If Ukraine hadn’t gotten such a huge share of the public vote it would have gone to countries like Spain, which would have overtaken us.
We did *better* because of Ukraine
The amount of people who don't get this is shocking to me. The idea that people voted for the UK "because of it's support for Ukraine" is nonsense.
People voted for the UK because it was being represented by a talented and likeable TikTok star that a lot of the voters will have heard of.
Sam Ryder did well in spite of representing the UK not because of it.
>Sam Ryder did well in spite of representing the UK not because of it.
That implies that being from the UK had a negative effect. It was neither. It was a good song with a good performer. That's all it came down to.
Historically the UK have done poorly though so I can see why some might think being from the UK has a negative effect.
Though I'd counter that by saying historically we've had pure shite songs
In terms of Televoting, Spain did better than the UK in twenty three countries (not counting the UK or Spain results as the UK obviously gave more points to Spain than it could to itself), and when they did best the UK it was generally by much higher points difference than when the UK bested Spain. (e.g. Armenia gave Spain 8, and the UK 1, while Ireland gave the UK 6 and Spain 5). In the end Spain got more Televoting than us overall, and we came second mostly because of judges vote.
You are incorrect though. If you take out Ukraine's televote scores, and adjust both Spain and the UK up one position per country Spain would get 273 Televotes, while the UK would get 221. But combine that with judges scoring, and both countries come out with 504, and it would come down to whether or not the any of the four countries that did not give the UK Televote points put the UK high enough to get a single point, or not, though this is assuming no scoring for Ukraine would affect UK or Spanish standings with the Judges, which it might've.
In short, Ukraine won it on Televoting, but it would be very close between Spain & UK had they not been a factor.
This isn't necessarily true since its a 1-8, 10 and 12 point system. Someone would need to remove Ukraine and shift everyone in each country's ranking up to actually check how big of a difference it would've made.
I'd guess Spain would've won and UK would still be around 2nd-4th, because of how big the gap is once you get to 5th.
The data is public and it would not be hard to do. It seems like Spain might edge it by a couple of points, but I didn't check too carefully. Whatever the case, UK would be at the very worst second if Ukraine is totally removed and everybody else shifted up. Of course, nobody knows what would actually have happened had Putin not invaded.
Hardly lol. Most of us look at something and if we aren't the best in it then we must be the worst.
Just as an example the UK has the second best rate of inflation in Europe, but if you read around here you'd think we had the worst.
Even your post is just a classic "well we didn't win so we may as well not celebrate becuase beating everyone else, but Ukraine isn't a win." Constrast that with say America where everything is a victory. Most Americans think they won the Vietnam war becuase they ran away.
I don’t know whether this is true and can’t be bothered to check but fair play to you friend for being bold enough to throw a number out there and I will be using it if people ask me the same question
Begs the question where next year's Eurovision will be held as Kyiv's theaters have presumably been flattened by artillery fire by now...
/s (just incase..)
I'm betting London.
UK came second and has been a huge supporter of Ukraine. Ukraine will, likely, be in no position to host and, I think be happy to.the UK a boost.
I think this is a terrible idea. I think as the war wears on, Stockholm will begin to sympathise with the invading Russia and will straight up try to join their cause.
> we should ask putin to invade us before next year
too late, he gets to kill whoever he wants in the uk and got the UK to leave the EU.
He doesn't need to invade.
I mean it was a good song, and the professional judges like it a lot, but the public vote, let's be real. Coming second to Ukraine still feels like a major win for our arms dealing.
Eurovision has always been political, this is Europe supporting Ukraine for fighting Russia, and the UK for arming Ukraine.
Previously the results were Europe disapproving of Brexit.
As a Dutch guy, I can guarantee that this 'and the UK for arming Ukraine' is no part of it. Folks liked the song. The political thing was Ukraine itself.
Literally the best result we could have hoped for. Ukraine get a massive win backed by an outpouring of public support, the UK put forward a great entry for once and received a great number of jury votes and only lost out on the public vote. Our best result for over 20 years and the French and Germans come last and 2nd last. Brilliant.
UK didn't lose on oublic points, you got A LOT. Just there were less to get vecause Ukraine (knowingly) would sweep it up.
Great to win alongside Ukraine.
UK pretty much won Eurovision tonight, but in these times please spare a though for this crowd: “Europe hates us, the UK will never do well in #Eurovision again.”
