WHAT they lacked in talent they more than made up for in volume and sheer determination. Thousands of pop fans yesterday roared and cavorted their way through auditions for “screamers” at next week’s MTV awards.

A rag-tag collection of music lovers lined Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh in the hope of winning coveted tickets to the sell-out ceremony and of rubbing shoulders with some of the biggest names in pop.

Surprisingly, it was not the trained dancers or the youngest contestants who triumphed. Instead, a 42-year-old from Leith, a student in a kilt and a group of amateur break dancers were among the lucky few rewarded with places at the 10th MTV Europe Music Awards to be held in Edinburgh on Thursday.

Five hundred amateur adulators have been recruited to cheer as the stars walk up a tartan red carpet and dance at the Ocean Terminal Arena in Leith. One hundred of them will appear on stage alongside the performers and presenters.

Trev Carter, 42, and his girlfriend Angie Herriot, 27, were delighted to be chosen after being tested on their dancing to songs by Mis-Teeq and Justin Timberlake.

Carter, dressed in a black T-shirt with iridescent sequins and skin-tight jeans, said: “I didn’t expect to get it at all, but we just thought we would come down. There is no reason why people from the area can’t go to the awards. Now we’re off to the pub to celebrate.”

The only Scot to arrive in a kilt, “JP”, a 22-year-old geography student at Edinburgh University, was also selected after dancing an impassioned Highland fling.

“It’s like Pop Idol,” he said. “Coming here was a good excuse to have a drink at 11am, but I am a party person so I’m looking forward to it.”

Amateur break dancers Ali Temple and Peter Evans, and jive dancer Nick Stanfeld were also picked from the crowd.

Stanfeld said: “I was surprised by the people they were choosing — ladies in their late thirties, people from different ethnic backgrounds. They were people there to have a good time, rather than dancers. To be at the front of a worldwide event is absolutely incredible but they said we have to do exactly what they say or we will get thrown out.”

Live performers at the awards ceremony will include Beyoncé, Dido, Pink, Kylie Minogue, Sean Paul, the Darkness, Travis and the Black Eyed Peas. The event — which is expected to attract an audience of 1 billion — will be hosted by Christina Aguilera. Awards will be presented by celebrities including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Shirley Manson.

The 2,000 official tickets for the show, priced £34, sold out within 14 minutes of going on sale last month.

But demand shows no signs of abating. Yesterday more than 40 tickets were being auctioned on the eBay website, with a top bid of £859 for two places at the ceremony. Tickets for an after-show party at the Corn Exchange were on offer for more than £50 each, while fans were bidding up to £30 for some of the 8,000 tickets that had been given away free for a concert in Princes Street Gardens.

Michiel Bakker, managing director of MTV UK and Ireland, said recruiting local “screamers” was a strategy to make the awards more intimate.

“This is a big party, but it is edgier than other award ceremonies, live and not too polished,” he said. “Edinburgh has a great vibe and openness.”

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