“Star Wars” finalists Sandra Lyng and Knut Marius have competed on TV before – VG

Knut Marius won over Sandra Lyng (33).

The winner burst into tears when the result was read out.

– It feels absolutely fantastic! I am incomprehensibly happy. I have put so much time and effort into this. It has been such an intense period. To stand here with a victory is absolutely insane, that is! he cheered on TV.

The 32-year-old then listed many he wanted to thank.

– My family and wife, Maria. And everyone who has voted. This is a dream come true.

—

Knut Marius also paid attention to the competitor.

– Sandra is an absolutely fantastic artist. Congratulations, Sandra, said Knut Marius to the rival, who had to settle for second place.

– Feels completely wild

Knut Marius has done it again – gone and won a singing competition on TV. Seven years have passed since the artist with an education in rhythmic music ran away first place in «The Voice».

– It feels completely wild, says Knut Marius to VGTV after the new victory.

– I have clung on every week. Then this happens.

VGTV is present in Nydalen and meets the two finalists after the broadcast (the article continues during the broadcast):

Minutes after the triumph is in port, it has not yet dawned on Knut Marius that he won.

– But I know I sang “The Show Must Go On” again. I’m about to explode and am probably in a state of shock, says the victor from Tomrefjord in Møre og Romsdal.

In recent years, Knut Marius has worked as a freelance musician and been on stage in musicals such as “Jesus Christ Superstar”, “Chess” and “We love ABBA”. Molde’s football fans also remember him for the cup final song in 2013.

In 2015, Knut Marius married Maria Valseth, and the couple have two children together. In 2018, the family settled in Oslo.

When VG gets Knut Marius on the phone a little later in the evening, when he has summed up, we ask what it really means for him to win?

– That means so very a lot. After so many months of trying and making things mine. By standing in front of the mirror or window and trying to do well. So now it feels incredibly big, answers the 32-year-old, who emphasizes that he entered the competition with great humility.

He still walks around in a euphoria.

– But I have changed my clothes and now function as a human being again, he laughs.

Also now it is important to praise the rival.

– I had a tough competitor. Sandra has been almost as shameless as me when it comes to song choices, Knut Marius thinks.

“Balls enough”

– What kind of new opportunities will this mean for you?

– The biggest bonus of participating and then winning is to show what you have. People have noticed it now, and it’s cool. Now it will first be a Christmas tour with other musicians, and then a completely separate tour through the winter, he explains.

– I have not had my very own tour balls before, but now I will travel all over Norway and get to know those who have voted for me and sent me messages.

—

The health problems he previously thought would put an end to the music dream have passed.

– It was a lot of mental, and thanks to good help I got back on the horse. Now I’ll just look ahead.

There will also be more time with the family. Knut Marius is looking forward to the calm subsiding.

– This has been extremely immersive. Now I’m going to sit down on the floor tomorrow morning with my kids and look them in the eye.

Proud tower

Sandra took the “defeat” with a grain of salt. She shouted for joy to be number two.

– Lasse, my darling, I love you, Sandra said to her cohabitant Lasse Joachim Langerud, who she has a two year old son with.

– Thank you for being a single dad a lot during this period. And thank you to everyone who voted, she said smiling on TV.

– It is very strange, now there will suddenly be a hole in the bubble I have been in for so long, Sandra told VGTV after broadcast.

She explains that she did not have so much faith that she had anything to do in the competition, but that she has felt the feeling of mastery along the way. Some second place she had not really dared to hope for.

– I had no idea. Now I have been here in the final. It’s so cool, said the 33-year-old, who became a national celebrity through in “Idol” 16 years ago. Then she ended up in fourth place.

– No doubt

VG’s reviewer Tor Martin Bøe rolled the dice throughout the evening, including two sixes to Knut Marius. See the verdict further down.

Bøe is not surprised that it went as it went.

