Stream It or Skip It: ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. The World’ Season 2 on WOW Presents Plus Finds the Feisty Spinoff in Its Congenial Era

RuPaul continues her reign as the most-booked TV host on Earth with the debut of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. the World Season 2. While MTV’s Emmy-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race, currently in its 16th season, showcases the talents of America-based queens, this international spinoff teleports the best queens from across the globe to the UK main stage where they will be judged by Mother Ru herself. The queens aren’t the only one with something to prove, though. After its infamous first season, can RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. the World Season 2 serve a bit of world peace?

RuPAUL’S DRAG RACE UK VS. THE WORLD SEASON 2: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: The goregous, neon-ified main stage of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK flickers to life as cameras, lights, and queens all prepare for takeoff.

The Gist: RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. the World persists as the logical next step for a franchise that’s planted rainbow flags in countries all across the globe. We already have RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars, which pulls queens in from the US-based mother series (with a few international exceptions), so of course fans would gag to see queens from the US, UK, Holland, Australia, France, Spain, and more engage in the fiercest cultural exchange this side of a United Nations after hours party. Thus UK vs. the World was born, named such as the UK series and its alumni act as the “home team.”

What’s fascinating about UK vs. the World Season 2, though, is that a lot has changed in the two years since Season 1 shocked the entire fandom. Now Canada’s Drag Race has its own vs. the World and even RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars has dabbled in international affairs with both The Vivienne (UK) and Jimbo (Canada) competing on the US series (the latter even won!). Oh — and then there’s the still mysterious existence of something called RuPaul’s Drag Race Global All Stars, which as far as we know (and we don’t know much) is another “vs. the World” except on Paramount+. So yeah — RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. the World Season 2 has a lot of inter-franchise competition, on top of reckoning with Season 1’s legacy. For just a six-episode season, the first go of this series was a neck-breaking rollercoaster ride with the some of the highest-highs and definitely the lowest-lows we’ve ever seen in the franchise. And now we’re back, back, back, back, back again. Better fasten your seatbelt, because here we go again.

What Will It Remind You Of? This is the All Stars format that fans love or love to hate. It’s also the format being used in Drag Race España All Stars Season 1, which is another Drag Race series that is literally airing right now.

Our Take: After watching 9/10th of the premiere (what, you think they’re gonna let the press see the fateful lipstick pull?), I’m happy to report that UK vs. the World Season 2 is off to a solid — if subdued — start. But honestly, considering the absolute chaos that the series premiere unleashed two years ago (RIP Lemon’s second chance), I can’t knock the congenial, even patient, energy of this premiere.

This premiere’s chill energy is partly due to the fact that RuPaul is only operating at 60% sass because she is clearly down with some sort of sickness; she even comments that she sounds like Bea Arthur. But drag is all about making things work no matter what, so bravo for Ru for not letting sickness get in the way of being sickening.

As for the queens — we have 11 queens from 7 different countries, which makes the premiere’s format (the usual talent show and hometown runway) feel like the opening ceremony of the Draglympics. But while these all stars give it their all and mostly bring it on the main stage, the episode is missing a little bit of spice in the Werk Room. Scarlet and Mayhem, the two American queens, throw some some shade at their competitors, but it’s nothing like Blu Hydrangea bringing up Mo Heart being salty at a meet and greet outta nowhere in Season 1’s premiere.

With no legendary shit-stirrers in the bunch, the cast feels way less combustible. These are queens who either worked hard, won challenges, and barely missed the crown (Marina Summers, Hannah Conda, Keta Minaj, La Grande Dame), or queens whose big, lovable personalities left a void in the Werk Room when they went home at the midway point (Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, Choriza May, Scarlet Envy, Tia Kofi).

And then there’s Jonbers Blonde, who occupies both categories despite never winning a challenge; Gothy Kendoll, who fills neither because she was the first queen eliminated on Drag Race UK; and the fierce Mayhem Miller, a legendary live performer whose storyline has long been that she struggles to bring her ferocity to this competition. It’s still a solid group of girls, for sure. I was cheering on many of the performances and gagging at a few of the runways in the premiere. Viewers are definitely going to have a lot of new favorites (and old international seasons to go back and binge).

Really, the clearest sign that we’re in for an entertaining season lies in the judging. After the internet-breaking out of pocket calls of Season 1, the premiere’s judging will not make you question your reality. It’s a damn refreshing end to the premiere, for sure. To put it in terms that Hannah Conda would definitely hate: if the first act of the episode is a room temperature Bloomin’ Onion, the challenge and runway portions a delicious — if slightly more rare than you wanted — No Rules Burger, then the judging portion is a decadent Chocolate Thunder from Down Under.

Also, like, f’ing Oscar nominee Richard E. Grant is here. Y’know what, maybe this premiere is glorious chaos.

Sex and Skin: No more than the average episode of Drag Race. If you really want to see some skin in a Drag Race talent show, I’ll direct you to the premiere of Drag Race España All Stars where Drag Sethlas does aerial acrobatics in a tearaway jockstrap — and trust, the tearaway function is demonstrated many times.

Parting Shot: Our first queen out likely leaves a mirror message and sashays away from the competition, but I can’t be sure since screeners cut out right before the elimination.

Performance Worth Watching: It’s impossible to narrow this down to just one queen. I still completely adore Choriza May in confessionals and on the runway. Marina Summers and La Grande Dame stand out as early frontrunners who are absolutely going to win over hundreds of thousands of new fans. But honestly? I have to give props to Arantxa Castilla La Mancha, the Spanish Hannah Montana.

I absolutely adored her on España Season 1, and her total glow up makes her even more captivating. Arantxa feels poised to be this season’s Jimbo, a totally new-to-Ru queen whose bizarre humor and natural charm make her one to watch (but hopefully not one to eliminate early).

Memorable Dialogue: Tia Kofi: “Everyone remembers my looks: an ice cream cone, a pterodactyl, an outfit that I sewed that had a hole in the armpit.” Choriza May: “No double eliminations, just double penetrations.” Arantxa Castilla-La Mancha: “Now that there’s money involved I wonder, are these girls going to stop being nice? Are we going to start playing with knives? And that just rhymed, so it might be true.” Forget the battle for the crown, the battle for confessional queen is going to be fierce this season.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Even a soft start to a Drag Race season still has looks and performances that hit hard.