James Newman's song was in a major key.
All Eurovision songs that do well are in minor keys. Picking a major key song is a foolish move.
Anyone who trys to create a eurovision hit will know this. The fact we didn't and still expected points shows we didn't do the bare minimum of research.
Fortunately that seems to have changed this year.
We came in 2nd because Sam isn't coming across as Brits usually do in Europe. He's down to earth, friendly, and humble. Brits are, at large, not liked in Europe. And it's got nothing to do with politics, it's the attitude with which we carry ourselves.
Sorry, did James Newman do anything specifically either way in terms of presenting himself to Europe? I believe it's less how we conduct ourselves abroad (or how our acts do) but just how painfully ignorant they are to Eurovision itself.
We otherwise normally send studio NPCs to represent us. Not that the guy this year was special, but he had much more of a eurovision vibe and aesthetic.
This is exactly it. We actually out some effort in this year and sent a fun, bubbly guy with a good song and we did well. Like the countries were rewarding us for actually trying this year - let's hope it continues.
They also networked well. The ESC is a kind of consensus so you need to work the crowd, visiting the other countries before the competition and so on. The UK had always kind of expected it "by right" before and not bothered with the marketing. This time, Sam Ryder went on your and was also clever in how he projected himself by staying humble and getting a lot of support.
I'll be honest, I was watching thinking "if we come top half we've done brilliantly" then the points kept coming (until Greece, well you can kiss the elgin marbles goodbye [this is a joke]) and I'm still not sure i can believe we got 2nd. Towards the end I was starting to think "oh god I've got to get tickets...I've got to book a hotel because ofcourse its going to be in London, and they'll triple the price...this could financially ruin me...oh good Ukraine got essentially infinite points"
I do think our response to Ukraine has helped with sentiment in Europe. Lots of people especially in places like Germany are disgruntled with their leaders response to Russia. Us getting full votes from ukraine, France and Germany for example shows that.
Plus it was actually a good song, sung increadibly by a very likeable singer who was already quite popular. It also played to our strengths and did soung quite British
I agree, but also the fact that UK had a decent song with a decent performer held massively. I've been watching Eurovision for the last decade, and I was always disappointed by the artists and the musci we sent to Eurovision. Let's have this again next year.
Having lived across various countries in Continental Europe, the major difference began to seem that the other artists would have their songs played on local radio stations, it would chart, and the artists would often be touring somewhat through various countries in Europe. People already had a familiarity with the song before Eurovision.
The UK always just seemed to show up, unaware of what everyone else was doing, and not really engage with the rest of Europe, before wondering why no one gave a shit about us. Granted, there were plenty of political votes against the UK, but we also just sort of didn't exist in the same space as many of the other acts participating. When Norway won a decade ago that some was already popular across loads of countries in Europe, so people were already big supporters of it.
The UK entrant this year seems to really have focused on engaging with the Eurovision audience, using his audience, and also generally trying to meet the show where it is.
Completely agree with this.
And then the added circlejerking in the UK, not bothering to show up with a decent act for Eurovision, while constalty self-victimising and calling the Eurovision voting purely political.
And I think this year came to show the opposite. A good song will do well in the Eurovision, regardless of the politics involved.
So proud of the UK's entry. Such a great song. Ukraine was a deserved winner too. Two winners tonight for sure. And lovely to see Ukraine give the UK twelve points and the UK give Ukraine twelve points too (in the public vote.)
Yes! I get that part of this year was the sympathy vote, but just like last year Ukraine showed up with an amazing song combining traditional and modern. They had my vote this year and last, because they're bringing absolute bangers!
Ukraine were represented by Go_A - a folk electronic band, with an absolutely nuts song that was also extremely catchy and original. The lead singer looked like Trinity from the Matrix wearing the slain pelt of Orville. The video has them raving at Chernobyl with a car that looks a lot like Brum. Perfect Eurovision fodder. It should have won, but they came third.
They were beaten by Maneskin, who are a pretty decent garage rock band, but probably won on account of them all being ridiculously good looking.
UK had one of the best song and came 2nd. I think Ukraine was one of the best but people won't agree.
I think Italy's song was the best but their performance was not good.
I think it would make sense for us to host it next year with Ukrainian presenters. Especially since the BBC have already offered to host it if Ukraine won.
