It was after this that Neuwirth developed the drag persona of Conchita Wurst, a bearded woman. In the German language, ""Wurst"" means "sausage", although Neuwirth relates the choice of last name to the common German expression ""Das ist mir doch alles Wurst"", which translates as "it's all the same to me", and "I don't care", stating that the name emerged from the first meaning of that expression. The name "Conchita" meanwhile had been adopted from a Cuban friend of his. In an interview he also explained that "conchita" is Spanish slang for vagina and "Wurst" is German slang for penis. Neuwirth asserted that the inclusion of the beard as part of the Wurst character was "a statement to say that you can achieve anything, no matter who you are or how you look." The inclusion of a beard as part of the drag look was not unique, having been pioneered in the 1970s by The Cockettes in San Francisco and the Bloolips in London. Wurst's first appearance was on ORF's show "Die große Chance" in 2011, where she achieved 6th place. In 2012, she competed in the Austrian National Final for the Eurovision Song Contest 2012 and came second. Wurst then appeared in the ORF show "The Hardest Jobs of Austria", working in a fish processing plant, and in "Wild Girls", in which a group of candidates had to survive in the deserts of Namibia together with native tribes. On 10 September 2013, Austrian national broadcaster ORF announced that it had selected Wurst to represent Austria at the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark, in May 2014. In March 2014, Wurst's song was revealed as "Rise Like a Phoenix", with bookmakers placing her entry as one of the ten favourites to win. Despite Eurovision's reputation for campness, Wurst's performance was designed to be serious and in good taste, and she was one of just a few performers to appear onstage alone. Although individuals who identified as LGBT had appeared on Eurovision before – most notably Israel's Dana International, who won in 1998 – Wurst's appearance was described by the "New Statesman" as the "most genderqueer yet". Wurst's selection proved controversial and attracted criticism from conservative groups, particularly in Eastern Europe, thus highlighting the continent's regional divide between east and west on the issue of homosexuality.