Jimbo is the first Canadian to win RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars. The drag artist from Victoria hopes a rise in anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric will be overcome by more love and unity.
The Globe and Mail
Warning: If you’ve never watched RuPaul’s Drag Race, this Q&A won’t make sense. So go binge RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 8 and then come back. Actually, go watch Canada’s Drag Race Season 1 and then UK vs the World, while you’re at it. Then you’ll be fully up to speed on Victoria-based Jimbo the Drag Clown, the recently crowned All Stars 8 winner.
On Monday, Jimbo chatted with The Globe and Mail about what it felt like to finally snatch the crown, whether he thought Kandy Muse might pull his lipstick and what it really felt like inside that full-body bikini entrance lewk.
Condragulations!
Yay! Thank you so much.
How did it feel to hear RuPaul announce your name?
I was so excited. I was just flooded with this release of all of this anticipation, all of this joy. It feels like all of my hard work paid off and I’m just over the moon.
During the final critiques, RuPaul said that you remind her of the queens that she grew up watching, when drag wasn’t about “looking real.” She said you’re proof that punk is not dead. Watching you – while you are of course totally gorgeous – you’re not trying to be beautiful in every performance. Can you speak to that?
I think, life is about all the feelings and so is art. Drag for me is art. I kind of like playing with all of the different vibes and blending them together and that’s just part of me being open and curious and trying not to ever really feel like I have to do one certain thing. I like trying to go with the flow and take my inspiration from what is really happening for me in that moment and people really connect with that.
When we see your journey, from Canada through to the UK to All Stars 8, you’re so strategic. How did you prepare for each level of this glow up?
I’m a perfectionist and I’m a workaholic and I live to create and tell stories. And so I’ve been working basically night and day since I was 20. I’ve worked, worked, worked, worked, worked and nonstop worked. And I just say “yes” and I deliver to the best of my abilities and I always try to exceed expectations. And I try to lead with kindness and good intentions. So this has just been years and years and years of a really intense work ethic, but all the way along, I’ve always made sure to weave in what brings me joy and that’s what keeps filling me up.
Drag artist Jimbo talks with Robyn Doolittle about what it felt like to win RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars and feeling nervous about bringing an unconventional look to a lip sync battle.
The Globe and Mail
Did you have a different strategy in playing the game between the three different franchises?
In UK vs the World, I learned that there’s definitely a social component. You can’t really go in guns blazing, kind of doing whatever you want. You really have to consider how your actions and your decisions impact the others. And so this time, I really wanted to be as compassionate as possible and also to try and give some advice. And as a queen, the only queen there that had competed three times, I wanted to be generous and to make it to the end with kindness.
How sweaty and disgusting were you under your entrance lewk?
Oh my God. The river that runneth beneath me. It was so hot in my trailer, we filmed in California in the summer and it was deadly hot in that suit. And yeah, when I get out of it, it just sort of like sloughs off and slides right off.
When did you, during your lip sync journey on All Stars, decide to switch strategy from doing a traditional “that girl” routine to Casper.
I kind of took it one episode at a time, one challenge at a time. What I realized when I was there was that people, they’re not looking to Jimbo for that. That’s not what I do. As a clown and as a performance artist, my performances are usually more thought out. The music and the costume is informed by each other. The performance has some sort of gag or gimmick that I’ve thought about and the whole thing is crafted so that it’s intentional. What I really needed to do was to think on my feet … It’s me understanding my strengths and leaning into that.
Jimbo, as Casper, during a lip sync challenge. Jimbo threw bologna at Ru Paul and other judges during this performance.Paramount+
Do you have a highlight from your three seasons? Something that really stuck out for you?
My highlight was throwing bologna at Mama Ru. That – coming out there, showing my clown, showing that style of clowning, which is bouffon clowning – showing that on the main stage, one of the biggest stages in the world for performance, that was so important for me and for clowns around the world. And then also that moment, connecting with Mama Ru. Once we both just said “yes,” it felt transformative and it was amazing.
This interview has been edited and condensed.