CONCHITA WURST
15 Fabulous Facts About Eurovision Queen Conchita Wurst, compiled by Phillip Portman.
1 The man behind the lady is 25-year-old Tom Neuwirth.
2 Conchita is a slang word referring to a lady’s “front bottom” and wurst means “sausage”.
3 As a teenager, Tom rose to fame in his home country of Austria when he reached the finals on reality talent show, Starmania. He was later part of a boy band named Jetzt Anders, made up of other Starmania contestants. 4 The world was first met Conchita Wurst in 2011 when she was as a contestant on another reality program, Die Große Chance.
5 Tom says he created Conchita as a statement of acceptance and tolerance after he faced discrimination as a teenager. 6 Conchita’s resemblance to both Jesus Christ and Kim Kardashian is uncanny and has inspired a number of memes.
7 Conchita has appeared on a reality show called Wild Girls in which a bunch of ladies had to live in the Namibian Desert.
8 She tried out for Eurovision two years ago but didn’t make it.
9 Following the news that Conchita had been selected to compete in the 2014 Eurovision, Russia, Armenia and Belarus set up petitions to ban her from participating. They threatened to edit her out of their local broadcasts. 10 Austria fired back with a “Knit For Tolerance” campaign. People wore knitted beards to show their support. A global trend ensued. Thousands rocked up to Eurovision parties sporting fake beards. Celebrity beard memes took over the interwebs.
11 Homophobes in Russia retaliated by shaving off their beards and sharing the photos on Instagram. 12 Speaking of beards, Conchita’s is real but is fleshed out with the help of make-up.
13 Following her Eurovision win, Conchita declared to the world, “This night is dedicated to everyone who believes in a future of peace and freedom. You know who you are – we are unity and we are unstoppable.”
14 Her win is the “end of Europe” according to Russian MP Vladimir Zhirinovsky. “There is no end to our outrage,” he said. “Fifty years ago the Soviet army occupied Austria. We made a mistake in freeing Austria. We should have stayed.” Others propose that Russia cease participation in Eurovision and compete in a Voice Of Eurasia competition instead.
15 Her song, Rise Like A Phoenix topped the charts at home in Austria and reached #1 on iTunes in Russia. It also cracked the top ten in Denmark, Sweden, Germany, France, Italy and Sweden.