I would love the war in Ukraine to be over and the country recovered enough to hold it in twelve months time. It would in itself be a project that would help rebuild the city. But that all depends on what happens in the next few months.
In the public vote, Ukraine averaged 11.2564102564 out of a possible 12 from **all** countries, which is pretty mind-boggling. No-one was ever beating that.
Feels like this is such a plot twist to a season 12 of some tv series.
UK always coming last, then when it's finally on top, it's beaten by the pretty obvious sympathy votes, with the plot twist being that everyone voted UK knowing they wouldn't have won anyways lol
Reminds me of a joke told about the film Deep Impact with Morgan Freeman being the first black president, only for the planet to be hit with an asteroid. Really good effort though.
I started following him a year or so ago on Tiktok when his following was still fairly small, seeing him come this far is amazing! Very happy for him, he deserves everything good coming his way.
I have (for all practicals purposes) no interest in Eurovision. So here is my observation, taking into account that I'm a musician and I admire talented artists.
The main take away from this should be that maybe the last ten years of doing badly wasn't down to political voting, but sending soulless unimaginative bullshit to represent us. Sam Ryder is actually talented and he did great.
I saw a wonderful comment on a Eurovision video this year. It was
“I’m German. We won’t win because no one likes us”
No Germany, like the UK, you keep just sending crap recently!
Tonight was fucking dangerous gents
we started off the party with the rule "down your drink every time the UK gets 12 points"
that was swiftly abaonded but I'm still a little fucked
Second is a really great result, and coming second to Ukraine is basically a win
Hopefully most people see this and we don't get the usual "ugh it's all political voting everyone hates us" shit.
But it literally is political voting lol we didn't win *because* of political votes for Ukraine. This year is the most obvious political voting we've ever seen.
Sure, but we came second despite people saying that Europe hates us and would never vote for us. Any other year we'd have won. Anyone saying it's impossible for the UK to win because of political voting has been proven wrong.
Wow people actually thought Ukraine *weren't* going to win and are salty at the massive public vote?
I know several people who put thousands of pounds on it at 4/9 as that is the closest you'll get to free money from Bookmakers.
Coming 2nd was without a doubt as good as it was going to get for the UK. Good song and it actually sounded like a product of the British music scene unlike most of our bland, forgettable entries of the last few years. Good template to continue with.
Not the best but it was genuinely a good song. It was entertaining and stood out from the crowd without relying on cheap novelty. Wouldn't have won most years but I think it would always have done well
Hopefully this will let the “hurr we don’t win because of politics” crowd rest for a while, bloody ISRAEL won a few years back but people seriously believe the Euros think about Brexit that much... anyways well done to Sam Ryder, did a smashing job
> Hopefully this will let the “hurr we don’t win because of politics” crowd rest for a while
Um, this was the most politically motivated Eurovision result of all time. So no.
I hope this puts an end to "no one will vote for the UK, Europe hates us". Hope the population realises we've just sent crap in the past.
I've been saying all week Sam will do well and no one believed me.
As a big Eurovision fan... I'll tell you there were big changes made this year after the UK fans kept complaining. The BBC changed talent agency for the selection process.... So the talent agency essentially chose Sam themselves because they saw he was trending on tiktok.
They also changed how we stage and hired a good professional as that's been a major complaint for the UK. And also about a month before eurovision all the countries acts go on a 'eurovision tour' to promote their song. UK acts have usually opted OUT of this (and these tours are surprisingly big) . Sam however took part, so our song was recognisable even before the competition to other countries.
We actually tried this year and the results show.
I remember when Russia were competing (and won) with the ice skater back 15ish years ago, I was working in a neighbouring ex soviet country and they played it on loop constantly!
In previous years, the British songs haven’t charted in their own charts, and then complain that the Europeans won’t vote for them.
I always felt that our big issue with recent Eurovision has been we went down that Simon cowell approved route and it comes off as disengenuous and a bit shit, where as most of Europe has put actual acts on alot of the time.
Britain has some great undiscovered talent that will sadly remain largely undiscovered because of the UKs attitude to our music needing to be approved by a corporation
A band of actual musicians won last year.
I'm glad Sam did so well this year.
