is one of the most dynamic lip syncers in all of Drag Race, but she faces a pair of challenges headed into next week’s Lip Sync For The Crown. One is familiar and under her control, the other is unique and out of her hands.

The familiar challenge is that Marina must find a way not to run out of gas at the last possible moment. She was the runner-up on Drag Race Philippines and there was a sense that she just didn’t have the energy or inspiration left at the final lip sync to clinch the crown when up against another formidable lip syncing queen. After a series of dominant lip syncs all season long, Marina must go even harder next week – and do it twice.

Then, there is the unique challenge for Marina: Would RuPaul crown a queen who simply isn’t laugh-out-loud funny. While “comedy” isn’t the “C” in Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve, & Talent, nearly every Ru-crowned queen for over a decade now has been a queen who can land some solid laughs throughout the season. Marina has been funny in her runway volleys with the judges, but hasn’t ever been the funniest in a challenge.

However, there are some exceptions to this unspoken RuPaul rule. Kylie Sonique Love was never the most-riotous queen of All Stars 6 (though she should have won Snatch Game!) but she had the most compelling season-long story and final lip sync. And, in the UK we had Krystal Versace – who wasn’t particularly great at comedy but received the same “born to do drag” comment from Ru as Marina heard a few weeks ago.

What does that mean for Marina next week? I think she needs to have a moment of real connection with Ru in interview or the final runway and then decisively crush a pair of lip syncs. If it comes down to her and Tia, she will have to utterly destroy Tia in the final lip sync in order to secure her crown.

(Personally, I think she deserves it.)

#3 – Hannah Conda, 3 wins (was #3, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3)
[RPDRDU-S02 Runner Up, Pre-Season #1]

Hannah Conda is effortlessly hilarious and it showed through in her roast. I nailed it last week when I said “I fully suspect she will win next week… not only win, but also handily win a lip sync against Tia.”

Hannah didn’t score as many laugh-out-loud zingers as Tia in her Haters Wedding Roast, but there was a real sense of comfort and ease that carried through Hannah’s routine. Being silly is her safe space and that allows the audience to settle in and enjoy her. That allows Hannah to get away with milder jokes or cringier moments than other queens – because she’s never in danger of making us feel tense or losing our attention.

There was no question Hannah Conda was already in the Top Two of the week coming out of the Haters Wedding Roast, but she locked down that top spot with an absolutely stunning bit of bridal couture for the “Drag Me Up The Aisle” runway. I don’t think Hannah has ever looked this gorgeous before in her entire life. Beyond the beauty, there really was a certain sombre, wistful quality to her bridal character. It was even more compelling than if we were seeing her on what was ostensibly the happiest day of her life.

Then, Hannah did something extraordinary. She pulled out a stunning and truly unique lip sync performance dancing with a pair of flowing ribbon fans. I think there were positives and negatives to that stunning lip sync.

The positive was that Hannah really needed to snag a badge here. That’s not only because it would put her on more-equal footing for the final. It also acted as an exclamation point at the end of her impressive track record of Safe-Low-Safe-Win-High-Win-Win! That’s an extraordinary cadence to carry you into the finale, but if Hannah had missed the badge here it would’ve broken up her rhythm.

The negative of the lip sync is that Hannah has now burned off a trick that would produce a surefire lip sync win one week before she needs two surefire lip sync wins. We’ve seen Hannah’s comedic lip syncs twice this season, and they’re not funnier than La Grande Dame and Tia, nor can they hold up to Marina’s perfectionism.

What hasn’t been entirely evident this season (but you would know if you watched Drag Race Down Under Season 2) is that RuPaul absolutely lives for Hannah in a way that’s pretty close to her obsession with Tia Kofi. For that reason, I think it’s entirely within Hannah’s power to win a first round lip sync next week against any of these queens – especially if the song is on the silly side. However, I’m just not sure if she has the power to notch two lip sync wins in a row. I think she has a shot if she goes full glam for the final lip sync as she did tonight and focuses on serving pure face the entire time. That might not be able to defeat Marina, but I could imagine a world where it edges out Tia or La Grande Dame to snag Hannah the crown.

#4 – La Grande Dame, 2 wins, 1 bottom (was #2, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4)
[DRFr-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #2]

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La Grande Dame failed to light a last-minute spark in the Haters Wedding Roast, which means she has the least momentum heading into the finale (just as I predicted last week).

I think La Grande Dame was unfairly hamstrung by Katherine Ryan in her coaching session for theHaters Wedding Roast. Comedy roasts aren’t really a thing in French culture, per LGD, but she was also advised not to go as zany or as mean as her French humor would typically take her. Maybe she was never going to win this challenge, but I think we could’ve gotten something a lot funnier from her if Katherine Ryan had advised her to lean farther into an icy or kooky personal rather than filing down the edges of both.

