‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Season 5 Queens Break Down Series’ Most Iconic Moments

She’s a legend, baby! With the premiere of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 5, the franchise’s longest-running international spinoff has reached a fierce landmark. It may seem arbitrary, the fact that we love celebrating anniversaries that are multiples of five — like all the full circle vibes that surrounded the debut of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 earlier this year. But when you look at all that RuPaul’s Drag Race UK has accomplished in the past four years, you’ll clock a spinoff that’s more than capable of standing on its own pair of six-inch heels.

Not only has RuPaul’s Drag Race UK introduced 46 new queens to the queendom, the franchise has spawned a number of global pop hits, created internet-breaking memes, and even earned its own spinoff — one that the BBC used to literally relaunch a television channel. Truly, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK is that kind of girl.

To celebrate this landmark premiere, Decider chatted with the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 5 about all of the seasons that came before. We talked about the quotes, the looks, the memes, the meltdowns, the lockdown, the lip-syncs, and oh-so-much more. Consider this a nice trip down memory lane — a refresher on four seasons of iconic happenings before these 10 queens add even more major moments to the Drag Race canon.

• 1×2 “Downton Draggy”

  Tomara Thomas (inset): “Much bettah!” Oh my God, what an icon Ms. Baga Chipz is.

• 1×4 “Snatch Game”

  Ginger Johnson (inset): Choosing a Snatch Game [impersonation] for the UK is tricky because you want to do the kind of in-joke thing about British culture, but you’ve also got to do something that Ru is going to identify with and is going to be able to get the joke and join in at the same time. So it’s a very sort of fine balance to play with that.

  Banksie: You have to crack the code with Snatch Game, but it’s also about really letting go and being really ridiculous. I think Ru loves absolute chaos in that challenge.

  Cara Melle: Oh, definitely The Vivienne giving us Donald Trump. She was giving you a crash course on how to do Snatch Game.

  Vicki Vivacious: What made that even more brilliant, I think, is the chemistry with Baga [as Margaret Thatcher]. They were just bouncing off each other so amazingly. It was two political icons from the US and the UK. No one would ever imagine that these two people would be in the same room and I think that’s what made it so amazing. It was the chemistry between the two of them. They were friends, they were both super talented, and obviously these two characters are infamous. It was just hilarious to watch. 

• 1×5 “Girl Groups Battle Royale”

  Vicki Vivacious: “Break Up (Bye Bye),” I think it’s got to be my absolute favorite [girl group song]. When that came out, it just blew everyone’s heads off, didn’t it?

• 1×6 “Thirsty Werk”

  Cara Melle: “A red wig and a silver dress?” Live.

  Miss Naomi Carter: Oh straightaway for me — “A red wig and a silver dress? I don’t think.” That’s just popped straight into my mind. That’s an iconic quote.

  Michael Marouli: One hundred percent the red wig and silver dress [comment] with The Vivienne and Divina de Campo. I still use that line for everything now. “I don’t think.“

• 2×1 “Royalty Returns”

  Alexis Saint-Pete (inset): Cherry Valentine. She was sick, amazing, beautiful.

  Miss Naomi Carter (inset): Seeing any representation, whether it be a drag queen or in TV or film or something, it means a lot to me. Especially in the sense of drag, because the UK drag scene — there are quite a few queens of color, but there’s not as many, if that makes sense. Whenever I see them on Drag Race, I’m like, “Good for you, girl. You finally got to do your dream and you’re getting to show it on this great, amazing platform.” So for me it’s really special.

• 2×2 “Rats: The Rusical”

  Ginger Johnson: Rats: The Rusical is one of those weird rabbit holes that Drag Race falls down where it almost becomes Dadaism. It becomes so surreal and ridiculous that you can’t help but smile when you watch it.

  Kate Butch: That [aired at] peak lockdown. We were all locked down in our homes for almost a year and then comes out these crossdressers dressed as rats. I watched with my mother and I had to explain to her what was going on. It’s a bit of a fever dream, isn’t it?

  Banksie: As an honorary rat myself and as the Queen of Rats as I call myself, I was just like, “How can I not be in this Rusical? I want to be in it.” It was so good. I was probably lying on a sofa with a cigarette and a glass of wine going, “Oh this is shit,” but I definitely enjoyed every minute of it.

  Ginger Johnson: I think it’s a real credit to British drag that we always have a musical that is live singing. I think that that says a lot for the talent in the UK drag scene.

• 2×4 “Morning Glory”

  Kate Butch (inset): I’m obsessed with Ginny Lemon just walking out [of her lip sync]. Wild. I remember watching that being like, “This is the kind of TV that I want to watch.” 

• 2×5 “The RuRuvision Song Contest”

  Michael Marouli: I think Bimini came back [from lockdown] refreshed after the break and she really just took off and went for it. God bless them how they did that. It must have been so hard.

  Vicki Vivacious: Yeah, I genuinely can’t imagine it. You’re in the middle of a pandemic. Who has the money to elevate when you’ve got no work coming in as a self-employed queen? It must have been so tough.

  Michael Marouli: We all could sing it right now: “Bing bang bong! Sing sang song!” So good. Iconic.

  Alexis Saint-Pete: I don’t think that anything could be more iconic than “Bing Bang Bong.” Until today I walk down the streets in London and think “bing bang bong…”

  Michael Marouli: My God — when that line was uttered, it just blew up. Collectively as an audience, everyone was shocked the way Ru meant it. She really meant it as well.

  Banksie: H&M stock just plummeted instantly. That’s the influence of Drag Race in the UK. They’re bankrupt in the UK now. There’s none of that anymore. We’re not having it.

