THOUSANDS of the noisiest and most enthusiastic music fans are celebrating today after being picked as the MTV EMA "screamers".

Dancers, rappers, gymnasts - and other revellers with hidden talents - queued for hours outside the SSE Hydro at the weekend to be in with a chance of attending the European Music Awards on Sunday.

MTV chiefs called on music fans to audition to be part of the cast of the huge event, which will be hosted by American rapper Nicki Minaj, and will see performances by Ed Sheeran, Calvin Harris and Ariana Grande. They wanted to recruit more than 2000 screamers whose only role is to create as much noise as possible.

A panel of judges, including Capital Radio DJ Garry Spence, watched contestants do their best to impress them in just 60 seconds.

Dad-of-two Jordan Howat was delighted to be given a ticket after he wrote a rap inspired by the EMA.

The labourer, who lives in Cumbernauld with his partner Nicole and their daughters Niamh, 3, and 10-month-old Aaliyah, turns 23 on the same date as the EMA.

He said: "It's my birthday on Sunday so I wanted to have a party. I've never done anything like that before, I've never performed in front of a judging panel so it was scary.

"But I couldn't believe how nice they were about me. I do get told a lot by my friends that I'm talented but this has given me a really big boost."

University student Kayleigh Thornton, 18, teamed up with friends Abbie Draper, 24, Clayr Doolan, 30 and Symone Callaghan, 28, to perform a dance routine influenced by previous EMA shows.

Kayleigh, from the East End, said: "We are all dancers so we thought it would be fun to do a routine. It was so much fun and we couldn't believe we were given tickets."

Kayleigh added: "I think I'm going to have a sore throat next Monday because I'll be screaming so much."

Anastasia Radchenko, 23, captain of the Strathclyde Warriors cheerleading squad, impressed with her gymnastic skills.

She said: "I jumped at the chance to sign my team up for this audition.

"Performing in front of the judges was an absolute blast - we even taught them a chant and we can only imagine how amazing the EMA's will be."

rachel.loxton@eveningtimes.co.uk