The Mountain is out arm-wrestled by Canadian pro, Icelandic band cast for Season 6

Hafthór Júlíus Björnsson joined the cast of Game of Thrones in Season 4, when he became the third actor to play the role of Gregor “the Mountain” Clegane. His forebears hadn’t really left much of an impression on fans, but Björnsson gained instant notoriety after his character brutally killed fan favorite Oberyn Martell with his bare hands in “The Mountain and the Viper.” Since then, people have followed Björnsson’s career a lot more closely, watching as he won major strongman competitions and broke thousand-year-old Viking strength records. It’s almost like he became a folk hero. No, scratch that—a folk legend, some mythical man-beast who hauled trees around on his back and exploded people’s heads with his hands.

Well, it ends up that Björnsson is mortal after all. He recently lost a contest of strength with Devon Larratt, an ex-member of the Canadian special forces who became a professional arm-wrestler, which is apparently a job that exists.

As the video points out, Björnsson outweighs Larratt by nearly 200 pounds, but it would seem that technique counts for more than I thought it did in arm-wrestling. I’m sure that if the contest involved heaving giant logs over your head, Björnsson would have won.

Here are a couple more bits of stray Game of Thrones celebrity news for you. It seems that Guy Garvey, the lead singer and guitarist for English rock band Elbow, had a chance to play a role on Game of Thrones but turned it down because of his touring commitments. Specifically, he was offered the role of the Pit Announcer, the guy who emceed the fights in Daznak’s Pit in “The Dance of Dragons,” a role that ended up going to Nicholas Boulton. “Game of Thrones would be the fun thing to do. Some of my contemporaries have done it already,” he said.

Garvey is talking about other musicians-turned-Game of Thrones actors like Feelgood guitarist Wilko Johnson, who played Ilyn Payne in the show’s first two seasons (sidenote: come back, Ilyn Payne!), and Coldplay drummer Will Champion, who appeared as a minstrel at the Red Wedding. It does seem like executive producers David Benioff and Dan Weiss have a soft spot for musicians looking to get into acting, so maybe they can find a place for Garvey in the future.

Finally, Richard “Robb Stark” Madden is currently in the thick of an unlikely Twitter battle with model and actress Cara Delevingne, who recently gave an awkward interview on Good Day Sacramento about her role in Paper Towns. Madden didn’t approve of Delevingne’s “unprofessional” behavior, and said as much to Style magazine. “For Cinderella I did six weeks of those interviews, where you get asked the same eight questions,” he said. “If you’re not capable of doing that gracefully, then don’t do it.”

Naturally, Delevingne took to Twitter, today’s all-purpose sounding board, to defend herself.

Madden’s response:

Well, I can get behind that hashtag.

UPDATE: Serendipitously, Watchers on The Wall is reporting that members of Icelandic indie band Of Monsters and Men will be appearing on Game of Thrones Season 6, although their roles aren’t known.

Lead singer and guitarist Nanna Bryndís Hilmarsdóttir takes a break while shooting Game of Thrones. Photo: Toni Millán/tomimon64.

That’s yet more evidence of the show’s love for casting musicians in minor roles. If you’re in a band and want to act, consider giving David Benioff or Dan Weiss a tweet.

H/T SB Nation, Express, The Telegraph

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