All I Want for Christmas Contest 2024! (2 Viewers)

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First time hearing about this
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DJ Matt Facer looked out at the thousands of football fans packed into the stadium in Northampton, England, on Dec. 2, smiled at the thought of what he was about to do and pressed play.


A bouncy synth-pop beat pumped through the stands of Sixfields Stadium, home of the Northampton Town Football Club, who at halftime were already losing 2-0 to the visiting team from Portsmouth. Then came a smooth, angelic voice disguising the story of holiday heartbreak it was about to tell.

Last Christmas, I gave you my heart. But the very next day, you gave it away.

The British pop duo Wham!’s 1984 Christmas classic kept going, and just like that, Facer, who performs as DJ Mattyboy, knocked out potentially more than 7,000 people from “Whamageddon,” a game in which people try every year to make it as far as possible into the holidays without hearing “Last Christmas.”

Created nearly two decades ago by a group of friends in Denmark, Whamageddon has grown in popularity over the years, gaining traction across continental Europe, the United Kingdom and most recently in the United States as untold thousands risk turning on the radio or going to the mall, knowing that the next song could knock them out of this year’s game and banish them to “Whamhalla.”

“We want people to have fun,” said Thomas Mertz, a 42-year-old Danish IT consultant who helped create the game……

The game got the name “Whamageddon” around 2012, and in 2016, Mertz created a website and Facebook page for it.


Both lay out the rules:

Every year, the game starts on Dec. 1 and ends at midnight on Dec. 24. People are eliminated as soon as they hear and recognize the song, whether they are in a grocery store, the car or a dentist’s chair.

Only the original song counts, so people are free to listen to remixes or covers without being banished to “Whamhalla.”

And, although it’s not an official rule, Whamageddon’s creators encourage people not to deliberately whack their friends, reminding folks that it’s more individual survival game, less battle royal.
Tragedy helped catapult the game into the public consciousness.

The same year Mertz created the website and Facebook page, one of Wham!’s two members, pop superstar George Michael, died on Christmas Day, which created a “perfect viral moment” for Whamageddon, Mertz said……


 

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