Meet Beto - Australia's biggest Eurovision superfan!

If you have been around the Eurovision fandom in Australia long enough, especially in Melbourne or have been lucky enough to attend the Contest over the past few years, you will likely have ran into Aussie superfan Beto. He has been to an incredible eight Contests and he is known for his detailed outfits and it has gotten him some attention in the past... and has a big surprise coming up!

Hayley from the Aussievision Team caught up with Beto ahead of him flying over to Switzerland for the 2025 Contest.

So Beto, it is clear you have a love for Eurovision and a devotion to dressing up for Eurovision. Is dressing up something you used to like doing as a kid?

Yes, I always liked to dress up and I love fashion.  As a kid I loved Halloween and dressing up for family parties. I suppose, I’ve always been flamboyant and colourful when comes to fashion. 

Living in Melbourne has morphed my wardrobe into 50 shades of black! lol. 

Where did you learn to sew and who taught you?

I suppose I learnt from watching my mother who had a manual singer sewing machine. She used to make clothes for us kids. In my teens I was already doing alterations to my clothes but it was until I arrived in Melbourne in 2008 when I started to make clothes from scratch.

In my opinion: if there is a tutorial on YouTube a monkey can do it. Over the years I’ve been challenging myself to make more complex outfits. 

How many costumes have you made for Eurovision?

The exact number of costumes I have made is unknown. My first was Verka Serdushka, as the previous year was the year I discovered Eurovision while visiting a friend in London on the Final day. 

Lordi was my introduction to Eurovision!

Which one of your many costumes has been your favourite and which one has been the hardest to make?

I have a special place in my heart to the Käärijä bolero because of the BBC making me a meme. Maybe the hardest was last year we had a Eurovision themed Halloween party in Melbourne... and I challenged myself to make the Lordi outfit. It took me 2.5 months to make it! 

My outfits for me are like my babies. I love them all. 

Last year my Nemo outfit was the plan B for Nemo as they asked me if they can borrow it for the rehearsals if their replacement outfit didn’t arrive on time. 

I know in Turin you had the Sheldon Riley black outfit ready and then when he changed to white, what did you have to do to get the outfit changed?

As soon as I saw that Sheldon was wearing white, I went op-shopping in Turin and I made the white outfit in four hours at my hotel room. The outfit was made of four different second-hand garments. 

You were already on the Aussie fan radar in Liverpool... but how did you feel when you were interviewed by BBC because they thought you were Käärijä ? Did you realise at the time that they actually thought you were the real deal? 

That was a funny coincidence!  As I was walking out of the stadium on first night of the semi-finals, I was heading to the EuroClub and lots of fans were stopping me for pictures. Kate the reporter and her camera man saw the crowd surrounding me and also asked me for pictures as well. 

All of a sudden, without telling me who they were or asking if I was the real Käärijä, they just asked me if they could interview me. So of course, I said yes!

The following day, that interview was featured on the morning news. Then Twitter did what Twitter does. 

Two days later I had a second interview with the BBC to clarify the mistake!

Can you tell us anything about the costumes you are taking over to Basel for this year?

So I have made outfits for Estonia, Italy and Australia. I also bought a red suit (for Belgium) and a shiny black one backup as I don’t know what JJ from Austria is wearing. 

I have also made some outfits for Jo (my partner): Finland, Spain and Malta. 

Have you worked out a schedule on when you are wearing them?

I’ll wear the Go-Jo outfit for the second semi-finals. The others I’ll alternate between after parties and other events. 

Tell us about the invite to participate in the second semi-final live show!

When Lachlan (President - OGAE Australia) announced that Swiss TV were going to make a capsule of a “Superfan” I thought... mmm, that sounds like me!

So I applied and Swiss TV contacted me and I had a video call with them. I told them about my outfits and my five minutes of fame in Liverpool. They liked it so they asked me if I was willing to participate and make some sewing videos and introduce my outfits to them. 

They also asked me if I had a ticket to the second semi-final and I said that I had the fan package. What they were actually asking me was could I sell my ticket as I will be backstage during the dress rehearsals and the live show. That got me excited. I know I may be locked in a room far away from everything or (which is what I wish would happen), I will be on a corridor watching participants going up and down the stage to perform their songs. Fingers crossed!!

In any case, I’m excited as they said that the trade-off is that my video capsule will be featured on the second semifinal live broadcast. 

I reckon that is every Eurovision superfan's dream come true!

For continued updates on all Eurovision Song Contest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, YouTube, Threads and Instagram. All the links can be found at: https://linktr.ee/aussievisionnet