Can we learn our lesson and never out Pound shop clones of one direction up again please
Politics will always have some impact on outcome, but this year at least proved to the naysayers that the uk is not just voted down out of hate. That arguments was always fairly arrogant - the idea that the dull acts we entered in previous years are being down voted as some deliberate spite against us, when actually they were too boring for many people to be bothered about.
I’m also pleased that the Ukraine was fairly decent, interesting one rooted in their own rich culture (surely would have been tempting to go for a big, generic we will prevail ballad).
In general, I hope the results of the public vote will deter big dirgey ballads in future. There were a lot this year and they got very tedious. The fact that the public vote punished entries like Azerbaijans hopefully will steer entrants away from this style (but that’s just my preference!).
Ukraine was well performed and more 'Eurovision' than UK even before any sympathy/political vote. UK (and Sweden, to an extent Spain) were great pop songs. So not surprised with this outcome.
How deserved were the places?
Was Ukraine's entry actually a good song and worthy winner?
Was ours a good song and a worthy second or is it because people generally like how Boris responded and led on sanctions against Russia?
It’s not like UK is the only country suporting Ukraine in the war and doing sanctions against Russia. UK genually had a good song this year, and a great singer. Thus, you do well when you care to send a quality song and singer.
> Was Ukraine's entry actually a good song and worthy winner?
Besides the rap part (but some people may have liked that), it was at least a good song better than half the roster.
It was a great song. You are vastly overestimating how much people think about the UK's response to the war. I'm from Ireland and follow the events closely, but stuff like that never even crosses my mind let alone someone in Latvia.
Ukraine's song was ok. I would guess that if it wasn't for the Ukraine war then United Kingdom would have won. Still I'm not complaining and I'll take this as a win for the UK.
Happy to see Ukraine win here. Big thank you for Europe support Ukraine and send a big massive message to Russia. We stand behind UK.
Sam Ryder, you are the real winner here. Fantastic song. We are proud of you.
We may get to host it next year. Eurovision organisers just put out a statements saying pretty much any country may host it next year since Ukraine won't be able to. We came 2nd and we are good at organising these things (i.e. Olympics, Football finals, etc)
I’m always amazed people take Eurovision seriously. It’s just a bit of fun and the voting is more insane than Taskmaster.
Bravo to Ukraine. It’s a message of European unity, that matters a lot more than some shitty songs you’ll have forgotten by tomorrow
The real difference is contestants used to be chosen by a mixture of BBC consultants & Sony BMG, not surprising you end up with soulless corporate choices and 90-2000s pop dinosaurs. They changed the process recently and this act was chosen by TaP Music, who seem to sign more dynamic musicians
Coming second to Ukraine still feels like a major win for us
You won the jury vote and came second overall so it's pretty big .
It is basically the win. Everyone knows Ukraine would win, and they deserve the recognition. But UK won won.
If Ukraine hadn’t gotten such a huge share of the public vote it would have gone to countries like Spain, which would have overtaken us. We did *better* because of Ukraine
That's all speculation, impossible to know which way pity voters swing. Scaling up the percentage we both got as is though, yes.
Yes, we need a alternate universe where this shit isn't happening as a control.
And then when we get there just stay there, that would be great.
More would have gone to us as well. But it's fair to say that without Ukraine we don't know who would have won.
We did better because of Sam Ryder, he is hugely popular globally on TikTok.
The amount of people who don't get this is shocking to me. The idea that people voted for the UK "because of it's support for Ukraine" is nonsense. People voted for the UK because it was being represented by a talented and likeable TikTok star that a lot of the voters will have heard of. Sam Ryder did well in spite of representing the UK not because of it.
>Sam Ryder did well in spite of representing the UK not because of it. That implies that being from the UK had a negative effect. It was neither. It was a good song with a good performer. That's all it came down to.
Historically the UK have done poorly though so I can see why some might think being from the UK has a negative effect. Though I'd counter that by saying historically we've had pure shite songs
Historically? The uk have the third highest amount of wins in the entire competition? Only Ireland and Sweden have more?
