RuPaul’s Drag Race UK, you may now sashay away.
After eight seasons, the beloved British spinoff of RuPaul’s franchise-spawning competition has been dropped by the BBC, with the broadcaster citing “significant financial pressures.” In April, the BBC announced a plan to cut 1,800 staffers in a bid to save £500 million ($678m).
A representative told The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday: “As the BBC continues to navigate significant financial pressures and deliver the savings required of us, we have had to make some very difficult choices, none of which have been taken lightly.”
The series currently runs on BBC Three and iPlayer. The rep continued that future shows — and its spin-off, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Vs The World — will instead be broadcast on Wow Presents Plus, a platform owned by Drag Race UK production company World of Wonder.
“The BBC is incredibly proud of all eleven series of this groundbreaking show and we would like to thank RuPaul, World of Wonder and everyone involved, both on and off screen,” the rep added. “We are certain that viewers will enjoy the eighth [season].”
Since 2019, Drag Race UK has catapulted some of the biggest drag queens in Britain to stratospheric stardom, launching the careers of Baga Chipz, Bimini Bon-Boulash, Tayce and The Vivienne. Tia Kofi went on to become a member of the Eurovision presenting team, La Voix featured on EastEnders and Strictly Come Dancing, and Ginger Johnson won Celebrity MasterChef last year.
The format involves amateur and professional drag queens competing in a series of challenges to win over judges RuPaul, Michelle Visage, Graham Norton and Alan Carr, and celebrity guest judges such as Jade Thirlwall, Lucy Punch, Hannah Waddingham, Andrew Garfield, Anne-Marie, Thandiwe Newton and Cat Burns.
At its peak, per BBC News, the show averaged around 1.5 million viewers per episode. Viewers will be able to continue watching existing seasons of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK and RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Vs on BBC iPlayer.
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