‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’ Season 2: The Top 4 Queens Reflect on the Hardest Year Ever

We made it. Despite a global pandemic and seven months in lockdown, the RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2 finale is upon us—and we aren’t ready! We aren’t ready for the sickening looks and stunts that will no doubt go down in the grand finale, but we also aren’t ready to say goodbye to this season. Living up to the high bar set by the success of Drag Race UK Season 1 seemed like a tall order, but this cast of queens rose to the challenge and managed to slay while practicing social distancing.

Going into this week’s finale, four queens remain, eager to snatch the crown: Lawrence Chaney, Bimini Bon-Boulash, Tayce, and Ellie Diamond. In a season full of twists and turns—and also a Rats rusical that I’m pretty sure wasn’t an episode but a collective fever dream—we could count on these four queens to deliver. You want laughs, looks, or lashing out? Look no further than this final four.

Ahead of the highly anticipated finale, Decider go the chance to speak with Bimini, Tayce, Lawrence, and Ellie about their winding road to the finale, the impact COVID-19 has had on entertainers on both sides of the Atlantic, their camaraderie with their Drag Race Season 13 sisters, and a little smash hit that they just bing-bang-bonged out after spending seven months in lockdown.

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Decider: I have to start by asking about the smash hit single of 2021—”UK, Hun?” In addition to being on Drag Race, what’s that ride been like?

Lawrence Chaney: Incredible, brilliant, amazing, show-stopping, never the same, never been done before—it feels amazing. I never thought Lawrence Chaney, comedy queen who talked about her taint at every live show would have a song that was number one in the UK charts. Never thought that. I’m an unstoppable, singer-songwriter. Madonna’s on the phone.

Tayce: I remember hearing the song and I was like, “Wow, what is this? It’s like Teletubbies on acid like, ‘Ding dang dong!’ Like, what is this?” Now I’ve heard it so much, it’s like family, and it’s one of those jingles—it’s gonna follow me and haunt me for the rest of my life.

Bimini Bon-Boulash: I mean, everything happens for a reason. So we were meant to come back [after lockdown] and Lawrence was meant to pick me first. The whole thing with it, the reaction to it, and the fact that it charted in the UK, and it went on to be an ear worm with people for weeks…

Tayce: I thought it would take at least [the song] being out in clubs for it to maybe get some kind of momentum going, but it was really on the up from the minute it came out.

Bimini: I think people are going to be so excited to hear it for the first time out in a club or somewhere, because it’s a moment in time. You can think back to, yeah we were all going through a shit time, but it was a time that we were all watching a show that was uplifting and making people happy and making people feel good. I think you’ll always have those memories of the song. It’s a bit like Chromatica for Lady Gaga. Chromatica got me through the first lockdown, so I’m just comparing “UK, Hun?” to Chromatica—maybe not from an artistic point of view, but the cultural impact.

Because of the seven-month break for lockdown, did it feel like you competed in two different seasons? 

Bimini: One and a half seasons? I’d say it feels like we all went back for All Stars, except we were all [broke] and we didn’t have the luxury of—once you’ve been on the show, a lot of the Drag Race girls get back to All Stars after making lots of money and meeting lots of designers. And we didn’t really have that because we were in a global panny-d… It was funny because people are like, oh Bimini really leveled up after the break. I didn’t change a single outfit. They’re the ones I had. The universe had the plan for me and that plan was to give me this trajectory.

And what a trajectory! You went from lip syncing in the first episode to winning four challenges and making it to the finale—something no other queen has done. Going off of the first episode, I don’t think anyone saw this coming. 

Bimini: That’s exactly why I did it. The whole walking [into the Werk Room] the bimbo and the pink and the blonde—it was all a plan. I wanted people to have a certain idea of me [and then change that]—and then it almost almost didn’t work. I almost went home the first episode. I wanted everyone to have a certain idea of me, and I wanted to show people that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Tayce: I really loved Bimini’s first look, the football look. I love that. I mean just the thrill that a ball could come out at any minute!

Lawrence—you also defied first impressions by being so vulnerable. We saw the comedy queen, for sure, but we also saw a lot of genuine emotion. What’s it been like watching that this season?

Lawrence Chaney: It’s weird because I get mortified just seeing myself in the mirror. To find myself on camera… I just find it very uncomfortable. But I told myself, and my mom told me this as well, she was like, “You’ve got an hourlong show and the show must go on regardless. This isn’t that. The show is held together by RuPaul. RuPaul facilitates it. You are allowed to have moments of weakness and nervousness and all that stuff. So I really told myself, don’t try and hide it. If you feel something, say it and talk about it. Otherwise it’s just gonna eat me up inside.

