FINALLY! Seattle’s JINKX MONSOON On RuPaul’s Drag Race Season Five!

Jinkx Monsoon…smokin’ in every room of the house.
Photo: Tim Harmon

It’s been rumored for weeks that a Seattle queen might have made it on Logo’s hit reality show, “RuPaul’s Drag Race” and part of that could have just been motivated by hope…Four seasons of the show have been produced without the presence of Seattle based drag performers, though Ongina is originally from the area and Shannel lived here briefly. (We also have to note, that we hear that rumor EVERY year because some local queen vanishes for a few weeks, but it’s usually because said queen is either off in jail, or at rehab…or both.)

That’s all changed with today’s blind announcement as Logo and producers World of Wonder have been releasing photos, but not names, for the cast of Season Five set to begin airing in January of 2013. The Big News for us: Seattle’s beloved multi threat performer, JINKX MONSOON, aka Jerick Hoffer is one of the lucky 12 contestants for the coming season. (And, coincidentally  [or, probably not] Ms Monsoon has a big shiny new website up and running that includes a link to her big shiny new professional manager!) Logo has been releasing both boy and drag photos of the Season Five cast all weekend via a social media scavenger hunt. Jinkx/Jerick was the latest to be featured….Jinkx’s boy photo just popped up on the NewNowNext Facebook page!

Ms Monsoon burst forward on the night life drag performance scene as a hugely impressive new talent displaying some serious performance chops and noted for her live singing performances and skills as an all around triple threat as comedienne, singer and dancer. Many, including this writer, originally assumed that Jinkx was a slumming burlesque GIRL who enjoyed performing with the queens; Jinkx’s unique talents as an actor fooled a lot of people.

Much of that was due to innate talent, but Ms Monsoon was in reality, Jerick Hoffer, a professionally trained graduate of Cornish and as a result, theater fans quickly became aware of Mr. Hoffer’s stage talents as he took legit stage roles at major area theaters including Book-It Rep, Seattle Shakespeare, Balagan and his 5th Avenue Theater debut this summer as “Angel” in the beloved musical “Rent”. It’s not very surprising that Mr. Hoffer/Ms Monsoon was cast for Season Five of RPDR…they’ve had a few contestants that CLAIM to be trained actors, but the very legitimate resume of Hoffer/Monsoon had to be a selling point.

The other side of Jinkx Monsoon…
Kirsten deLohr Helland (Ilse) and Jerick Hoffer (Moritz) in “Spring Awakening” January 2012.
Photo: Pamela M. Campi

It also couldn’t hurt that Jinkx has very quickly became a major drag performer in a very short period of time, working her way up from simple bar gigs, to becoming a regular cast member at Sylvia O’Stayformore’s monthly Bacon Strip at Re-bar, (winning the first Miss Bacon Strip Pageant in 2011), to becoming a member of Ben DeLaCreme’s repertory company of drag/burlesque performance artists, to eventually becoming the host of Julia’s on Broadway’s weekend “LeFaux” celebrity impersonation drag cabaret.

But, the ambitious and creative Monsoon/Hoffer has also ventured out into other roles, creating a cabaret act called The Vaudvillians with “Major Scales” aka local performer Richard Andriessen as well as co-creating a web series on “Funny or Die” with Nick Sahoyah called “Monsoon Season” that details the home life of Jinkx Monsoon and her relationship with her slacker son. With the variety of interesting and creative work so far displayed, it’s not  a surprise that Drag Race casting associates snatched up Ms Monsoon.

So, the best of luck to Jinkx/Jerick and we’re guessing we’ll be talking to the diva soon about this grand new adventure. And, frankly, we’re excited as hell about this opportunity for her and what it could mean for the future of Jinkx/Jerick.

(Also, this could prove to be a potential showcase for OTHER Seattle performers…)

We also can’t wait to see what happens on Season Five of Drag Race…how WILL the other queens, most of them typical bar/pageant girls, react to the multi-talented threats of our Jinkxy?

And, bitch had BETTER make it to the LIVE performance part of each season…she will clean their clocks.