Culture

Here are your RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World finalists

By Sam Damshenas

1st March 2022

This week’s episode of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World saw another beloved fan-favourite get the chop.

Following the absolute chaos of last week, which saw Blu Hydrangea eliminate Pangina Heals to uproar online, Baga Chipz also revealed that she would’ve chosen the Drag Race Thailand co-host to sashay away.

When asked by the queens as to why she chose Pangina, Baga said it was due to the Mariah Carey impersonator’s earlier decision to cut Jimbo.

They didn’t have time to mourn Pangina, however, as RuPaul set the queens their penultimate task: to write, record and perform their own version of RuPaul’s London, whilst paying tribute to their own hometowns in the lyrics.

After stomping down the runway, which had the theme of ‘Werk of Art’, Janey Jacké’s performance received mixed reviews from Ru and the panel – including special guest star Jade Thirlwall.

“In the performance, when I noticed you, I enjoyed you,” said Graham Norton. “I thought your wig was stunning and your dance moves were great. But there’s some big personalities on that stage and you’ve really got to fight to be seen and noticed.” 

The Drag Race Holland runner-up received praise, however, for her Andy Warhol-inspired look.

“This look! I knew immediately what you were when you turned around the corner and you gave us Marilyn but you captured Warhol,” said Michelle Visage. “Even the green glitter coat – I loved it.”

After three consecutive weeks in the bottom, Jujubee finally impressed the judges with her performance and runway, with RuPaul telling the long-running fan-favourite that she left the panel “breathless”.

She, and Mo Heart, landed in the top two for the first time this series. The latter received equal amounts of praise for her vocals, performance and “stunning” runway, which paid homage to Salvador Dali.

The two queens, noted lip-sync assassins, then competed in the lip-sync smackdown to Netta’s Eurovision-winning dance-pop anthem Toy. Ultimately, Jujubee emerged supreme and earned her first “coveted” RuPeter Badge in the process.

Of course, “great power comes great responsibility”, and so Jujubee revealed that she was chopping Janey from the competition.

“I thought really long and hard about this, and it pains me to do this, because I admire this queen so much,” said Juju. “But, the queen I chose to go home tonight is my sister, Janey Jacké and I’m so sorry.”

Upon her elimination, Janey thanked RuPaul “from the bottom of my heart as the very first Dutch girl to be invited by you to come, and making Michelle love green is a win so yeah honey, it was good!”

Here’s how viewers reacted to Janey’s elimination and the musical extravaganza:

On next week’s episode, Baga, Blu, Jujubee and Mo will battle it out in a transatlantic showdown to be crowned the first ever Queen of the Mothertucking World. Are you ready for a US vs UK smackdown?