Guests at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Kyiv often spotted Ukrainian singer Verka Serduchka and her gang hanging out around the main venue of the contest, dressed the same as they were at the Eurovision in 2007, where the singer came second.
But this wasn’t the real Serduchka and her entourage – it was a group of four German Eurovision fans who every year dress up as Eurovision stars.
German fans Andreas Goesmann, Daniel Reding, Thorsten Driller and Diddy Ebbert dress up as Ukraine’s Verka Serduchka, Eurovision 2007 contestant.
The four, Andreas Goesmann, Daniel Reding, Thorsten Driller and Diddy Ebbert, caught Eurovision mania several years ago, and have never gotten over it.
This is the sixth time they have come to watch the song contest live, meet foreign fans, and explore the host country. And each time they stand out from the crowd, dressing up like Eurovision legends, always picking a look that is easy to identify.
“If you’re going to make a costume, you want people to recognize it,” Goesmann said.
Big in Germany
Previously the friends have dressed up as Jedward, the famous duo from Ireland, and the Buranovskiye Babushki (the Buranovo Grannies) who represented Russia at the 2012 contest.
This time they chose to dress up as Verka Serduchka and her gang, who, they said, are very popular in Germany.
“If we have a Eurovision party, we always play Serduchka’s music,” Goesmann said. “Over the last 15 years she has been one of our favorites.”
Verka Serduchka Eurovision 2007’s multilingual drag performance.
Goesmann co-owns a bridal and evening dress shop. In winter, his tailors don’t get many orders and he uses this time to design and make new costumes for his friends and himself.
To recreate Serduchka’s famous hat with the star on top, they used a Christmas decoration. They also had to surf the internet to buy a pair of large-sized high-heeled shoes.
The four come from the small town of Warstein in central Germany, and had been friends for a while before finding they had a shared passion for impersonation.
After German singer Lena won the contest with her song “Satellite” in 2010, Eurovision 2011 was held in Düsseldorf, which is only 150 kilometers away from their hometown. It was a great opportunity to start watching the shows live, and they haven’t skipped a single year since then.
Here for fun
The four are not big fans of ballads. This year they preferred the energetic performances of the Romanian and Belarusian contestants to the winning song of Portugal’s Salvador Sobral.
Nevertheless, they understand why Sobral charmed the audience.
“He (Sobral) made me cry, it was really nice,” Driller said.
Germany, for the third time in a row, did poorly in the contest, coming second last with only six points. However, the fans said Eurovision is not about winning – it’s about having fun.
“We (Germans) don’t really compete. We watch the show and enjoy it,” Driller said.
The fans said that organization of the song contest in Kyiv had been perfect – apart from the ticket sales.
“It was a disaster with the tickets, because it wasn’t easy to get them,” Goesmann said.
They said they had enjoyed visiting Ukraine, as people are friendly and welcoming here. They were impressed by the Pyrohovo Folk Architecture and Life Museum, and also adored Ukrainian borscht and dumplings.
And while this time next year the group of friends is going to Lisbon, they said they hope to come back to Ukraine again soon.
