Shannel

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Shannel
Shannel at a drag brunch in 2022
Born
Bryan Watkins

(1979-07-03) July 3, 1979 (age 44)
Orange County, California
OccupationDrag queen
Years active1994–present
Known for
Websitetheofficialshannel.com

Bryan Watkins, known by his stage name Shannel (born July 3, 1979),[1] is an American drag queen and television personality, best known for competing on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race and later the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. He placed in the top four on both seasons.

Early life[edit]

Watkins was born to Debbie and Gary Watkins[2] on July 3, 1979,[citation needed] in Orange County, California.[3] He was raised in Cypress, California, and attended Pacifica High School.[2] He was introduced to drag at age 8 when he was taken to a Las Vegas boylesque show, and started doing drag at fifteen years old when he entered a Halloween drag contest under the name “Elvira” and won. A year later, he began working as a makeup artist, hairstylist, and photoshoot coordinator for glamour photography.[2][4] He worked as a beauty advisor for the cosmetics branch of fashion house Chanel for ten years.[1] He moved to Las Vegas, Nevada in 2000.[5] He owns one of the largest collections of Lucille Ball memorabilia in the world, and has stated that if he wasn't a drag queen, he'd work as an interior designer.[1]

RuPaul's Drag Race[edit]

Shannel was announced as one of nine contestants for the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race in 2009.[6] In the third episode, she was in the bottom two with fellow competitor Akashia, and won a lip sync against her to "The Greatest Love of All" by Whitney Houston. She famously did the first "wig reveal" on the show during the lip sync.[7] She was later eliminated on the sixth episode after losing the bottom-two lip sync, to "Shackles (Praise You)" by Mary Mary, against Rebecca Glasscock; she would attempt to change the narrative by stating she was “choosing” to go home and was, essentially, self-disqualifying.[8]

Shannel was announced as being among twelve returning contestants for the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars in 2012.[9] Due to the team twist for the season, Shannel teamed with eventual winner Chad Michaels as the team Shad.[10] They won the third, fourth and fifth episode challenges, until Shannel was eliminated in third place with Jujubee.[11]

Shannel also was a drag professor for three seasons of the spin-off show RuPaul's Drag U in 2010 to 2012.[12]

She appeared as a guest star on the first episode of Drag Race's eighth season.[13] She appeared with her fellow season one cast on the Drag Race season ten finale, lip syncing next to Mayhem Miller.[14][15]

Shannel was credited as a Creative Consultant for the premiere episode of RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race. She also made an appearance making over celebrity Nico Tortorella, though it was ultimately cut from the episode.[16]

In 2023, Shannel appeared as the "lip-sync assassin" of the fourth episode of the eighth season of RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars, where she lip-synced against Jimbo to Joan Jett’s “Bad Reputation”. Shannel won the lipsync and, as the winner, revealed which of the queens in the bottom had been voted to be eliminated, which was Darienne Lake.[17]

Career[edit]

Shannel lip syncing live in 2018

Outside of Drag Race, Shannel appeared in an episode of The Arrangement in 2010.[18] She appeared in the music video for Lady Gaga's "Applause" with Raven, Morgan McMichaels, Shangela Laquifa Wadley and Detox.[19] She was a part of CeeLo Green’s show, "Loberace", in 2013.[4] She was also in the video for Xelle's "Queen" in 2014.[20] The same year, she began producing her own "dinner and drag" show, "Lipstick & Lashes", in Santa Ana. In 2016, she joined the cast of "53x", a Vegas show produced by the Chippendales. She was part of Frank Marino's Divas Las Vegas show in 2017, impersonating Barbra Streisand and Adele.[21][22][4]

Since 2018, she has hosted Drag Brunch at Señor Frog's in Las Vegas alongside fellow Drag Race alums Yara Sofia, Kahanna Montrese, and DeJa Skye, as well as Hot Chocolate and Roxy Brooks Lords in collaboration with Voss Events.[4][23]

In September 2019, at RuPaul's DragCon NYC, Shannel was named as one of a rotating cast of a dozen Drag Race queens in RuPaul's Drag Race Live!, a Las Vegas show residency at the Flamingo Las Vegas.[24] In 2022, Shannel (billed as Bryan Watkins) was a contestant on the premiere episode of Season Ten of ABC's The Great Christmas Light Fight, where he was awarded the $50,000 grand prize for his decorated house. He also owns his own company, Santa's Helper Designs, which creates festive displays for clients such as Allegiant Stadium.[25][26] In 2024, she was announced as one of eight former Drag Race contestants participating in Painting with Raven, a spin-off of the WOW Presents Plus series Painted with Raven.[27][28]

Controversy[edit]

On August 13, 2022, Shannel was accused of stealing seven-hundred dollars out of a female audience member's purse at a drag show.[29] Shannel has since repeatedly claimed that she did not steal the money, stating instead that she took two dollars and gave it back.[30]

Filmography[edit]

Television[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2009 RuPaul's Drag Race Herself Contestant (4th place)
2010 The Arrangement
2010–12 RuPaul's Drag U Herself
2012 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Herself Contestant (3rd/4th place)
2012 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked Herself
2023 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars Herself Lip Sync Assassin; Episode: "Screen Queens"
Special guest; Episode: "You're A Winner Baby!"[31]
2023 RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars: Untucked Herself Episode: "Untucked - Screen Queens"

