BenDeLaCreme

BenDeLaCreme (born September 24, 1981)^[1] is the stage persona of Benjamin Brock Hamlet Putnam,^[2][3] an American drag queen, burlesque performer, and actor based in Seattle, Washington. He is known for being a contestant on the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race and the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars. He is also known for his solo shows Ready To Be Committed, Terminally Delightful, Inferno A-Go-Go and Cosmos, and as co-creator and host of burlesque revues Freedom Fantasia and Homo for the Holidays.

BenDeLaCreme
BenDeLaCreme performing in 2014
Born	Benjamin Brock Hamlet Putnam (1981-09-24) September 24, 1981 (age 43) Litchfield, Connecticut, U.S.
Education	School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Occupations	Drag performer Burlesque performer
Known for	RuPaul's Drag Race (season 6) RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars (season 3)
Title	Miss Congeniality
Predecessor	Ivy Winters
Successor	Katya Zamolodchikova
Musical career
Origin	Seattle, Washington, U.S.
Website	bendelacreme.com

Early life

Putnam grew up in Litchfield, Connecticut, attending Litchfield High School and Walnut Hill School, from which he graduated in 2000.^[4][5][6] During his performance on Drag Race, Putnam revealed that he was bullied as a child for being overweight, "weird", and gay. His mother, who had been the positive voice to counteract this, died of cancer when he was 13 years old. Putnam was also open about his struggles with depression, revealing that his "terminally delightful" drag persona helped him overcome this.^[7]

Artistry

Putnam's stage name is a play off the French term crème de la crème, which, translated, means "cream of the cream" or "best of the best", as well as a play off of his given first name.^[8] He commonly refers to himself as either "Ben" or "DeLa" to distinguish between the private, male persona (Ben) and public, female one (DeLa).^[8] He is also sometimes referred to as "Bendela", a take on the name Vendela. In an interview with Artes Magazine, he explained "I consider BenDeLaCreme to be the very best of Ben which is the name of the gentleman that I share a body with. DeLa is how I refer to the lady part of me. If you say Ben you're talking to that guy. If you say DeLa you are talking to me."^[7]

Putnam credits his interest in drag and burlesque to seeing Varla Jean Merman's Holiday Ham in Boston in 2001. He was inspired by Merman's theatrical, character-driven approach to drag performance.^[4] DeLa considers drag to be "an inherently political act", an opportunity to encourage people to think about complex issues related to gender and sexuality through humor and theatre.^[2] Her solo shows combine comedy, song, burlesque, dance, and video clips (often DeLa herself in other roles).^[7] DeLa's costume style is reminiscent of iconic 1950s pin-up girls. She cites dancer and actress Ann Miller as an early influence.^[9]

Career

BenDeLaCreme performing during RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars season 3, 2018

Putnam's career began in Chicago in 2002, while he was pursuing a BFA degree at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago from 2001 to 2003.^[10] Although his course of study focused on painting, he found himself more interested in performance art.^[11][12]

Her first opportunities to perform came at drag revues at Chicago-area gay bars. Early on, she was exposed to a more explicitly feminist, message-driven side of drag culture by the Chicago Kings, a drag king troupe with which she frequently performed as the token "queen".^[11] At the same time, DeLa made a conscious decision to present a more positive, cheerful persona during her shows, even when addressing serious subject matter such as prejudice, death, and depression.^[7]

Since the mid-2000s, she has been based in Seattle, Washington. She is the hostess for The Atomic Bombshells burlesque troupe and teaches at Seattle's Academy of Burlesque.^[13] DeLa has collaborated with many members of the Seattle burlesque community, including Drag Race Season 5 winner Jinkx Monsoon.^[14] She runs the theatrical production company DeLouRue Presents, creating and performing in popular holiday revue shows Freedom Fantasia and Homo for the Holidays, with burlesque duo Kitten La Rue and Lou Henry Hoover, her friends and frequent collaborators.^[9]

BenDeLaCreme's touring solo shows include Terminally Delightful, Cosmos, and Inferno A-Go-Go. She has also appeared in several films by filmmaker Wes Hurley, including the documentary Waxie Moon, Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel, and as a narrator of the series Capitol Hill.^[15]

At the 2019 MAC Awards, BenDeLaCreme was presented with an award in the category "Major Impersonation/Characterization/Drag Artist" for her show Inferno A-Go-Go.^[16]

