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Drag Race UK premiered its fifth season on September 28, but more than the performances, audiences were focused on playing Where's Waldo through the episode, searching for a mystery queen. Crystal Lubrikant, who did not appear in the first episode except in parts where her wig was visible, was asked to exit the show following allegations of s*xual assault.
What also came to light after the airing was a deleted Reddit post from February 2023, in which a member of the show's production team accused the BBC of concealing this news. They stated that there were several allegations that had been made against her once they had begun filming.
However, unlike the situation with Sherry Pie, who was immediately disqualified, Crystal was apparently allowed to leave by purposely botching a lip sync, and the network wouldn't acknowledge the incident.
Trigger warning: This article contains references to s*xual assault. Readers' discretion is advised.
Drag Race UK season 5: BBC exposed for not exposing an offender
Season 5 of RuPaul's Drag Race UK featured ten queens in its first episode, but someone from production says there was actually one more. Crystal Lubrikant was initially cast as the eleventh contestant for the British spinoff but was not shown at all in the episode.
Fans were curious about the odd edit, but the truth surfaced in a since-deleted Reddit post from February 2023. A user took to the community r/RDPRDRAMA to share concerning news about Crystal Lubrikant. They said they were involved in the production of season 5, and after the filming kicked off, the contestant was faced with several s*xual harassment allegations, which the BBC was hiding.
The post that was made anonymously for the OP's safety, claimed that the allegations about Crystal were confirmed by a few RuPaul's Drag Race UK alums as well. The networks, World of Wonder and BBC, were privy to this news, but the poster was worried no serious consequences would come out of it.
"The BBC is trying to cover up s*xual assault allegations against one of the performers in season 5."
Sherry Pie, another contestant from the American version, was disqualified immediately in her season when she was accused of catfishing. Referring to this incident, the OP mentioned that things were handled very differently on set with Crystal Lubrikant.
Once the showrunners heard the allegations, they reportedly gave Crystal the option to intentionally perform badly on a lip sync for her life and then be sent home instead of publicly acknowledging the issue. They also wrote that this was done in order to save on the costs of removing her in post-production.
The post ended with expressions of frustration, indicating that they had previously tried calling out the BBC's way of tackling this Drag Race UKcontroversy, but to no avail. They also pointed out other occurrences of abuse that the network had brushed under the carpet.
"I have exhausted my ability to influence this issue internally and have no choice but to go public. Given the BBC's terrible track record for protecting abusers (Jimmy Savile, etc) I can't believe this is how they have decided to handle the issue."
Since episode 1 of Drag Race UK season 5 aired on September 28, it became obvious that there had been edits to entirely erase Crystal Lubrikant from the show; the queens had odd spaces (just enough to fit another contestant) in between them, and there was also a glimpse of the corner of her dress and a few strands of her wig, but she was never properly shown.
None of the ten queens were eliminated in the episode.
It remains unclear how long she was filming before the news broke and will definitely make for an interesting edit when it's her turn to sashay away, unless the network chooses to scrap the whole episode.
While Drag Race UK season 5 has wrapped up filming, the post-production team's tough task seems to be far from over. Whether the BBC will continue with the same strategy for the remainder of the season will be revealed with each episode.
The next one will be available to watch on October 5, at 4 pm ET on BBC Three.