– Knut Marius has to that extent been the participant who has delivered and delivered throughout the season, he says.

Only once has Knut Marius been among the bottom three.

– From the first stanza he has shown impressive flexibility and voice strength. Especially in recent programs, he has been completely unique, the reviewer believes.

– In the final, Knut Marius showed that there should be no doubt. In every way a worthy winner of an exceptionally strong season, Bøe concludes.

See more photos and referee reactions during all the dice rolls.

While Knut Marius has been among the viewer favorites and critics’ favorites in “Star Wars” from the first moment, Sandra has had to be in the infamous danger zone several times.

She has even experienced being sent out of the competition – which turned out to be due voting curl. Thus was Sandra inside again as fast as she was out – and since then she has taken revenge on revenge.

Maria Mena (34), last year’s winner Bilal Saab (21) and Mona B. Riise (48) sat on the judging panel.

Songs and order

1. Sandra: «Run This Town» (Jay-Z feat. Rihanna og Kanye West) fra 2009:

– Here was the reason why I wanted to come back as a judge. I believe in you like that. Thanks! said Maria Mena after the performance.

Bilal Saab thought that this “sounded bullets and gunpowder”.

—

2. Knut Marius: «With a Little Help from My Friends» (Joe Cocker) fra 1969:

– I feel that I am cleansed when you turn your soul. I think you’ll get all the gruff out in those minutes. This was fun! in Mona.

– You are fantastic. Had I had your vocal cords, I would also have pressed, said Maria, who still called for a little restraint.

—

Sandra with her new single «Get rid of flag»:

– Two years ago I became a mother, and then maybe I got an idea that I could not continue as an artist. But with “Star Wars” I got a new lease of life, she explained about her self-written song.

– It feels like I deliver my whole soul. A bit like standing naked, she confided on TV.

The judging panel was also enthusiastic about this performance, and thought Sandra showed vulnerability in a particularly nice way.

—

4. Knut Marius with his new single: “Can you help me help”:

The song is very personal, it is about mental health, and Knut Marius confided on TV that he has previously felt anxiety and fear that his health would prevent him from pursuing his musical dream.

The jury bragged uncontrollably, including Maria.

– I take back what I said instead, said Maria, about the fact that she expressed longing for a little more calmness.

—

5. Sandra’s final song: «Titanium» David Guetta and Sia’s hit song from 2011:

– It gets sad when “Star Wars” is over. I have grown on this, Sandra said in tonight’s broadcast.

– I feel I have a large group of friends behind me. “Star Wars” has given me more faith in myself. I am left as a stronger lady.

—

6. Knut Marius’ final song: Queen’s 1991 classic “The Show Must Go On”:

– Songs are important in the time we are now. You sit at home a lot. Concerts are canceled. Hope everyone who sits at home and in the hall and watches – that “the show must go on”, Knut Marius explained in the broadcast.

The jury was in ecstasy. “Insane” and “you can follow fucking Freddy Mercury”, it sounded in the tributes from Bilal and Maria.

—

Did you think it was the first time Sandra and Knut Marius faced each other in battle? Think again. They have actually met once before. It happened in 2014, when they appeared on their respective teams in “Beat for Beat”.

– Yes, that’s right, Knut Marius explains to VG.

—

But he and Sandra have not had a new meeting until they saw each other again in “Star Wars”.

– That time with “Beat for Beat” we just talked together at lunch, sang our songs and went our separate ways. Little did I know what the two of us would duel about a few years later, says Knut Marius

– Spinnvilt

– Almost even more fun is that it is the girl I sat and watched in “Idol” in 2004, who sang on the TV in my living room, who was to be my final opponent in a dream program like “Star Wars”. Life is wild, says Knut Marius.

Who won in 2014, he is not sure.

– I actually do not remember, strangely enough, but I think it was Anine and me.

Nor does Sandra remember who took the victory in “Beat for Beat”.

– But it was probably them, she says.