In December 2020, BenDeLaCreme's collaboration film with Jinkx Monsoon, The Jinkx and Dela Holiday Special was released, and can be streamed on Hulu.^[17]

In 2023, BenDeLaCreme was announced to be a part of Unilever’s "United We Stand" program.^[18]

She has been dating Gus Lanza since 2015.^[19] She owns two cats, Wayne and Garth, and a dog, Reggie.^[20]

RuPaul's Drag Race

In 2014, BenDeLaCreme appeared in the sixth season of RuPaul's Drag Race, where she placed fifth and was voted Miss Congeniality by viewers. In 2018, she appeared in the third season of RuPaul's Drag Race: All Stars, where, after a record-breaking fifth challenge win in episode 6, she chose to eliminate herself, claiming she had already proven herself and that she felt the other remaining contestants wanted the crown more than she did. Many fans were shocked at this decision, as her track record heavily favored her to win the entire competition. DeLa is the only Drag Race contestant so far to win five challenges in a single season, win four episodes consecutively and, at the time, win the "Snatch Game" challenge on more than one season (later joined by season 7 and All Stars 6 contestant Ginger Minj, as well as Season 5 and All Stars 7 contestant Jinkx Monsoon), and currently still has the best statistics of any queen to have ever competed in Drag Race.

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role
2014	Drag Becomes Her	Herself
2015	Waxie Moon in Fallen Jewel
2019	Trixie Mattel: Moving Parts
2020	The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Special
	Happiest Season	Miss L'Teau

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
2014	RuPaul's Drag Race	Contestant	Season 6; 5th place, Miss Congeniality
	RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked		Season 6
2018	RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars		Season 3; 6th place after self elimination
2021	Dragging the Classics: The Brady Bunch[21]	Greg Brady
2022	Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror	Herself	3 episodes
2023	The Daily Show		Guest
	Drag Me to Dinner[22]		Hulu original reality series
	Celebrity Family Feud		Guest[23]

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2014	Capitol Hill	Herself	Presenter	[24]
	Transformations		Guest	[25]
	Ring My Bell			[26]
2018	Whatcha Packin'			[27]
	How To Makeup		Episode: "Unclockable Hairline"	[28]
2022	Binge Queens		Recurring	[29]
2023	The Pit Stop		Guest with Jinkx Monsoon	[30]

Podcasts

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2023	Minor Revelations (with Drew Droege)	Herself	Guest	[31]
	Hello Isaac (with Isaac Mizrahi)			[32]
	The Fire UpStairs			[33]

Discography

As lead artist

Song	Year	Album
"Internationolidays" (with Jinkx Monsoon)	2021	Non-album singles
"Looking at the Lights" (with Jinkx Monsoon)	2022

As featured artist

Year	Title	Album
2016	"The Nativity Twist"	Christmas Queens 2
2018	"Drag Up Your Life" (RuPaul featuring BeBe Zahara Benet, BenDeLaCreme, Kennedy Davenport, Shangela, & Trixie Mattel)	Non-album single

Awards and nominations

Year	Award Giving Body	Category	Work	Results	Ref.
2020	Queerty Awards	Drag Royalty	Herself	Nominated	[34]
2021		Lockdown LOL	The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Special	Won	[35]
2024		Live Theater	The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show	Won	[36][37]

