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LyndaWoodruff

Lynda Woodruff, being played by Sarah Dawn Finer

Lynda Woodruff is a fictional character portrayed by Swedish actress and singer Sarah Dawn Finer, who participated at Melodifestivalen in 2009 and co-hosted the event in 2012 and 2019.

Background[]

Woodruff is portrayed as an English official spokesperson for the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) who speaks in an Estuary accent.[1] Despite her profession, she is often seen or heard doing comedic acts. Many of her running gags include:

  • Mispronouncing names and other various words
  • Getting confused/lost
  • Being clumsy

Woodruff first came into prominence during the final of Melodifestivalen 2012, where she made an introduction video of Azerbaijan (host country of the 2012 contest) tailored for Swedish viewers. In this video, she often mispronounced "Azerbaijan" and the 2011 Swedish entrant "Eric Saade", both of which would be heard in Woodruff's further appearances. She supposedly took a tour of the 2012 Contest venue Baku Crystal Hall, when the real-life location was actually Stockholm's Friends Arena which was on construction at that time.

Woodruff made further appearances in Melodifestivalen 2015, 2016 and 2019.

At Eurovision[]

2012[]

Woodruff presented the Swedish votes in 2012 as part of a gag by SVT, the Swedish broadcaster, continuing her running gag of mispronouncing "Azerbaijan".

The voting segment was played out of character during the final dress rehearsal.[2]

2013[]

With Sweden having won in 2012 with the song Euphoria, Woodruff was featured in three sketch shows in both the semi-finals and the grand final of 2013, taking a tour around various locations in Sweden.

The first sketch featured Woodruff in Jukkasjärvi, spending the night in the Icehotel, and taking part in dog sledding the next morning. During the dog sledding however, she complains, "Why can't Cyprus win the Eurovision Song Contest?!", referencing the 2012 Cypriot entry La La Love which Sweden gave their 12 points to.

The second sketch was a tour of Malmö, the host city of the 2013 contest. Prior to this, Woodruff had unknowingly travelled to the neighbouring city of Copenhagen, Denmark, and confusing Copenhagen attractions for that of Malmö. When told by a hot dog stand operator that she was in Denmark, she turned furious and blamed on Bonnie Tyler's song "Total Eclipse of the Heart" which was programmed into her vehicle's GPS.

Preceding the final sketch, the host Petra Mede said: "Lynda Woodruff has tried -- and I emphasise tried -- to show you the wonders of Sweden." Here, Woodruff travelled to Stockholm, and made several references to the 1974 winner ABBA, confusing them for the Swedish royal family.

2016[]

Woodruff returned to participate as an interval act in the 2016 contest in Stockholm. She appeared in a BBC sketch in the first semifinal with UK representatives Joe & Jake, and was also featured in a sketch during the grand final.

Trivia[]

  • Her "official" address is lynda.spokesperson@ebu.woodruff.eurovision/questionaire/fanscometogether.co.uk, which of course is an invalid address since there are slashes in the domain part of the email address.
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Videos[]

Lynda_Woodruff_(Interval_Act_at_the_Grand_Final_of_the_2016_Eurovision_Song_Contest)

Lynda Woodruff (Interval Act at the Grand Final of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest)

References[]

  1. Mingels, Marc (22 March 2013). Sarah Dawn Finer as Lynda Woodruff. ESCplus. Retrieved on 20 January 2023.
  2. ESC2012 - 3rd dress rehearsal mix. antibakterieLL1 on YouTube (10 August 2012). Retrieved on 30 January 2023.
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