Thursday, March 28, 2024

‘Ready for my close-up’: Victoria-based drag queen to compete in ‘RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars’

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Jimbo is a self proclaimed ‘drag clown’ who is based out of Victoria and will be representing Canada on the upcoming season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars.

The famed performer is known for their wild creativity in the looks they bring to the art of drag. 

Jimbo has already taken to the televised drag stage twice over — they were on Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race and then was called back into action for the UK vs the World spin-off of the Emmy award winning program.

James Insell, who is better known by their drag name Jimbo, was born in London Ontario and began his drag journey as a child dressing up alongside his brother Jeff. 

Insell’s father insisted they pursue post-secondary schooling to find a stable career and he attended the University of Western Ontario.

Following graduation, Insell decided he didn’t want to find a traditional career based off his education and moved to Victoria to find work as a costume and production designer.

This is when Jimbo was born and Insell found success as a drag performer. 

Jimbo was a fan-favourite in Canada’s Drag Race and managed to win the famed ‘snatch game’ episode as Joan Rivers.

 

Jimbo did not win the whole drag competition on Canada’s Drag Race, but managed to come in fourth place, just behind finalists Priyanka, Scarlett BoBo and Rita Baga.

Following this television debut, Jimbo’s career was taken to the next level and the performer found fame as one of Canada’s most well known performers. 

Jimbo was called back to the show that made them famous on a few occasions as a small cameo of as a guest judge, but was called back into the game for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs the World.

There, Jimbo managed to win the first two episodes before being voted off the show by the other queens because they were viewed as too big a threat to stay.

Now, Jimbo will get another shot at winning the crown and sceptre awarded to the winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars as one of Season eight’s queens. 

The other drag performers Jimbo will have as competition are: Alexis Michelle, Darienne Lake, Heidi N Closet, Jaymes Mansfield, Jessica Wild, Kahanna Montrese, Kandy Muse, Mrs. Kasha Davis, LaLa Ri, Monica Beverly Hillz and Naysha Lopez.

Jimbo will be the only drag queen to have been on two drag race shows prior to season eight and is also the only Canadian to take the stage this time around. 

Season eight of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars will premiere on May 12th and is available to stream on Crave in Canada, along with OutTV and WOW+.

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Curtis Blandy
curtis@victoriabuzz.com

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