The Eurovision Song Contest has been bewitching audiences for over 60 years. has gripped the world since going global with its general insanity.
So what better than combining the two?
In a makeshift Eurovision Masked Singer combo, fans have been guessing just who is under those yellow wolf masks in the Norwegian band Subwoolfer – and one of them could be rather familiar to anybody who cultivated their crushes based on posters in Smash Hits magazine in the late 90s.
It has been widely speculated that A1 star Ben Adams is one of the members of the Norwegian Eurovision entry, who are set to compete with their quirky club banger Give That Wolf a Banana.
For those of you not in the know, Subwoolfer are made up of two people in suits and yellow wolf head masks, called Keith and Jim, joined by DJ Astronaut. They competed at Norway’s national selection Melodi Grand Prix and won, securing their spot at Eurovision. Instead of revealing who is under those masks, the band issued a rather interesting backstory for Subwoolfer – in that they are the most successful band in the galaxy, having formed 4.5 billion years ago on the moon. (Still, not the weirdest thing to happen to Eurovision.)
So how does Ben ‘Smash Hits Poll Winners Party Most Fanciable Male 2001’ Adams fit into all of this? Well, the Norwegian newspaper VG – which you may recognise as the outlet that hunted down the Tinder Swindler – did some sleuthing days after the Melodi Grand Prix final and reported that a car registered to Adams was outside the H3 Arena in Bærum, at the same time Subwoolfer were recording their backup ‘live on tape’ performance for Eurovision.
The other person they reported to be at the arena? Gaute Ormåsen, a former runner-up on Norwegian Idol who has competed twice at Melodi Grand Prix, in 2010 and 2013.
Now, you may think that Gaute makes more sense to be part of Norway’s Eurovision effort, but Ben actually has plenty of links to both Norway and Eurovision. The 40-year-old’s fiancee Sara Skjoldnes is Norwegian, and the couple live in Norway with their daughter, who was born last September.
As for Norway’s Eurovision efforts, Ben and his A1 bandmates reformed to compete at Melodi Grand Prix in 2010 – alongside Gaute – but they came second in the final to Didrik Solli-Tangen.
He then officially returned for this year’s Grand Prix, writing the track Titans for Vilde alongside the singer herself and Sindre Timberlid Jenssen, and funnily enough, competed against his A1 bandmate Christian Ingebrigtsen, who attempted to make it to Turin with his song Wonder of the World.
But it was Subwoolfer who emerged victorious, and our A1 at Eurovision dreams were over… or were they?
Keith and Jim’s vocals are edited slightly, so they’re hard to decipher on their song, but in this performance of Alexander Rybak’s winning song Fairytale, Ben’s vocals are a bit easier to hear.
NRK, Norway’s broadcaster, has not commented on the identity of Subwoolfer, and Ben himself has done his best to convince everybody that he is not involved. On an Instagram story watching Subwoolfer perform, he filmed himself saying: ‘What on earth am I watching? This is amazing! Why couldn’t I have been in this band?’
A likely story, Mr Adams.
Now, other acts have been rumoured to be under those masks, including Norwegian comedy duo Ylvis, best known for their song The Fox (What Does The Fox Say) – and it would definitely make sense as a sequel. But if Ben is indeed under that mask, we’re one step closer to a Same Old Brand New re-release, and hey – maybe we can claim that as a UK win, right?
In search of answers, we went to a rep for Ben, who told us: ‘I’ve known him for over 10 years, since I put him in the Celeb Big Brother house when it was still Channel 4, but he still won’t confirm or deny if he is a member of Subwoolfer.
‘I’ve listened to the track & I could be wrong, but it certainly sounds like him.’
Norway will compete in semi-final one in Turin on 10 May, ahead of the grand final on 14 May.
