Victoria "Porkchop" Parker

Victor Ray Bowling (born 16 January 1970), known by his stage persona Victoria "Porkchop" Parker, is an American drag queen and actor who came to international attention on the first season of RuPaul's Drag Race. He is notable in part for being the first contestant ever eliminated in the history of the franchise. Bowling has also appeared elsewhere on television in and out of drag, and he has also served as a backup dancer for Miley Cyrus.

Bowling has been deemed one of the show's most successful and recognizable drag queens. Although finishing last on his season of Drag Race, Bowling has won over 100 pageants in his career as a drag queen and has toured internationally. He has frequently appeared as a guest on later seasons of Drag Race, with RuPaul often explicitly paying him homage due to his position as the first eliminated contestant in the show's history.

Due to her nickname "Porkchop", the nickname is also given to all queens that are first eliminated from the show.

Early life Bowling was born in Anderson, South Carolina, and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. During his childhood, he attended youth theater at Cape Fear Regional Theater, and also partook in show choir.

Career

Pageants Bowling began performing in drag for the first time on January 16, 1987, his seventeenth birthday. He accompanied his friend to a predominantly African American local gay bar, both of them dressed in an attempt at drag, and watched a drag pageant that was occurring at the bar that night. The next month, he performed in a talent show at the bar while dressed in clothes that he had secretly borrowed from his mother and wore no wig, only showing his natural hair, which was styled "like Jessica Fletcher" (from Murder, She Wrote). Despite receiving boos, he was informed that he had potential as an entertainer. In June 1988, he became the first Caucasian person to win the club's pageant title. including Miss Continental Plus 2003 and Miss'd America 2013.

In 2015, Bowling made a minor appearance along with Chad Michaels in an episode of 2 Broke Girls. He was a backup dancer with 30 other drag queens for Miley Cyrus's 2015 VMA Awards performance.

In 2020, Bowling made an appearance in Chappell Roan’s music video for Pink Pony Club. RuPaul's Drag Race

Bowling was announced as one of the nine contestants for the inaugural season of RuPaul's Drag Race on February 2, 2009. Prior to his casting, he had been hosting shows at Legends Nightclub in Raleigh, had just won Miss Gay DC, and had competed in the 2008 edition of Miss Gay America. Bowling was eliminated during the first episode, becoming the very first contestant ever eliminated in the history of the show. He was sent home by Akashia. Because of this, RuPaul always addresses him with "Hey Porkchop" during all of the Drag Race live reunions, starting with season 4.

Bowling has been brought back on the show by RuPaul several times, in homage to being the first contestant ever eliminated. He appeared during the recap episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars 2 and was featured in winning queen Alaska's rap. Bowling was also brought back for the first episode of season 10 of RuPaul's Drag Race to help judge the mini-challenge. In 2019, he appeared as a guest for the first challenge in the premiere of season eleven of Drag Race posing with Soju.

In the first episode of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars 3, Vanessa Hudgens lip synced against "Porkchop", an actual pork chop, which RuPaul said was Bowling.

In March 2018, Variety said that Bowling was one of the 10 most successful drag queens in their careers after the show. Daniel Welsh of Huffington Post wrote "we're surprised contestants like Jessica Wild, Ongina and even Victoria "Porkchop" Parker are still sitting on the shelf, waiting to be plucked up for All Stars." Since then, both Ongina and Jessica Wild have been featured on the fifth and eighth seasons of All Stars, respectively, although Bowling is yet to appear back on the show.

Personal life Bowling was attacked at a gay bar which resulted in a gunshot wound and acid damage on his face, requiring surgery. He had silicone injections done by an unlicensed nurse in 1999, resulting in granuloma. After his appearance on Drag Race, he moved to Lumberton, North Carolina, and then to Los Angeles, California. Bertram Television Date Title Character Work Ref. 2006 Trantasia Himself Documentary 2008 Pageant Himself Documentary 2009–2025 RuPaul's Drag Race Himself Reality television 2015 2 Broke Girls Protester Sitcom 2015 2015 MTV Video Music Awards Dancer for Miley Cyrus Awards show 2016 Botched Himself Reality television 2017 Hey Qween! Himself Talk show 2020 AJ and the Queen Porkchop Netflix original

Music videos Year Title ArtistRef.2020"Pink Pony Club"Chappell Roan

Web series

Awards and nominations Year Award-giving body Category Work Results Ref.2022The QueertiesFuture All-StarHimself