A Victoria-based drag queen has won the ultimate prize as a master of their craft in clownery!
Jimbo the ‘drag clown’ had a long, hard season on RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, but came out on top over Kandy Muse, the other finalist queen.
Victoria’s favourite queen is well-known around the world as a Canadian icon who is wildly creative, and is always stunning audiences and critics alike with their approach to drag.
Before this latest season of RuPaul’s Drag Race: All Stars, Jimbo had already taken to the televised drag stage twice over. They were on Season 1 of Canada’s Drag Race and then were 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 on 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.
They 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.
Although Jimbo didn’t win that time, they solidified their place in the hearts of drag lovers across the country.
Jimbo was called back to the show that made them famous on a few occasions to make a small cameo, but then they were called back into the game for RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs. the World.
There, Jimbo managed to show their prowess by winning the first two episodes, however, they were voted off the show by the other queens because they were viewed as too big a threat to stay.
Jimbo’s latest televised gambit was a success story from start to finish.
They made a cream pie for their talent show debut, they threw bologna at RuPaul in a lip-sync for their legacy and portrayed a cute, yet haunting, Shirley Temple.
Jimbo only won the challenge one week, managed to be a ‘top’ queen four times, they were a ‘bottom’ only once with every other week being ‘safe.’
The Victoria-based drag clown has now won the highest honour in drag and Jimbo’s hometown can’t wait to see that they get up to next!
If you haven’t watched the Victoria Queen’s victorious season yet, it is available to stream on Crave in Canada, along with OutTV and WOW+.