See also

• LGBT culture in Seattle
• The Jinkx and DeLa Holiday Show

References

1. @bendelacreme (September 25, 2015). "Thank you everyone for all the birthday wishes yesterday! It was a great one and I'm so excited for all the fun in the coming year! 💋🎉🍰" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
2. "RuPaul tour serves up enter-taint-ment - The Gateway". The Gateway. The Gateway: The Official Student Newspaper of the University of Alberta. 11 February 2015. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
3. "EVERYONE IS TRAUMATIZED BY CHRISTMAS". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved June 23, 2023.
4. "End Stage Happiness: BenDeLaCreme Makes Solo Provincetown Debut - Provincetown Magazine". Provincetown Magazine. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
5. "Benjamin Putnam". Ancestry Institute. Ancestry. Retrieved November 12, 2022.
6. @bendelacreme (September 5, 2023). "Like 27 adults asked me if I was SURE I didn't want my senior yearbook page to have a bunch of quotes and stuff all over it" – via Instagram.
7. "The Newly Crowned Miss Congeniality BenDeLaCreme Takes Over NYC with 'Terminally Delightful' New Show". Drag Official. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
8. "BenDeLaCreme: Going Solo in 'Terminally Delightful' - ARTES MAGAZINE". ARTES MAGAZINE. Archived from the original on 2015-11-17. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
9. "Q&A with Ben Delacreme from RuPaul's Drag Race". Sacramento Press. Archived from the original on 2015-10-18. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
10. "Art Connects Us, Volume 18". Archived from the original on 2022-02-22. Retrieved 2022-02-22.
11. "Homo for the Holidays: An Interview With Ben DeLaCreme". The Stranger. Archived from the original on 2015-11-23. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
12. Staff, Stranger. "The Lineup". The Stranger. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
13. "BenDeLaCreme Adds Performances to TERMINALLY DELIGHTFUL, 5/23-25". BroadwayWorld.com. Wisdom Digital Media. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
14. "Last Words With RuPaul's Drag Race's BenDeLaCreme | Advocate.com". www.advocate.com. 2015-10-01. Retrieved 2015-10-26.
15. "Jinkx Monsoon, Colby Keller and Kenny Brain in Capitol Hill Season 2 Trailer". HuffPost. 4 August 2015.
16. "Anita Gillette, BenDeLaCreme, and More Win Big at MAC Awards".
17. "How drag stars BenDeLaCreme and Jinkx Monsoon reinvented the holiday show in 2020". 5 December 2020.
18. @bendelacreme (May 23, 2023). "Proud to be a part of Unilever's United We Stand 2023 where measurable change for our community is at the forefront" – via Instagram.
19. @bendelacreme (July 5, 2023). "Eight years ago this guy entered my life and over time revealed himself to be one of the kindest, smartest, sweetest, strongest, most loyal yet fiercely independent people I've ever known" – via Instagram.
20. @bendelacreme (June 23, 2023). "Today is @gus_lanza birthday!" – via Instagram.
21. Hatchett, Keisha (June 23, 2021). "RuPaul's Drag Race Will Team with Brady Bunch Cast for Crossover Episode — Plus, Watch the First Act of All Stars 6". TVLine. Retrieved June 23, 2021.
22. Rice, Lynette (May 1, 2023). "'Drag Me To Dinner': Hulu Announces Premiere Date For Unscripted Series From Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved May 2, 2023.
23. "Willam, Manila, Symone, Ben, & Bianca will be on Celebrity Family Feud". www.reddit.com. May 15, 2023. Retrieved May 17, 2023.
24. BenDeLaCreme presents "Capitol Hill" Episode 1. YouTube. March 3, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
25. James St. James and BenDeLaCreme: Transformations. YouTube. August 5, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
26. BenDeLaCreme on Ring My Bell. YouTube. August 17, 2014. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
27. Whatcha Packin: BenDeLaCreme | Season 3 Episode 6 | RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars. YouTube. March 5, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
28. Ben De La Creme's Unclockable Hairline: HOW TO MAKEUP. YouTube. October 26, 2018. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
29. SPOILER ALERT: Binge Queens - RuPaul's Drag Race UK vs The World Season 1, Episode 1. YouTube. February 3, 2022. Retrieved February 4, 2022.
30. "The Pit Stop 🏁 Bianca Del Rio & Jinkx Monsoon & BenDeLaCreme! | RuPaul's Drag Race S15". Youtube.com. January 7, 2023. Retrieved January 12, 2023.
31. @bendelacreme (April 22, 2023). "Have you listened to @drew_droege 's Minor Revelations pod yet?" – via Instagram.
32. @bendelacreme (June 21, 2023). "This week on @helloisaacpodcast, our guest @bendelacreme talks with @imisaacmizrahi about her drag origin story & so much more" – via Instagram.
33. @bendelacreme (July 13, 2023). "Have you listened to @thefireupstairs podcsst yet?" – via Instagram.
34. "'The 2020 Queerties". Cheat Sheet. February 28, 2020.
35. "Lockdown LOL Winners". The Queerties. Archived from the original on 14 May 2022. Retrieved 14 May 2022.
36. "@JinkxMonsoon: "Our opus…The Jinkx & DeLa Holiday Show (2024 version) is nominated for best Live Theater at the #Queerties!"". Twitter. Retrieved 24 January 2024.
37. "Live Theater Winners". The Queerties. Retrieved 3 April 2024.

External links

• Media related to BenDeLaCreme at Wikimedia Commons