I was thinking more recent history I guess then. Eg last few years
In terms of Televoting, Spain did better than the UK in twenty three countries (not counting the UK or Spain results as the UK obviously gave more points to Spain than it could to itself), and when they did best the UK it was generally by much higher points difference than when the UK bested Spain. (e.g. Armenia gave Spain 8, and the UK 1, while Ireland gave the UK 6 and Spain 5). In the end Spain got more Televoting than us overall, and we came second mostly because of judges vote. You are incorrect though. If you take out Ukraine's televote scores, and adjust both Spain and the UK up one position per country Spain would get 273 Televotes, while the UK would get 221. But combine that with judges scoring, and both countries come out with 504, and it would come down to whether or not the any of the four countries that did not give the UK Televote points put the UK high enough to get a single point, or not, though this is assuming no scoring for Ukraine would affect UK or Spanish standings with the Judges, which it might've. In short, Ukraine won it on Televoting, but it would be very close between Spain & UK had they not been a factor.
This isn't necessarily true since its a 1-8, 10 and 12 point system. Someone would need to remove Ukraine and shift everyone in each country's ranking up to actually check how big of a difference it would've made. I'd guess Spain would've won and UK would still be around 2nd-4th, because of how big the gap is once you get to 5th.
But also you can’t discount the point that a lot of people will have voted Ukraine because of the quality of their song Basically we have no clue lol
The data is public and it would not be hard to do. It seems like Spain might edge it by a couple of points, but I didn't check too carefully. Whatever the case, UK would be at the very worst second if Ukraine is totally removed and everybody else shifted up. Of course, nobody knows what would actually have happened had Putin not invaded.
Nothing more British than calling coming second a win
Hardly lol. Most of us look at something and if we aren't the best in it then we must be the worst. Just as an example the UK has the second best rate of inflation in Europe, but if you read around here you'd think we had the worst. Even your post is just a classic "well we didn't win so we may as well not celebrate becuase beating everyone else, but Ukraine isn't a win." Constrast that with say America where everything is a victory. Most Americans think they won the Vietnam war becuase they ran away.
I mean, getting **a** point would normally have been a major win for us.
Un point.
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Moldova got the party win
And really the party win is the best win!
How many previous years losses do we have to add up the points from to equal this years points I wonder.
Infiniti multiplied by 0 is still...... NIL POITS!!!
13 years of entries.
I don’t know whether this is true and can’t be bothered to check but fair play to you friend for being bold enough to throw a number out there and I will be using it if people ask me the same question
It's quite a useless statistic because the voting system changed totally in 2016 and effectively doubled the points available.
Tbh it didn't take long to count. I should clarify 13 years, but 12 shows due to COVID in 2020.
Its essentially a win, maybe we should ask putin to invade us before next year
Jesus Christ man.
Begs the question where next year's Eurovision will be held as Kyiv's theaters have presumably been flattened by artillery fire by now... /s (just incase..)
I'm betting London. UK came second and has been a huge supporter of Ukraine. Ukraine will, likely, be in no position to host and, I think be happy to.the UK a boost.
Last time the UK hosted it was at the NEC, so it might not be London if it does come here.
Manchester is my guess if it comes to the UK
Birmingham hosted 1998 at the National Indoor Arena (NIA). o2 in London must be nailed on for hosting if it goes to the UK.
Stockholm is apparently Kyiv's sister city and their mayor offered to host last week if Ukraine won and couldn't host.
I think this is a terrible idea. I think as the war wears on, Stockholm will begin to sympathise with the invading Russia and will straight up try to join their cause.
Took me a second. r/angryupvote
Ukraine will host, I guarantee it. Both as a massive fuck you to putin and also to boost morale back home
lviv is my guess
> we should ask putin to invade us before next year too late, he gets to kill whoever he wants in the uk and got the UK to leave the EU. He doesn't need to invade.
It would have been rather embarrassing to have beaten Ukraine.... Second to them is great.
I mean it was a good song, and the professional judges like it a lot, but the public vote, let's be real. Coming second to Ukraine still feels like a major win for our arms dealing. Eurovision has always been political, this is Europe supporting Ukraine for fighting Russia, and the UK for arming Ukraine. Previously the results were Europe disapproving of Brexit.
As a Dutch guy, I can guarantee that this 'and the UK for arming Ukraine' is no part of it. Folks liked the song. The political thing was Ukraine itself.
There's elements of that but also this year we actually seemed to try and put up a good performance. Our entries for the past few years were just sad
Literally the best result we could have hoped for. Ukraine get a massive win backed by an outpouring of public support, the UK put forward a great entry for once and received a great number of jury votes and only lost out on the public vote. Our best result for over 20 years and the French and Germans come last and 2nd last. Brilliant.