  Cara Melle: It’s also how Joe Black told on themselves. It just made it so much worse. It was like, “No girl. It’s H&M. We can tell, so don’t say it. Just let people go on and just say it was a bad outfit, you know what I mean?”

  Vicki Vivacious: Joe Black is one of the most put together queens in this country. So for that to happen to Joe Black was just crazy because Joe is all about the expensive feathers, the custom outfit. Then Ru saying “I don’t want to see any H&M” to Joe Black? It just didn’t make sense. I watch that back and laugh. It’s such a meme now, isn’t it?

  Tomara Thomas: If you’re gonna wear a bin bag, I’m going to make you want to buy this bin bag. It’s how you command that runway. You’re going to sell the garment and Ru, you’re going to be interested. H&M, Gucci or whatever, he’s gonna say, “Oh, oh, Ms. Tomara Thomas, I want to buy that.” Well guess what? It’s from H&M.

  Miss Naomi Carter: Oh no, I don’t shop at H&M. I don’t step foot in there. 

• 2×6 “Snatch Game”

  Kate Butch: I don’t know how big Katie Price was in the States, but she was everywhere at some point over here. Bimini absolutely nailed it on the head. 

  Miss Naomi Carter: I think that’s verbatim what Katie Price said essentially. I love it.

  DeDeLicious: Bimini’s prehistoric runway. It was just so cool, high fashion, so gaggy.

• 2×7 “Lockdown Supersheroes”

  Cara Melle (inset): A’Whora is a designer/sewer extraordinaire. I’ve worn clothes by her and she’s just amazing. It was like it was clear she was gonna do so well on that [sewing challenge].

• 2×8 “Stoned On the Runway”

  DeDeLicious: The world versus Ellie Diamond after the comedy challenge they did, and Lawrence just goes off. That’s kind of the first bit of shouty drama we got to see, minus Davina versus Vivienne. I remember sitting over there like, “Yes! Yes! Get her Jade!”

  Kate Butch: Lawrence Chaney’s pink crystallized Doctor Who body suit — I’m obsessed with that.

• 3×6 “Snatch Game”

  Vicki Vivacious (inset): For me, a standout would be the week that River Medway and Choriza May lip synced together and Choriza had the little black bob and it kept slipping off. And then Ru got rid of both of them. I couldn’t believe it. Jaw was on the floor.

• 3×7 “The Miss Fugly Beauty Pageant”

  Michael Marouli: As queens we like to take our time getting ready, so being told there’s a time limit… No thanks.

  Vicki Vivacious: For me, everything has to be perfect. If there’s something out of place, I cannot bear it. I struggle to let myself go sometimes, so that would have been horrendous. I think I would have had an absolute nervous breakdown.

• 3×8 “Bra Wars”

  DeDeLicious (inset): I remember when that all went down because obviously I was a part of her process, just to help her with some of the looks. I made the Cruella runway, I made the goddess runway, and I made the red carpet runway. We didn’t even live in London. We hadn’t gigged in London prior to getting that call, so our world got spun on its head really quickly and then things just started happening. Literally within two years, Krystal got a call, went and filmed and won, and I got my call. Mind blown.

• 3×9 “The Pearly Gates Roast”

  Michael Marouli (inset): I really thought the Krystal Versace lip sync was fantastic. I really enjoyed that when she had the gold warrior outfit on. That was just so good. I love that one. 

• 3×10 “Grand Finale”

  DeDeLicious: I will give a special mention to Krystal’s final song for her season. I thought it was really good and I thought they all slayed the verses.

• 4×1 “ST4RT Your Engines”

  Alexis Saint-Pete: The entrance of Danny Beard is iconic as well, with the hat and the leather.

  Banksie (inset): I loved Season 4 for the diverse element. We got to see so many different kinds of queens. You have my gender nonconforming parental figure Cheddar Gorgeous there. That was lovely seeing the Manchester representation on last season. I’m also really close friends with Dakota Schiffer and I bloody love Dakota. I think that she’s absolutely incredible. I think being our first trans woman on Drag Race UK was a massive step in the right direction.

  Cara Melle: I think Black Peppa’s first runway, which was this amazing dark chocolate and the purple foil. I was living. 

• 4×5 “Lairy Poppins – The Rusical”

  Vicki Vivacious: The Lairy Poppins Rusical was absolutely amazing. Danny was an absolute standout. Being a trained theater girl, I thought it’s an iconic episode.

  Ginger Johnson: Also Jonbers Blonde as a pigeon. That was pretty special too, as far as surrealness in the Rusical.

  Ginger Johnson: Danny’s Audrey II [runway] from last year. Absolutely mind-blowing. That’s never to be repeated. Absolutely phenomenal, stunning. 

  Tomara Thomas: I love what Danny did. That one was everything.

  Miss Naomi Carter: I’m just curious how she managed to pack that because honestly that was insane, that outfit. Absolutely stunning

  Kate Butch: I love the lip sync to “No Way” from Six. I love a musical. I love a silly little trick like when Dakota went behind but she came back out, and Baby’s dancing is second to none. 

• 4×6 “Strictly Come Snatch Game”

  Banksie: Cheddar Gorgeous’ pink triangle and ACT UP message that went with it was influential. It was incredible. It’s what drag’s about. It’s about having a concept, making it look gorgeous, and telling a story with it as well — and that story was so important to have on Drag Race. 

• 4×10 “Grand Finale — UK Season 4”

  DeDeLicious: Cheddar Gorgeous’ finale look just popped into my head. That was sick.

The new queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK take the spotlight and run with it in the Season 5 premiere on Thursday, September 28 at 4 p.m. ET on WOW Presents Plus