It’s been two years since Bryan Watkins and his creative team won ABC’s “Great Christmas Light Fight” championship. The immersive, over-the-top Vegas-styled display gained national attention, significantly impacting Watkins’ life.
“I’ve been a fan of the show for years, so I wanted to be a part of it,” Watkins said. “We knew we had to push the envelope. If we were going to do it, we would do it all the way.”
The “Great Christmas Light Fight” is a seasonal decorating competition series on ABC. Four families across the United States compete weekly to transform their homes into a festive utopia with extravagant decorations. The winning display earns the homeowner $50,000.
“To qualify for the program, you must be an extreme decorator,” Watkins said. “Essentially, you have to be the best of the best.”
Watkins, an “American Drag Queen” and “Ru Paul’s Drag Race TV Show” alum, performs under the stage name Shannel as a headliner at Voss Events’ Drag Brunch at Treasure Island. The Vegas entertainer is passionate about the holidays and typically brings the season’s spirit alive in a colossal fashion. Competing, nationally, required him to pull out all the stops.
“I wanted a completely immersive experience,” Watkins said. “I have been drawn to Walt Disney as a visionary my whole life. He always pushed the envelope, making the impossible happen. That is how I like to think about decor and Christmas in general. When it comes to imagination, you create like a painter with a blank canvas.
“Typically, the show is based on exterior design,” he added. “We took it a step further and did the inside of the house. They (the show judges) were amazed and blown away.”
From the front of his house to the backyard and everything in between, Watkins’ spectacular display covered every inch of open space. The only space not decorated was the garage.
Starting at the curb, the entire front yard was filled with larger-than-life ornaments, toys and decorations.
The centerpiece was a 12-foot moving Jester-in-the-box, surrounded by two 1,000-pound Christmas ornaments. An enormous stuffed teddy bear seated on the roof wore a Santa hat and held a candy cane. His pièce de resistance — a 16-foot 2,000-pound Plexiglass star repurposed from the Bellagio’s atrium.
Watkins enlisted the help of electricians and professional riggers to lift the heavy pieces. Their size and weight required heavy equipment, including a crane, to lower them into place.
“I wanted it to look like you opened a gigantic toy box or Santa’s bag, and it spilled out everywhere,” Watkins said. “You walked up to the house, and it was a ‘Honey, I shrunk the audience’ experience. You’re standing next to something 15 feet tall.”
Entering the home, Watkins’ ostentatious interior engaged the senses with sights, sounds and smells of the holiday. Every room had a different theme, from a whimsical escape to a gingerbread sweet shop, traditional green and red décor and a ski chalet with reindeer and plaids.
“When I decorate, I like to figure out what will work best thematically,” Watkins said. “In my home, I wanted to take them on a journey so every single room in the entire house was completely transformed, from the floor to the ceiling, down to my closet.”
The project began in July 2022, with Watkins removing everything from the home, including décor, furniture, wallpaper and lighting.
Over the next five months, he and his crew painstakingly transformed his 3,300-square-foot home into a magical Christmas fantasy world with animatronics, nutcrackers, decorated trees and several Santa Clauses.
They brought in the furniture and décor needed to build the designated theme from the ground up. Watkins’ crew of six to eight members painted walls, installed wallpaper, created custom draperies and fabrics and changed the lighting. Before the November deadline, Watkins worked an average of 25 hours a week, spending well over 500 hours on the entire project. It took two months to take everything down and pack it up for storage.
“I slept with elves, nutcrackers, Mrs. Claus and Santa for months,” Watkins said, laughing. “The last few weeks were really crazy because we were working around the clock.”
His longtime roommate, best friend and business partner, Chelsea Dalley-Wright, organized the project and kept it on schedule. She lived in the home until the last six weeks when she moved out temporarily to make room for out-of-town friends to help with the project.
“You didn’t know where anything was,” said Dalley-Wright about living in the home. “The most important thing became knowing where the coffee mugs were and that the coffee machine was working. It truly was a project of love.”
Her favorite space was the kitchen, converted into a gingerbread sweet shop. The space incorporated animatronic elves and pastel colors of peaches, corals, hot pinks and turquoise, enhanced by tantalizing smells of sweets.
“Some of the show’s requirements is the DIY projects,” Dalley-Wright said. “My favorite DIY project was creating a slipcover for our kitchen island. When Bryan came up with the idea, I thought it was brilliant because it changed the room’s aesthetic.”
Watkins’ favorite part of the display was his tribute to Harry Potter adorning his stairwell. The magical space radiated wonder with gold-gilded music notes, floating candlesticks in glass orbs and bronze animal heads protruding from the wall. At the top of the stairs stood Santa, standing next to a giant grandfather clock, which Watkins imagined as the entry to Ol’ St. Nick’s hidden library.
“It was almost ethereal looking,” Watkins said. “It was so beautiful with rich hunter-greens, golds, dark burgundy and deep mahogany woods.”
Another highlight was Watkins’ bedroom, which metamorphosed into the Swiss Alps. The room showcased 10 flocked trees, animatronic polar bears, white garlands and lights. A thick fog permeated the bedroom floor using a dry ice machine under his bed. In his bathroom, Santa sat in the middle of the bathtub, surrounded by a sea of glass crystalized ornaments made to look like bubbles.
During the 2022 season, Watkins opened his home to more than 5,000 spectators. He even transported guests on a rented bus to the property to experience the brilliance of his design.
“Sometimes, through the season, there would be 100 to 200 people outside waiting to come in,” Watkins said. “It was crazy, but it’s amazing when you got grown men with their kids in their arms, and they come in and see everything, and the dad has tears coming down his face. You know you’ve done your job when you have those moments.”
Winning the competition launched Watkins and his creative team in a new direction. Now, he and Dalley-Wright help others decorate their homes or businesses through their new company, Santa’s Helpers Design LLC.
“It impacted my life in more ways than I could have imagined. The show’s viewership gets around 10 million people a year,” Watkins said. “We got a lot of messages from people around the world asking if we could do the décor for their home or business, so it catapulted the company into what it is, and it’s amazing.”
Watkins rents out his over-the-top décor to residential and commercial clients, creating displays like his award-winning entry. Over the last two years, he has designed displays for Allegiant Stadium, venues at the Paris and Wynn.
“Our business is unique,” Dalley-Wright said. “We provide many things that allow Bryan to create and bring Christmas magic to Las Vegas. We do what we do to create happiness, so I hope we can continue this for years to come.”
Since launching, the business has grown significantly. Watkins plans to consolidate all his décor into one 8,300-square-foot location, creating a showroom for clients to see the décor.
“What’s nice is we have things you’re not going to find in Vegas,” Watkins said. “I like it to be extreme and over-the-top. We’re going to give you all the bells and whistles.”
In the future, Watkins hopes to bring the holiday spirit year-round with a Christmas experience in Las Vegas.
“I want to re-create the North Pole, or what I believe the North Pole would look like,” Watkins said. “Where do Santa and Mrs. Claus live? Where do the elves live and work? My five-year plan is to build that as an experience for people.”