Flesh won Series 8 of “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK” and its £25,000 prize in the finale that aired Thursday, Nov. 5, and Bones, last year’s winner and Flesh’s best friend and drag sister, crowned her, BBC Newsbeat reported. “Oh my god, this is crazy! I am over the moon, RuPaul where is my cheque?!” Flesh said as she won, according to ATV Today. “To be here with Bones is just the perfect moment,” she added.
The 26-year-old beat Mocha, Naya Thorn and Alik to become the “Drag Race UK” Series 8 winner, and the last queen the show will crown on the BBC. After a night of celebrating, she told Newsbeat the win still felt “surreal” and that she’d spent the whole evening “smiling, crying, and laughing.”
How Flesh Became the ‘Drag Race UK’ Series 8 Winner
The final four performed a megamix of girl group anthems from past series for the finale’s maxi challenge, Newsbeat reported. When the queens got that assignment, they thought the “writing was on the wall” for the show, Flesh told the outlet.
To her, closing out the BBC years with the mix was a “really fun and tasteful way to reflect on the iconography of Drag Race UK,” and she hopes past contestants feel “honoured.”
Alik went home first, and Flesh, who never landed in the bottom two, lip-synced for the first time all season against Mocha and Naya Thorn, to David Bowie’s “Modern Love.” In the episode, Flesh told RuPaul and judge Michelle Visage that Drag Race “tells people it’s not only OK to be them but it’s a gift and a dream, and to be crowned the UK’s next drag race superstar would be mine coming true.”
Paris Baby took Miss Congeniality. Early in the season she’d said some rivals had blocked her on social media, Flesh among them, and that they were now “besties.”
Series 7 Winner Bones Crowns Drag Sister Flesh
Bones, one of the Series 7 queens Gayety profiled in August 2025, won that season in a finale that premiered Nov. 27, 2025, on BBC Three and BBC iPlayer, Primetimer reported. “I think I deserve to be the UK’s Next Drag Race Superstar because I’m a true original, and it’s about time that everybody sees it,” Bones told the BBC at the start of that run, according to Primetimer.
The pair perform together as Heavenly Bodies, Newsbeat reported, and on Thursday Bones handed over the crown and scepter, according to ATV Today.
Why the BBC Dropped ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race UK’
The BBC cited “significant financial pressures” in September and said “we have had to make some very difficult choices, none of which have been taken lightly,” PA Media reported.
The move covers all future series and the international spinoff, “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World,” which will stream on World of Wonder’s own service, WOW Presents Plus, PA reported. The BBC said it “is incredibly proud of all eleven series” and thanked “RuPaul, World of Wonder and everyone involved, both on and off screen.”
Eight seasons of the main show and three of “UK vs the World” make that 11. “This is where it feels slightly sadder that we’re leaving the BBC because for all of the parameters that it created that limited what we could do, there was more exposure than drag has ever been given,” Flesh told Newsbeat.
She’s “concerned” about the “knock-on effect” on the future of the U.K. drag industry, including fewer chances for contestants. “Without that exposure, there will be less demand and with less demand and less exposure, events won’t be able to be created,” she said.
Fans are split, Newsbeat reported, with some eyeing the bigger cash prizes other spinoffs pay and others worried about less LGBTQ+ representation off the BBC.
WOW Presents Plus Sets ‘All Stars’ for Fall 2027
“It has been a pleasure working with everyone at The BBC, and we wish them well,” World of Wonder’s Fenton Bailey and Randy Barbato said in a statement, Deadline reported on Sept. 9. “While we don’t get to choose when opportunity knocks, we could not be more excited for this new chapter.”
“Historically, during times of anxiety and regression, the queer, trans, and drag communities are often targeted,” they added. “Today is no exception.”
WOW Presents Plus ordered the franchise’s first UK All Stars edition, which will stream next to all eight seasons of the main show and three of “UK vs the World,” Deadline reported. The title of a WOW Presents video gives the timing: “RuPaul’s Drag Race UK All Stars premieres Fall 2027 only on WOW Presents Plus.”
How to Watch Flesh’s Season on iPlayer and WOW
Series 8 premiered Thursday, Sept. 3, at 9 p.m. U.K. time on BBC Three, and episodes were set to hit iPlayer two hours earlier, Tom’s Guide reported. “We are certain that viewers will enjoy the eighth series, which is currently airing on BBC iPlayer and BBC Three,” the BBC said in September.
The whole series, finale included, is on iPlayer now, Hello Rayo noted, and U.S. viewers can stream it on WOW Presents Plus, which was set to carry it from Sept. 3, according to Tom’s Guide.
