The same year, Johansson was replaced by Peter Gerrist.
A third single, 'Shake That Thing,' was again praised by Perez Hilton. In December 2007 they played a series of concerts in Rotterdam Ahoy with Gerard Joling, and in 2008 they played at the first same-sex marriage ceremony to take place at the Tilburg Pink Monday fair. They released a second single, 'Christmas is here,' in 2007, also accompanied by a popular YouTube video (shot in the snow in Austria, in which the four men danced in red boxers, tank tops, ski outfits, and Santa Claus suits), The song entered the Single Top 100 at #7. Praise by Perez Hilton led to a tour in the United States and attention in the US media- The Washington Post wrote of the band, 'Finally, there's a boy band for older, hairy gay men.' Their eponymous single 'Bearforce 1', a medley of popular dance songs including Sabrina Salerno's Boys and Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round, accompanied by a video clip in which the four bears dance and lip-sync, was a YouTube phenomenon and ended as #20 on LOGO TV's Ultimate Queer Videos Countdown.
Bearforce 1 was founded by three Dutchmen (Ian Turnel, Peter Johansson, and Yuri) and an Irishman (Robert Brown), led by actor and producer Roeland Fernhout.
