I’m back with one final post on the Drag Olympics of Drag Race! The RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World Season 2 Grande Finale combined a reunion with a Lip Sync Smackdown for the Crown.
While final episodes often included some form of performance or lip sync, the idea of a sudden death lip sync tournament in the Drag Race finale began in 2017 with RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 9. That was our first season with four finalists – Shea Couleé, Sasha Velour, Trinity the Tuck Taylor, and Peppermint. We’ve learned since then that production shot multiple endings of the semi-final episode, including various eliminations, and that Peppermint wasn’t certain she would be included in the live finale until relatively close to the date of the show.
That could have become a one-time affair if not for winner Sasha Velour and her roses. Sasha undoubtably created the biggest Drag Race moment of all time – a meme that instantly spread across the internet, and which has been referenced by many mainstream shows including Saturday Night Live (twice!). The idea of a wig reveal to a downpour of roses has become part of the queer internet lexicon.
Because of that moment, the lip sync smack down became a permanent fixture of regular American seasons of the show, as well as All Stars 7 – All Winners, and now both Vs. The World franchises. However, in a quest to create more memorable, meme-able moments, the show has also created a system with only two possible outcomes – the best lip sync artist wins the crown or the best lip sync artist is cheated out of the crown.
Sometimes this turns out just fine. Yvie Oddly won Season 11 fair and square against real-life ballerina Brooke Lynn Hytes, as did Willow Pill against ballerina Lady Camden in Season 14. Sasha Colby put on a better performance than Anetra last season, and Canada vs. The World ended with one of the best lip syncers in the entire franchise – Raj’Hah O’Hara – finally getting her due.
However, that system caused some controversy in the last UK vs. The World season, with Blu Hydrangea notching a win over strong-but-inconsistent lip syncer Mo Heart. And, it definitely caused an uproar in 2022, which Jinkx Monsoon was the obvious intended winner of All Winners yet the worst lip syncer of the final four comprised of herself, Monét X Change, Trinity The Tuck, and Shea Couleé.
Which brings us to this Drag Race vs The World Season 2 Grand Finale and its outcome.
The question remains – Tia Kofi… fairly-awarded winner, or beneficiary of a rigged smackdown system?
If we look only at the final lip sync between Tia and Hannah Conda, I think Tia handily won. Down Under’s Hannah Conda was given the gift of a disco song by Australian idol Kylie Minogue, but she did absolutely nothing with it. I kept waiting for Hannah to start moving to the subdivision of the beat to give us some disco feel, but she never did. In that situation, a broad, comedic lip sync like Tia’s makes for a fine win.
The real questions come with the first round of the smackdown – Tia Kofi vs. La Grande Dame to “Boogie 2Nite” by Bootie Luv and Hannah Conda vs. frontunner Marina Summers to Anastacia’s “I’m Outta Love.”
I think Tia and La Grande Dame fought their lip sync to a standstill, but I appreciate why Tia won. LGD delivered an outstanding performance, but she spent a lot of it walking upstage and didn’t hit as many specific beats in the song. Tia gave what I think is her best lip sync of the season. A gag with a broken bottle aside, Tia kept up with the beat of the song and made sure to hit all of the major lyrical asides and rhythmic cadences with bits of choreography and humor.
The ability to find those points within a song and distinguish them is what makes a clear lip sync winner on any franchise. As much as I adore La Grande Dame, I think Tia won a tight battle fair and square.
Things get fuzzier (and more heated in internet discourse) when we look at Hanna vs. Marina. Marina is undoubtably the best lip syncer of this season, and possibly in the Top 10 across all of Drag Race. However, she also lost her original Philippines Season 1 final lip sync by simply running out of gas at the end.
I don’t think Marina ran out of gas here, but I come back to something I said about her in my write-up last week: She rarely makes RuPaul howl with laughter. In a season where all three of the other finalists locked in their positions by making RuPaul laugh, Marina was the odd queen out.
While “I’m Outta Love” isn’t necessarily a comedic lip sync, I think it’s mid-tempo enough that Ru would be looking for the same kind of punctuation that Tia gave in “Boogie 2Nite” to determine a winner.
The question is if Hanna really had more of that than Marina. If you re-watch the edit closely, every time the song hits one of those major cadences, the edit either focuses on Michelle Visage singing along on the judge’s panel or it zooms in awkwardly only on Hannah (to the extent that we sometimes only see a random limb of Marina’s enter the frame).
That makes it hard to say if we wound up with a fair winner. Hannah Conda’s gag with the microphone and sunglasses plus her giant poof of blonde curls definitely sold Anastacia realness. It really felt like Hannah was performing the song live while Marina was giving obvious “fierce drag face.”
Yet, we also missed out on seeing what Marina delivered during every major moment of the song.
In the end, we just can’t say for sure if Hannah won this fairly or if the fix was in. Unfortunately, that will create a lingering uncertainty in the fandom about Tia Kofi’s win – as if no one would have the right to take home this season’s crown without defeating Marina Summers in one-on-one combat.
Personally, I’m torn. I never thought Tia Kofi was particularly interesting or commanding this season, nor do I think she had a traditional “complete storyline” that makes it obvious for her Drag Race journey to end here rather than extend to an American All Stars season like Jimbo. For me, it was Hannah Conda who had the “completion of a full journey” storyline on UK vs. The World.
