Crystal is the stage name of Colin Munro (born November 1, 1985), a Canadian-British

drag performer The term "drag" refers to the performance of exaggerated masculinity, femininity, or other forms of gender expression, usually for entertainment purposes. A drag queen is someone (usually male) who performs femininity and a drag king is someo ...

, TV host and personality best known as a competitor in the first season of ''

RuPaul's Drag Race UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race UK'' is a British reality competition television series based on the American television series of the same name. The television series, a collaboration between the BBC and World of Wonder, premiered on 3 October 2019. ...

''.Cameron Perrier
"‘We’re here to shake things up’: Crystal brings Canadian roots to Drag Race UK"
. ''

Xtra! ''Xtra Magazine'' (formerly ''DailyXtra'' and ''Xtra!'') is an LGBTQ-focused digital publication and former print newspaper published by Pink Triangle Press in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The publication is a continuation of the company's former p ...

'', 18 October 2019.

Early life

Born in

Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...

and raised in

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

, Munro is the stepson of poet Susan Goyette. Munro attended university for costume design as mentioned in their podcast.

Career

Munro moved to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

in the late 2000s, initially to work as an aerial performer in the

circus A circus is a company of performers who put on diverse entertainment shows that may include clowns, acrobats, trained animals, trapeze acts, musicians, dancers, hoopers, tightrope walkers, jugglers, magicians, ventriloquists, and uni ...

, before expanding into drag performance. He initially went by the drag name Crystal Beth, a pun on

crystal meth Methamphetamine (contracted from ) is a potent central nervous system (CNS) stimulant that is mainly used as a recreational drug and less commonly as a second-line treatment for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and obesity. Methamph ...

, but changed his drag name to just Crystal before appearing on ''Drag Race UK'' on the grounds that he did not want to be perceived as making fun of the serious issue of

drug addiction Addiction is a neuropsychological disorder characterized by a persistent and intense urge to engage in certain behaviors, one of which is the usage of a drug, despite substantial harm and other negative consequences. Repetitive drug use oft ...

.Charlie Jones
"Drag Race UK’s Crystal on changing her name, Brexit and why she doesn’t trust the Lib Dems"
. ''

PinkNews ''PinkNews'' is a UK-based online newspaper marketed to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community (LGBT) in the UK and worldwide. It was founded by Benjamin Cohen in 2005. It closely follows political progress on LGBT rights ar ...

'', 1 November 2019. Munro has also stated that he always wanted to be known as just Crystal, and initially chose the longer name only because when he was new to drag he thought there was a rule that drag queens always had to have two names rather than one. In London's drag scene, Crystal was best known for Mariah and Friendz, a regular drag night inspired by

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the ...

and, in Crystal's own words, "bringing in touches of delusion, bad fashion and lip-sync malfunctions." Crystal finished in sixth place on ''Drag Race UK'', being eliminated in the "Girl Group Battle Royale" challenge, after losing a lip-sync to eventual winner

The Vivienne James Lee Williams (born 12 April 1992), better known by the stage name The Vivienne, is a Welsh drag queen, known for being appointed the first UK ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' ambassador in 2015, winning the first series of ''RuPaul's Drag Race U ...

.Emma Kelly
"Drag Race UK’s Crystal is as baffled as you by Geri Horner’s ‘Stepford Wife’ appearance"
. ''

Metro Metro, short for metropolitan, may refer to: Geography * Metro (city), a city in Indonesia * A metropolitan area, the populated region including and surrounding an urban center Public transport * Rapid transit, a passenger railway in an urban ...

'', 1 November 2019. Following ''Drag Race UK'', Crystal appeared as a special guest in the "Star Sixty-Nine" episode of ''

Canada's Drag Race ''Canada's Drag Race'' is a Canadian reality competition television series based on the American series ''RuPaul's Drag Race'' and is the Canadian edition of the ''Drag Race'' franchise, produced by Blue Ant Studios. In a similar format to th ...

'', playing the caller to a psychic hotline in a minichallenge where the competing queens had to do improv comedy as the psychics.Kevin O'Keeffe
"‘Canada’s Drag Race’ Episode 6 recap: Sissy that walk"
. ''

'', 6 August 2020. She was subsequently announced as the host of '' Group Sext'', a

social distancing In public health, social distancing, also called physical distancing, (NB. Regula Venske is president of the PEN Centre Germany.) is a set of non-pharmaceutical interventions or measures intended to prevent the spread of a contagious dise ...

-themed LGBTQ dating reality show, for OutTV,Lauren Malyk
"OUTtv greenlights lockdown-produced pilot"
. ''

Playback Playback or Play Back may refer to: Film * ''Playback'' (1962 film), a British film in the ''Edgar Wallace Mysteries'' series * ''Playback'', a 1996 film starring Shannon Whirry * ''Playback'' (2012 film), an American horror film by Michael A. N ...

'', 20 August 2020. and as a drag mentor in the competition series '' Call Me Mother''.

Filmography

Television

References

{{RuPaul's Drag Race UK 1985 births Living people 21st-century Canadian LGBT people English drag queens Canadian drag queens Canadian emigrants to England Canadian expatriates in England Entertainers from London People from Halifax, Nova Scotia People from Newfoundland (island) RuPaul's Drag Race UK contestants Participants in Canadian reality television series