And Ellie, what’s it been like watching the last few episodes—where you’ve been on the other end of Lawrence saying something—play out? 

Ellie Diamond: I mean, the thing was, it was like the running order situation. I knew what I was playing, what I was doing. I knew that the consequences I would have with that, throwing basically everyone under the bus, but I ran with it and had a good time. So I mean, yeah. I had a good time! [Laughs]

Lawrence: The cool thing is that we can laugh about it and joke about it because it’s done. Me and Ellie are not at each other’s throats. Ellie is safe, kids, there’s no reason to be worried about her. [Laughs] It was just a moment.

You all weren’t alone, either, because another set of girls have been dealing with doing this show during COVID in Season 13 of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I know you feel a sisterhood with your cast mates, but does that extend across the pond?

Bimini: Yea, I think we do. There’s been tweets and messages. I’ve spoken to quite a few of them.

Tayce: Yes! Every Saturday morning, we all sit around and watch it and I always tag all the girls and check up on them. Like Rosé, I’ve known her for a while. Kandy, Denali, she’s so cool. And Utica, she sends me lovely pictures of her driving, smiling ear to ear all the time. They’re all lovely, gorgeous people. I wish this pandemic could all be over and I could come across the pond and make my debut and say hi.

Bimini: It’s a unique perspective from us for a lot of people are watching, which is absolutely phenomenal. The industry that people are watching on this show has been one of the hardest-hit industries on the entire planet. Everything was ripped away [by the pandemic], everything was taken away. In the UK in particular, there really wasn’t anything in place to help the hospitality industry. We were performers, especially freelance ones, who were thrown to the side. And it really put things for a lot of people into perspective about what we were doing. And drag had such momentum before the pandemic, where there were a lot of opportunities for everyone, and people were eating, and it was great—and it all stopped. It was really sad to watch. And obviously I had the show and I’m very lucky for that, but that’s not the same for 87% of the people that I came up with. And everyone’s just really, really trying to survive and just keep going and keeping that morale up as well.

Ellie—you and Lawrence have talked about Scotland’s drag scene, or lack thereof. Do you think having two Scottish queens on Season 2 will change that?

Ellie: Hopefully when clubs open up, the people that run the clubs sort of realize like, oh, well, it could be any other queen [to make it onto Drag Race] next. A couple of months ago, we had nothing. No money whatsoever. Not no money, but not a great amount. Then the next minute, we’re on Drag Race. The thing that clubs should remember is, it literally could be any of us. You obviously want those queens that are on Drag Race to come to your club, therefore treat them like they are already on Drag Race. Therefore when they’re on Drag Race, then you don’t have to worry about, “Oh, sorry, I wasn’t nice to you…”

Lawrence: Boys, bar staff, management, people have said, “You’ll never get on Drag Race in America”— and then all of a sudden the UK Drag Race happened. Oh, it is not impossible anymore. I think it took us getting on [the show] for our country to understand that.

On that note, what do you think viewers of the Drag Race franchise need to understand about the Drag Race experience? They haven’t been on the show, so what do they need to keep in mind?

Ellie: Well, that’s just it: you’ve not done it, so you don’t know, so therefore you have no input on things that happen on the show. Everything is not what it seems.

Lawrence: Absolutely. I agree with Ellie. So many people have this perception of Drag Race or even what RuPaul’s like, “Oh it’s scripted.” No, it’s not! They’re putting too much thought into the behind the scenes and not enjoying it for what it is, which is a fun reality show about drag queens at the top of their game.

Bimini: Yeah, it’s a show. It’s an entertainment show. We’re there to compete for the crowns, the titles, we have our lives, our experiences to discuss, and it’s a journey that people go on with us all. And I think what people don’t realize is that actually, maybe that shady comment that was made was resolved very quickly off-camera.

Tayce: It is so, so hard. Like Ellie said, once you’re there, you will know. I’ve got a very stiff upper lip, try anything attitude and that can crack a girl real fast and real easy. It was one of the biggest challenges of my life, definitely. Physically, emotionally, sexually draining.

The RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2 finale premieres on WOW Presents Plus on Thursday, March 18 at 2 p.m. ET

These interviews have been edited, combined, and condensed for clarity.

Stream RuPaul's Drag Race UK on WOW Presents Plus