Any time a season of “RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars” premieres, fans are eagerly anticipating some of the queens from earlier seasons who might be joining the cast.
For “All Stars 9,” a queen that joined this cast was literally the first queen to walk into the “RuPaul’s Drag Race” ever; Las Vegas’ own Shannel. This Sin City queen has broken barriers and set standards on and off the Las Vegas strip, and this time around on the “Drag Race” main stage is no exception. I sat down with this legendary performer to chat about her long-awaited return to the “Drag Race” werkroom, what it took for her to come back, and how years later, her perspective as a performer has changed.
“The RuPaul’s Drag Race All Stars 9” promo is superhero themed. Who is your favorite superhero?
Wonder Woman. I love her. She is just so beautiful and so polished and has a body for days; I just love her.
That description is also an apt description for yourself as well. If there was ever a true standard for drag excellence, it is definitely yourself. What is it like to know that you truly are the benchmark that many would like to meet?
Honestly I don’t see myself as that, I never have. I obviously come across as very confident in drag and while I am a confident person and obviously self-assured, I internally don’t see myself as that person. I knew that walking into that room as the OG and the first competitor to ever be seen on “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” I did feel a level of pressure for sure knowing that these queens obviously knew who I was, they probably had watched the first season and saw me. And that they potentially had predetermined ideals about what and who I would be. Those aspects definitely played into my thoughts in returning to that werkroom.
After your “All Stars 1” experience, when the phone rang for “All Stars 9,” did you say, “If this is teams, I am not remotely interested!”
Actually, I had turned down doing another season with them that I had not wanted to do. When I was called for this season, I actually hung up the phone and did not give a yes; I said it was something that I would think about. The reason for that was because I had felt that being so many years that I had not been a competitor on the show and with the way that the world has changed and the way that the world of drag has changed aesthetically, that I really wasn’t certain that I would be able to fit in. I didn’t want to be a complete outsider or outcast and I didn’t want to make a fool of myself. I didn’t honestly know that it was something that I could do.
It wasn’t until I really gave the charitable aspects some thought and I dug deep into myself and I thought that I spent so many years entertaining on stage, hosting and taking tips from people, I thought that now is the time if ever to give back to the world in a completely stripped way. That is why I did it; I am going to allow my insecurities to be seen on television as an artist that hasn’t been seen by so many in the new generation and bring to them who I am and what I do and hope that I can do the best at it. I really had to think about it though, and I went back and forth. I actually wrote a list of the pros and cons and frankly the list was almost equal; it was almost a coin toss.
They really wanted me to do it and said that RuPaul really wanted to have me there. When Ru really wants you to do something it’s very hard to say no, I also felt for so many years that had really let him down from leaving on Season 1, so I thought that maybe this is kind of my Rudemption to come back and be able to show him and the world another side.
Season 1 Shannel was so determined and galvanized to win, and during “All Stars 9” we are seeing a very fun and lighthearted aspect of Shannel as a performer and a person.
Well I have grown also, I am in the business almost thirty years. For Season 1 of “Drag Race,” we had nothing to gear ourselves from, there was no template. They said bring 18 of your favorite drag looks, it was a one-page thing. I came into the completion thinking, “Am I going to be driving race cars in drag?” We didn’t know what we were going to be doing. Ten weeks after week, when I would do these challenges on Season 1 and I felt like I wasn’t getting any kudos it really bothered and affected me, I was much younger then, I had been headlining in Vegas and at that age, I was making a lot of money and was very successful. In my head, I thought, “Well fuck you I don’t need you then I’m good. I’m going to go home, I’m going to continue doing my shows in Vegas, I’m gonna make my money, you do your little TV show over here and well see who’s standing longer.”
How has your perspective changed now all these years later?
People have said to me many years later, if you knew then what you know now, would you have opted to leave? I can’t even answer that question, I wasn’t in that state of mind. I knew that I was very frustrated. Now life has changed, my mom passed away; she was my biggest fan and biggest supporter. With her passing and with COVID happening, I think life changed. I became so much humbler and quite frankly, appreciative. I used to take people and situations for granted and I am aware that I used to do that. Now in life, I appreciate every single moment because you don’t know when your last moments are. I think it’s about looking at the bigger picture and the larger scope in life; you know what it’s just not that serious; it just isn’t. You do what you do, make the best of it and have fun with it. I get people saying, “When are you doing to win a badge?” The reality is, of course you want to win a badge because you want to win money for your charity, but you also can’t change it. You do the best that you can do and if you are the best that week then you are and if you’re not, you’re not. It’s just that simple.
Coming back, the strategy around badges, blocking and the mathematics around some of it that some of the girls are coming up with must be a bit confusing right?
It’s very confusing! The girls came up with these mathematical equations, hence why we see these memes with me. I am not thinking like that, I am trying to get through the day. A lot of the other girls were programmed, they were so methodical and I think it is a wonderful and beautiful thing; I was not. Maybe had I been winning challenges I would have seen it different, but I think at this point in the game I was just trying to make it through. Even though I knew that I was as not going home because there were no eliminations, it was still the feeling of “Well damn, I haven’t won anything yet so let me just try to get through this episode and do the best that I can do,” so that is where my head was at.
So many people throughout your career have probably told you that you are their personal drag inspiration. Who is actually your own drag inspiration?
Kenny Kerr is actually who inspired me to do drag. He was the absolutely first Las Vegas headliner legend and I got to see him when I was extremely little, my mom took me to see Boylesque. I remember seeing I’m on stage and thinking, “That is an entertainer, that is what I want to do, that is what to be.” There was such a charismatic way about how he would manipulate his fingers I always say that he would give “handography” in a slight way in the way that he would maneuver through his hair and the microphone. I was so enamored by his presence on stage that I would become and create a version of that for myself.
That is why to this day I am a host, why I am never seen without fingernails. There was such a professional aura about him as an entertainer and I was just so blown away. He is and will always be that person. I also became very good friends with him in life and unfortunately he passed away but I got to work with him later in life and we did show together and at times we would text or call each other so it was a very full circle moment for me. The absolute most professional and well-rounded ever to me was Kenny Kerr.