Epic Sax Guy. You know him, you love him, but every hero has an origin story. And this 46 million view performance is where the Britain’s Got Talent star got his start. Epic Sax Guy, also known as Sergey Stepanov, became beloved to netizens everywhere with his mega viral performance on Moldova’s Eurovision entry, “Run Away” by Sunstroke Project and Olia Tira. Now, Epic Sax Guy was not the main event, at least as far as the official billing was concerned.
But Epic Sax Guy nonetheless stole the entire show with his iconic sax hook and, uh, let’s say suggestive dance moves. He started the performance as part of a backing dance trio, but the magic really happened at 0:40 when a dancer handed Epic Sax Guy his saxophone. He then dropped that catchy hook that has since been heard in countless memes. The Music Man has to say this was one of the most memorable Eurovision moments ever!
The Eurovision Song Contest uploaded the 2010 performance to its official YouTube channel, where it became one of the most popular videos in the history of the event. The video recently received a resurgence in 2026, when Epic Sax Guy appeared on Britain’s Got Talent. Fans still love the original video and added comments such as “Some people win the contest, others become legends” and “The sax guy isn’t supposed to be the protagonist, but EVERYBODY is here for him.”
Epic Sax Guy became the surprise viral hit of Britain’s Got Talent when he brought his sax-led take on “Run Away” to the show. Judge KSI dropped a cheeky meme version of “Run Away” on his YouTube channel in 2017, which blew up in a big way, with 35 million viewers tuning in. Epic Sax Guy very cleverly used this connection to make his Britain’s Got Talent appearances really pop off, with KSI even performing in the Moldovan’s second appearance on the show.
Moldovan trio Sunstroke Project recorded “Run Away” with Olia Tira, who is the female vocalist who appears at Eurovision. The music was written by the trio’s singer Anton Ragoza and Epic Sax Guy, while Alina Galetskaya provided English lyrics.
The Music Man readers might be interested to hear that “Run Away” stormed home to win the Moldovan competition to enter Eurovision, gaining the maximum amount of points possible from both televotes and the judges. The song placed 10th in the semifinal for Eurovision, and then 22nd out of 25 acts in the final.
A curious detail of the Eurovision performance is that Epic Sax Guy was not actually playing live. He had to mime for the performance, as the competition does not allow musical instruments to be played live on stage.