Music videos[edit]

Year Title Artist
2012 Queen Xelle
2013 Applause Lady Gaga

Web series[edit]

Year Title Role Notes Ref.
2013 WOW Shopping Network Herself Guest [32]
Ring My Bell Guest [33]
2016 The Pit Stop Guest [34]
Drag Makeup Tutorial Guest [35]
2020 Hey Qween Guest [36]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Q&A: Bryan Watkins". Las Vegas Magazine. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  2. ^ a b c Larsen, Peter (August 23, 2010). "Drag Queen To The Rescue". Santa Ana Orange County Register. Santa Ana, California. Retrieved November 8, 2022.
  3. ^ Nunn, Jerry. "The drag all-star on surviving RuPaul's Drag Race". ChicagoPride.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  4. ^ a b c d "Biography". theofficialshannel.com. Retrieved July 12, 2023.
  5. ^ "Shannel". Piranha Nightclub. 2017-02-07. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  6. ^ Stanley, Alessandra (February 2009). "Logo's New Reality Competition Explores What It Takes To Be a Drag Star". The New York Times. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  7. ^ "INTO: A Digital Magazine for The Modern Queer World". www.intomore.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  8. ^ "The Drag Race Rutrospective: Ow! My Balls!". Xtra. 2013-11-06. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  9. ^ "'RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race': Meet the Queens". LOGO News. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  10. ^ "Chad Michaels & Shannel Share Tearful Moment on 'Drag Race'". LOGO News. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  11. ^ "'RuPaul's All Stars Drag Race' season finale recap". EW.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  12. ^ Gascot, John (2011-07-12). "Drag U: Professor Shannel". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  13. ^ "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Season 8 Premiere: Keepin' It 100". Observer. 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  14. ^ VH1 (2018-06-28), Lip Sync Eleganza Extravaganza Performance 💃 'Finale Sneak Peek' | RuPaul's Drag Race Season 10, retrieved 2018-08-17{{citation}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "Watch 'RuPaul's Drag Race' season 1 queens reunite to slay in season 10 finale preview". EW.com. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  16. ^ Damshenas, Sam (27 April 2020). "Shannel says she was "cut" from RuPaul's Secret Celebrity Drag Race". GayTimes. Retrieved 28 April 2020.
  17. ^ "Screen Queens". RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. Season 8. Episode 4. May 26, 2023. Paramount+ / WOW Presents Plus.
  18. ^ "Shannel Guest Stars on "The Arrangement" - The Arrangement (Video Clip) | LOGOtv". Logo TV. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  19. ^ "Detox, Raven, Shannel & Morgan McMichaels To Star In Lady Gaga "Applause" Music Video". LOGO News. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  20. ^ "20 Music Videos With Drag Queen Cameos". Billboard. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  21. ^ "'Frank Marino's Divas Las Vegas': Bigger and better". Las Vegas Magazine. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  22. ^ "The stars align with 'Frank Marino's Divas Las Vegas'". Las Vegas Magazine. Retrieved 2018-08-17.
  23. ^ @yarasofiapr (July 5, 2023). "Getting ready for the bottomless mimosas with my girls at @dragbrunchvegas" – via Instagram.
  24. ^ Ramos, Dino-Ray (September 7, 2019). "'RuPaul's Drag Race' Sets Live Show In Las Vegas". Deadline. Retrieved 2019-09-08.
  25. ^ Kamra, Bhavya (November 29, 2022). ""Well deserved": The Great Christmas Light Fight fans cheer as the Watkins family wins $50,000". sportskeeda.com. Sports Keeda. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  26. ^ Schultz, Jaclyn (December 16, 2022). "Retired Christmas displays from Las Vegas Strip revived by local Drag Brunch team". fox5vegas.com. Gray Television, Inc. Retrieved May 18, 2023.
  27. ^ Sharpe, Josh. "PAINTED WITH RAVEN Spin-Off Series Coming This Summer". Broadway World. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  28. ^ "Painted with Raven is back with a new format". Pride.com. Retrieved 2024-04-16.
  29. ^ "RuPaul's Drag Race star denies stealing hundreds of dollars from woman's purse". 19 August 2022.
  30. ^ "'Drag Race' star Shannel denies woman's claim that she stole $700 from purse". Entertainment Weekly.
  31. ^ Benutty, John. "'RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars' season 8 episode 8 recap: 'You're a Winner Baby!'". Goldderby.com. Archived from the original on 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2023-06-23.
  32. ^ Shannel on WOW Shopping Network. YouTube. April 25, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2013.
  33. ^ Shannel - Ring My Bell. YouTube. September 5, 2013. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  34. ^ RuPaul's Drag Race (Season 8 Ep. 8 Recap) | The Pit Stop with Kingsley & Shannel | Logo. YouTube. April 25, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  35. ^ Drag Makeup Tutorial: Shannel's 'Medusa Look' | RuPaul's Drag Race | Logo. YouTube. April 30, 2016. Retrieved August 30, 2019.
  36. ^ SHANNEL on Hey Qween! with Jonny McGovern. YouTube. February 3, 2020. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
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