The first series of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. T ...

'' began airing on 3 October 2019 on the

BBC Three BBC Three is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was first launched on 9 February 2003 with programmes for a 16 to 34-year-old target aud ...

section of

BBC iPlayer BBC iPlayer (stylised as iPLAYER or BBC iPLAYER) is a video on demand service from the BBC. The service is available Over-the-top media service, over-the-top on a wide range of devices, including Mobile phone, mobile phones and Tablet computer ...

and

WOW Presents Plus WOW Presents Plus (also called World of Wonder Presents Plus or WOWPresents+) is a subscription-based streaming service owned by production company, World of Wonder. The subscription service was founded in November 2017, by Randy Barbato and ...

's WOW Presents Plus streaming service. It ran for eight episodes. The winner of first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' was

The Vivienne James Lee Williams (12 April 1992 – 5 January 2025), known professionally as The Vivienne, was a British drag queen from Colwyn Bay, Wales, and winner of the RuPaul's Drag Race UK series 1, first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' in 2019. T ...

, with Divina de Campo as the runner-up. The song " Break Up (Bye Bye)", which was featured in the fifth episode, was released as a single and reached number 35 on the UK Singles Chart. It also peaked at number 44 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance/Electronic Songs Hot Dance/Electronic Songs (formerly Dance/Electronic Songs) is a record chart has been published weekly by ''Billboard'' since January 2013. It is their first chart to be published that ranks the most popular dance and electronic songs according ...

chart in the US. The Vivienne died on 5 January 2025 at the age of 32. Their cause of death was initially undisclosed. They are the first winner in the ''Drag Race'' franchise to pass away.

Contestants

''Ages, names, and cities stated are at time of filming.''

Future ''Drag Race'' appearances

* In 2022 Baga Chipz, Blu Hydrangea, and Cheryl Hole competed on ''RuPaul's Drag Race: UK vs. the World'' series 1, with Blu Hydrangea winning the season; later in 2022 The Vivienne competed on ''All Stars'' season 7, the first all winners edition in the franchise. * In 2024 Gothy Kendoll competed on ''UK vs. the World'' series 2; later in 2024 Cheryl Hole competed on ''Canada's Drag Race: Canada vs. the World'' season 2.

Contestant progress

Lip syncs

Legend:

Guest judges

Listed in chronological order: *

Andrew Garfield Andrew Russell Garfield (born 20 August 1983) is an English and American actor. After his breakout role in '' Boy A'' (2007), he came to international attention with the supporting role of Eduardo Saverin in the drama ''The Social Network'' ...

, actor *

Maisie Williams Margaret Constance "Maisie" Williams (born 15 April 1997) is an English actress. Williams made her acting debut in 2011 as Arya Stark, a lead character in the HBO epic medieval fantasy television series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2019). She g ...

, actress *

Twiggy Dame Lesley Lawson (''née'' Hornby; born 19 September 1949), widely known by the nickname Twiggy, is an English model, actress, and singer. She was a Culture of the United Kingdom, British cultural icon and a prominent teenage model during th ...

, model and fashion designer *

Geri Halliwell Geraldine Estelle Halliwell-Horner (''née'' Halliwell; born 6 August 1972) is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, author, and actress. She rose to fame in the mid-1990s as a member of the pop group the Spice Girls, in which ...

, singer *

Jade Thirlwall Jade Amelia Thirlwall (born 26 December 1992) is an English singer. Her music career began at the age of 15, when she auditioned for ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK'' on three occasions before rising to prominence as a member ...

, singer *

Cheryl Cheryl is a feminine given name with multiple origins. The name might have originated as a combination of the name Beryl with the prefix ''Cher-'' from the French ''chérie'', meaning ''darling'' (from the past participle of the verb ''chérir'' ...

, singer, television personality and dancer *

Michaela Coel Michaela Ewuraba Boakye-Collinson (born 1987), known professionally as Michaela Coel, is a British actress, writer and television director. She is best known for creating and starring in the E4 television sitcom ''Chewing Gum'' (2015–2017), ...

, actress

Special guests

Guests who appeared in episodes, but did not judge on the main stage. Episode 3 *

Raven A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...

, runner-up of both ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' Season 2 and '' All Stars 1'' Episode 4 *

Stacey Dooley Stacey Jaclyn Dooley (born 9 March 1987) is an English television presenter, journalist, and media personality. She came to prominence in 2008 as a participant on the documentary series '' Blood, Sweat and T-shirts''. Since then, she has made ...

, investigative journalist *

Lorraine Kelly Lorraine Kelly (born 30 November 1959) is a Scottish television presenter. She has presented various television shows for ITV and STV, including '' Good Morning Britain'' (1988–1992), ''GMTV'' (1993–2010), ''This Morning'' (2003–2005, ...

, television presenter Episode 5 *

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (; born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK ( ; a gramogram of Emenike), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Award, and ha ...

, singer and music producer Episode 6 *

Katya Katya is a feminine given name. It is a very popular name in Russia, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Serbia, and North Macedonia. It is a Russian diminutive form of Ekaterina, Yekaterina, which is a Russian form of Katherine (given name), Katherine.This name is ...

, contestant from ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' Season 7 and runner-up of '' All Stars 2'' Episode 8 * AJ and

Curtis Pritchard Curtis Pritchard (born 8 February 1996) is an English dancer and choreographer, known for his role as a professional dancer on the Irish version of ''Dancing with the Stars''. In 2019, Pritchard appeared in the fifth series of the British dati ...

, ballroom dancers

Episodes

Reception

The series received very positive reviews from critics, with

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

describing the series as having "saved RuPaul's Drag Race" as the recent seasons have had a less than positive reception. In their review of the series,

iNews iNews, short for ''Indonesia News'', formerly named Sun TV and Sindo TV, is an Indonesian free-to-air Free-to-air (FTA) services are television (TV) and radio services broadcast in unencrypted form, allowing any person with the approp ...

awarded the series "five stars" and described it as a "roaring success", despite criticising its omission of a stand-up comedy challenge. In a more critical review,

Vulture A vulture is a bird of prey that scavenges on carrion. There are 23 extant species of vulture (including condors). Old World vultures include 16 living species native to Europe, Africa, and Asia; New World vultures are restricted to Nort ...

stated in its review of the finale that although the season "may have hit some true highs... it couldn’t save Drag Race from its worst impulses".

References

{{RuPaul's Drag Race UK 2019 British television seasons 1 2019 LGBTQ-related television