The Eurovision Saga of Iceland's Silvia Night

 

Silvia Night, whose real name is Ágústa Eva Erlendsdóttir, is one of the most colorful trolls you’ll ever come across. Ágústa Eva, the temporary lead singer of the Icelandic band Ske, and Gaukur Úlfarsson decided to create a character embodying the worst traits of human behavior. Silvia's personality is deeply narcissistic; she sees herself as the most talented and famous person on Earth. Her full name is Silvía Nótt Sæmundsdóttir, meaning "Queen of Silver," with her surname translating to "night."

Silvia’s favorite foods are sushi and feta cheese. She makes her living as a model, singer, and movie star.

Her speech is laced with heavy slang and plenty of English words. In some episodes of her show aired in Japan, she even spoke Japanese. Silvia had a significant impact on young people, with kids imitating her style in their daily conversations. While some found her behavior rude and offensive, her supporters argued that her actions were a satirical critique of modern society's greed. It took people a long time to realize Silvia Night was a fictional character. Even in real life, many preferred to refer to Ágústa Eva as Silvia Night.

In 2005, Silvia Night won "Comedy Program of the Year" and "Television Personality of the Year" at the Icelandic Film and Television Awards. Following her victory in the national final, Silvia represented Iceland at the 2006 Eurovision Song Contest with her song Congratulations. Although the song was performed in Icelandic during the national final, it was sung in English at Eurovision. Despite being released online before the contest, which technically violated the rules, the song was allowed to compete. Silvia placed 13th in the semi-final, failing to qualify for the final. However, her dramatic behavior during rehearsals and interactions with the press left a lasting impression on the competition.

When she didn’t make it to the final, Silvia (in character) attempted to jump off a bridge. She hurled insults at the winners Lordi, Sweden’s Carola, and the Dutch band Treble. A video of her meltdown was viewed 1.3 million times on YouTube within four days.

Silvia’s Unforgettable Quotes:

Reporter: "Why didn’t people vote for you and instead voted for Lordi?"
Silvia: "Unbelievable! Lordi doesn’t even have a proper makeup artist!"

Silvia: "Someone is spreading lies about me—yes, it’s you!" (randomly pointing at a journalist)

And Her Gaffes:

Referring to Treble, the group representing the Netherlands in 2006:
"I’m not a Dutch wh*re."

Back then, Silvia’s antics caused widespread outrage. She even dared to criticize Greece, the host country, with bold remarks. The strange part? No one wanted to believe she might be a fictional character.

Let’s sing together:
So congratulations, I have arrived
I’m Silvia Night and I’m shining so bright
Eurovision nation, your dream’s coming true
You’ve been waiting forever for me to save you

Fun fact: Ágústa Eva, the actress behind Silvia Night, also voiced Elsa in the Icelandic version of Frozen, singing the iconic song Let It Go in Icelandic.