Bimini Bon Burgled of their crown?
RuPaul’s Drag Race UK Season 2 finalist. Proud vegan. And most iconic mullet-wearer since the tiger king. Bimini Bon Boulash (aka 27 year old Tommy Hibbitts) has taken the nation by storm.
People across the UK were gagged last Thursday evening when RuPaul Andre Charles announced that it would be Glaswegian comedy queen Laurence Chaney, not Bimini who would take the crown of the UK’s top drag competition.
Image credits:
Photo by @tobycortonmusic
Retouched by @stefano__carlo
Over the course of the series, non-binary queen Bimini won the hearts of the nation with their natural swagger, boundless charisma and punk princess charm. From stomping the runway in high fashion conceptual creations like Bimini Bon Bacteria…
To moments of comic genius in their iconic snatch game performance AND stand up routine, which had us all howling (not a joke, just a fact).
Plus who could forget (or get out of their heads) the tune of the pandemic - UK Hun? (Which made herstory by reaching 27[!!!] in the UK singles chart).
Bimini truly proved themself to be a queen who can do it all. And by the final was a firm favourite to snatch the crown. So, it was no surprise that there was uproar amongst the legions of loyal fans they had built up over the course of the series. 70% of the 24,967 fan hashtags for who should win the season were in support of Boulash and #biminiwasrobbed was plastered all over my Instagram on Thursday evening. But though Bimini may have been denied a crown that many believe was rightfully theirs, it doesn’t seem to have bothered them. And for good reason. Crown or otherwise, Bimini’s iconic performance on Drag Race UK will (I hope) be a platform for them to carry on taking the world by storm.
Bimini’s performance on Drag Race UK was a masterpiece in story telling. Their newly found status as a bonafide British icon stems from the fact that they don’t just perform or entertain, they educate. And combining these two things is an art form within an art form. Bimini served us humour throughout the series that was both topical and political. And used their platform to raise awareness about mahoosively important issues. From entering the werkroom with their now notorious “I’m vegan” line. To their iconic lyrics in UK Hun? :“gender bender, cis-tem offender…don’t be scared to embrace the fem. whether you’re he, she, or, them”. As well as celebrating the wild characteristics of female celebrities that are so often mocked and chastised like Katie Price and Pamela Anderson. Every iconic Bimini moment made a lasting impact.
I for one am bereft that Drag Race UK S2 has come to an end. The series has been a huge source of joy during this last long (never ending, unconquerable, despair inducing) lockdown. Not seeing Bimini’s confessional beret grace our screens every Thursday night (or hearing their distinctive throat cackle) is a sad prospect indeed. But I can’t wait to see what Bimini and the other iconic queens of UK Drag Race S2 go on to achieve. Because this series, which smashed through age and demographic barriers, was quite something to behold.
So Bimini didn’t snatch the crown, it wouldn’t have suited their narrative to win anyway. And at only 27 years old, having only performed as Bimini for the past three years(!!), just IMAGINE what they’ll go onto achieve. Underdog to frontrunner to runner-up (to world domination!?). Bimini, our Miss Congeniality, is a winner on all fronts. Crown or none.
(The Panny D has been a particularly tough time for performers across the UK, support your local drag artists wherever you can. Get their merch, book tickets for their gigs in advance, do what you can to support).