However, I think Tia Kofi did have a potential winning storyline here. And, more importantly, RuPaul wanted to crown her. As Ru says every episode, “the final decision is mine to make.” I think a big part of that decision is wanting to see more of La Grande Dame and Marina Summers across the Drag Race multiverse, including importing them to US shores for American audiences to consume.
In the end, I think Tia had an amazing glow-up not only in looks but in confidence and I’m happy she took home the crown. There’s no question that Marina’s fandom has grown as a result of this season – maybe by an order of magnitude! And, that fandom loves to shower a “robbed” queen with love. Even if Marina doesn’t have a crown, scepter, and 50,000£, I think she still came away from this season as a winner.
(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.)
Thank you for reading my power rankings of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World! I’ve included a final tally of my powers rankings below to show how close to this final result I came with my pre-season guesses and weekly placements. If you love Drag Race, I hope you will stick around for a few more weeks of my coverage of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 16!
I may be back later this year with some commentary on All Stars, Global All Stars, Drag Race France, Drag Race Philippines, Drag Race Down Under, or Drag Race Canada – although certainly not all of them! I just don’t have the time! Let me know in the comments which you’d love to see me recap and power rank if I only have the time for two of those English- and French-language seasons.
Until then, it’s time for me to sashay away!
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 8 – Grande Finale Power Rankings
Winner – Tia Kofi, 4 wins (was #6, 6, 2, 1, 1, 2, 1)
[RPDRUK-S02 7th, Pre-Season #4]
(Cameo | Instagram | Merch | Spotify | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
Runner-Up- Hannah Conda, 3 wins (was #3, 4, 5, 2, 3, 3, 3)
[RPDRDU-S02 Runner Up, Pre-Season #1]
(Website | Cameo | Instagram | Links | Merch | TikTok)
3rd/4th Place – Marina Summers, 3 wins, 1 bottom (was #1, 3, 3, 5, 2, 1, 1)
[DRPh-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #3]
(Facebook | Instagram | Links | Merch | Spotify | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
3rd/4th Place – La Grande Dame, 2 wins, 1 bottom (was #2, 1, 1, 4, 4, 4, 4)
[DRFr-S01 Runner Up, Pre-Season #2]
(Instagram | Spotify | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
5th Place – Scarlet Envy, 1 win, 2 bottoms (was #5, 5, 4, 3, 5, 5)
[RPDR-S11 10th, RPDRAS-S06 9th, Pre-Season #5]
(Cameo | Facebook | Instagram | Merch | Spotify | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
Eliminated: 6th Place – Choriza May, 2 bottoms (was #4, 7, 7, 6, 6)
[RPDRUK-S03 6th/7th, Pre-Season #6]
(Website | Cameo | Facebook | Instagram / Fine Art Instagram| Merch | Spotify | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
Eliminated: 7th Place – Gothy Kendoll, 3 bottoms (was #8, 8, 8, 7)
[RPDRUK-S01 10th, Pre-Season #10]
(Cameo | Instagram | Links | Merch | OnlyFans | TikTok | Twitter)
8th Place – Keta Minaj, 2 bottoms (was #7, 2, 6)
[DRHol-S02 4th, Pre-Season #7]
(Website | Cameo | Instagram | Merch | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
9th Place – Jonbers Blonde, 1 bottom (was #9, 9)
[RPDRUK-S04 3rd/4th, Pre-Season #9]
(Cameo | Depop | Facebook | Instagram | Links | Merch | TikTok | Twitter)
10th Place – Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, 1 bottom (was #10)
[DREs-S01 7th, Pre-Season #11]
(Website | Facebook | Instagram | TikTok | Twitter | YouTube)
11th Place – Mayhem Miller, 1 bottom
[RPDR-S10 10th, RPDRAS-S05 7th, Pre-Season #8]
(Cameo | Facebook | Instagram | Links | Merch | Twitter | YouTube)
First of all, thanks for the great recap, it’s been a joy to read your reviews every week. I really liked this season, it was so much better than UKvsTW S1, not only because it didn’t feel as rushed but also because the eliminations (with the exception of Keta’s) were quite fair. I still don’t know why they sticked the lipsync smackdown format for the finale, they don’t use it for the regular UK seasons and it didn’t play to the strenghts for most of the competing queens. Regardless, Tia is a great winner and I am really happy for her. Regarding your question as to which future seasons we’d like you to recap, I’d love for you to recap Global All Stars, since it’s a new format.
Thanks so much for writing and for being such a longtime reader, Mat! I was so busy last week that I needed some time to come back to this episode and rewatch it. I’d agree that this season was much better than the last one. This cast was phenomenal, and bringing Marina and LGD into the Ru-hosted fold was pure gold. I really hope Ru can still continue to do something that allows her to interact with these international queens even as she scales back her schedule a bit.
Holy shit I missed reading your reviews of drag race. The last time I read your reviews were for season 1 of Philippines which was two years ago, I think—and now they’re on season three, time is really so fast.
Kinda wished I kept up with your reviews during the airing of UKvTW2 because I remember that your reviews were one of most awaited reads every Friday/Saturday to tide me over waiting for the next episode of PH1. Now I’ll just binge read your posts about UKvTW2 after writing this.
Thank god for The Sandman! I never really paid attention to your comic stuffs before but I just got into comic books and graphic novels for more than a year now and really, if not for Morpheus, I wouldn’t come across your page again. Now, I bookmarked it! Comics and drag, what a combination! More powers to you!