I was curious to see what La Grande Dame would do with this “Take Me Up The Aisle” runway prompt, considering she just delivered a bridal look last week. I shouldn’t have worried. LGD brought a bridal look to the “Party In The Back” runway because it was so unexpected, so of course she would bring something equally unexpected to a bridal runway. I love this pale yellow poof of bridal couture with a face framed with LGD’s trademark assembly of odd little chachkies. It was yet another week of drag excellence that screamed actual runway fashion.

I’m not sure if La Grande Dame has any path to the crown next week. It’s not that I think she would under-deliver in a pair of lip syncs. Frankly, it’s hard to take your eyes off LGD any time she is on the stage! However, in terms of her momentum on the show, LGD has the weakest position. She was the most-notable in the first two weeks of the show and her performance has been somewhat flat since then.

Even though I envisioned La Grande Dame as a potential Queen of the Mothertucking World in my pre-season ranking, I think she will need to settle for once again being a runner-up – only this time with the knowledge that RuPaul has truly enjoyed her drag all season long.

Eliminated: 5th Place – Scarlet Envy, 1 win, 2 bottoms (was #5, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5)
[RPDR-S11 10th, RPDRAS-S06 9th, Pre-Season #5]

Scarlet Envy was faced with an untenable situation in this episode: trying to make Ru laugh when Ru loves to serve her neutch, coming off of several weeks without a win despite being a top performer, and requiring a save from a crew of remaining queens who don’t seem to like her very much.

In the same way it’s no fun to see a queen get pushed into high placements, it’s also disappointing to see a fierce competitor not get her due. I think there’s a version of this season with all of the same performances where Scarlet garnered more accolades and was the obvious save in this episode over La Grand Dame.

For me as a viewer, Scarlet had more more momentum than LGD. Yet, I think it’s obvious that RuPaul would never in a million years crown Scarlet.

Is that why the other queens seem to be so distant from Scarlet? Was it that she was the last remaining American in the cast? Or, is RuPaul onto something when she says that something about Scarlet keeps her distant and can feel a little off-putting?

I don’t want to get into speculating on that – it feels like it goes beyond dissecting Scarlet Envy’s drag to get into something more parasocial as we speculate about her personality. All I can say is that I find Scarlet to be pretty darn charming every time she turns up on my screen. As a drag consumer and not a fellow competitor, that means I find it easy to root for her.

I hope that Scarlet exits this season into a world that finally acknowledges she is a big league talent from this franchise. We’ve seen her outstanding acting and marketing skills again and again, and she is a confident stage performer. I really think she has the star power to cross over to stage and screen, no matter what the gender of the role.

Eliminated: 6th Place – Choriza May, 2 bottoms (was #4, 7, 7, 6, 6)
[RPDRUK-S03 6th/7th, Pre-Season #6]

Eliminated: 7th Place – Gothy Kendoll, 3 bottoms (was #8, 8, 8, 7)
[RPDRUK-S01 10th, Pre-Season #10]

8th Place – Keta Minaj, 2 bottoms (was #7, 2, 6)
[DRHol-S02 4th, Pre-Season #7]

9th Place – Jonbers Blonde, 1 bottom (was #9, 9)
[RPDRUK-S04 3rd/4th, Pre-Season #9]

10th Place – Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, 1 bottom (was #10)
[DREs-S01 7th, Pre-Season #11]

11th Place – Mayhem Miller, 1 bottom
[RPDR-S10 10th, RPDRAS-S05 7th, Pre-Season #8]

RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World, Season 2, Episode 7 – Hater’s Wedding Roast Power Rankings

#1 – Tia Kofi, 4 wins (was #6, 6, 2, 1, 1, 2) [RPDRUK-S02 7th, Pre-Season #4]

#2 – Marina Summers, 3 wins, 1 bottom (was #1, 3, 3, 5, 2, 1) [DRPh-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #3]

#3 – Hannah Conda, 3 wins (was #3, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3) [RPDRDU-S02 Runner Up, Pre-Season #1]

#4 – La Grande Dame, 2 wins, 1 bottom (was #2, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4) [DRFr-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #2]

Eliminated: 5th Place – Scarlet Envy, 1 win, 2 bottoms (was #5, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5) [RPDR-S11 10th, RPDRAS-S06 9th, Pre-Season #5]

Eliminated: 6th Place – Choriza May, 2 bottoms (was #4, 7, 7, 6, 6) [RPDRUK-S03 6th/7th, Pre-Season #6]

Eliminated: 7th Place – Gothy Kendoll, 3 bottoms (was #8, 8, 8, 7) [RPDRUK-S01 10th, Pre-Season #10]

8th Place – Keta Minaj, 2 bottoms (was #7, 2, 6) [DRHol-S02 4th, Pre-Season #7]

9th Place – Jonbers Blonde, 1 bottom (was #9, 9) [RPDRUK-S04 3rd/4th, Pre-Season #9]

10th Place – Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, 1 bottom (was #10) [DREs-S01 7th, Pre-Season #11]

11th Place – Mayhem Miller, 1 bottom [RPDR-S10 10th, RPDRAS-S05 7th, Pre-Season #8]

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