The hamster-based celeb game which is delighting and frustrating Twitter
Whose head is Hammy on?
Twitter users are enjoying a guessing game involving close-ups of celebrities’ heads and a hamster.
For the #WhosHeadIsHammyOn game, Hamster McKenzie posts a photo of a celebrity with him perching on their head. Twitter users are then encouraged to guess who it is. Once they guess correctly, Hamster posts another one to guess.
The man behind the account is almost as much as a mystery as his game.
He is 37 and from Bristol but has chosen not to reveal his full identity.
He set up the account in 2017 to go alongside a new blog where he could try his writing.
“I didn’t want to look like an idiot myself if it bombed so I created a new Twitter account under a pseudonym where I would be safe from ridicule,” he told Press Association.
“Needless to say the blog DID bomb but I kept the Twitter account going.”
Thus, the happy Hamster McKenzie was born. “I’d like to say the name came about because I once had a hamster called McKenzie after the chap from Blazing Squad, but I’d be lying to you if I did,” said the account owner.
The #WhosHeadIsHammyOn game has only been going on for a month, but has already had 50 celebrities featured. The first was Laila Morse, who played Big Mo in EastEnders.
It has amassed a loyal band of followers who play each game, making guesses on which celebrity head Hammy is on.
“I like to mix up the celebrities I sit on,” he says.
“Most of the people who play the game are from the UK so there are a lot of British heads in there, but I do get a few overseas players too so I like to go with a global crown quite often just to keep everybody happy.”
The game may be a bit of fun, but it’s also helping the man behind the Hamster in other ways.
“I’m in a race to 1,500 followers with a friend of mine and I was trailing prior to this, now I’m winning,” he said. He’s almost at the target with at least 1,373 followers.
“I do have quite a few regulars now.
“People who request I do another round when I’ve just spent a solid hour writing ‘No’ to people who swear blind that Jeff Goldblum is actually Stephen Mulhern.
“Probably my favourite element is the sheer frustration I’m bringing into people’s lives. I’ve had plenty of fun abuse, name calling, dismissing my choice of famous person. No one has threatened me or blocked me as yet, so that’s nice.”
So where does the hamster hope this fun game will lead?
“Of course the main aim is for this to gain such a following that I become famous enough to sit on my own head…”