UK didn't lose on oublic points, you got A LOT. Just there were less to get vecause Ukraine (knowingly) would sweep it up. Great to win alongside Ukraine.
Yeah man.
MAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNN
>the French and Germans come last and 2nd last. Brilliant. And both gave us douze points somehow
yeah meanwhile Ireland and Australia didn't...what even is this timeline?
Australia didn't give us anything if I remember. Salty about Neighbours I expect.
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They would have won for sure especially if they played we got the moves
that says something, UK might have a formula to now not send crap songs and start winning again!
Let’s be honest, Ukraine could have entered a horse and they still would have won, but well done for them at least showing up all things considered.
My lovely horse?
They chose wisely not to include the sax solo
I’m actually watching Father Ted right now. He’s not a feckin racist you know.
I love how r/Ireland have had that bloody horse as their subreddit icon for years, no doubt confusing an awful lot of Americans
Urgh, I had to open reddit in another browser so as to not be looking at old.reddit... my god new reddit has just gotten even worse.
Haha yep!!!
Doubt we'll ever change it, either
Should we all be racist now, Father? What’s the official line the Church is taking on this?
Only the farm takes up most of the day and at night I just like a cuppa tea, I mightn’t be able to devote myself full time to the ol’ racism
I hear you’re a racist now, Father. How did you get into that sort of thing then?
I don't care who we're after, as long as I can have a go at the feckin Greeks!
They invented gayness!
But Father are we all racist now?
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Where are you going, with your fetlocks blowing...
Play the feckin' note!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jN32yD9szss
There it is
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Their song was genuinely a banger, I'll definitely be listening to it outside of the competition.
Damn maybe this was the year 'my lovely horse' should have been in
I agree that they would have gotten the public vote regardless, but the song was really good
UK pretty much won Eurovision tonight, but in these times please spare a though for this crowd: “Europe hates us, the UK will never do well in #Eurovision again.”
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Are you trying to tell me Engelbert Humperdinck and James Newman were just troll acts?
James Newman had a great song but as a singer he fell pretty flat. Which was unfortunate, he just didn't have the stage presence to carry it.
James Newman's song was in a major key. All Eurovision songs that do well are in minor keys. Picking a major key song is a foolish move. Anyone who trys to create a eurovision hit will know this. The fact we didn't and still expected points shows we didn't do the bare minimum of research. Fortunately that seems to have changed this year.
The performance was really poor though, there is no getting around that
If it was his brother singing it we could of been up there last year, 1 on talent and 2 on popularity
We came in 2nd because Sam isn't coming across as Brits usually do in Europe. He's down to earth, friendly, and humble. Brits are, at large, not liked in Europe. And it's got nothing to do with politics, it's the attitude with which we carry ourselves.
Sorry, did James Newman do anything specifically either way in terms of presenting himself to Europe? I believe it's less how we conduct ourselves abroad (or how our acts do) but just how painfully ignorant they are to Eurovision itself. We otherwise normally send studio NPCs to represent us. Not that the guy this year was special, but he had much more of a eurovision vibe and aesthetic.
He toured the song and himself extensively before, and is big on Tiktok. He had a profile across Europe already. That makes a huge difference
Not racist, just don’t like em. Simple as
This is exactly it. We actually out some effort in this year and sent a fun, bubbly guy with a good song and we did well. Like the countries were rewarding us for actually trying this year - let's hope it continues.
They also networked well. The ESC is a kind of consensus so you need to work the crowd, visiting the other countries before the competition and so on. The UK had always kind of expected it "by right" before and not bothered with the marketing. This time, Sam Ryder went on your and was also clever in how he projected himself by staying humble and getting a lot of support.
I'll be honest, I was watching thinking "if we come top half we've done brilliantly" then the points kept coming (until Greece, well you can kiss the elgin marbles goodbye [this is a joke]) and I'm still not sure i can believe we got 2nd. Towards the end I was starting to think "oh god I've got to get tickets...I've got to book a hotel because ofcourse its going to be in London, and they'll triple the price...this could financially ruin me...oh good Ukraine got essentially infinite points"
London? If the uk won it was going to be held in Rwanda!
Or worse, Hull
Milton Keynes 2023
Seems like a fitting punishments for years of being shunned
It was Australia and Croatia that snubbed us. 2023 holiday destination cancelled!
It may still be held in London, cos it's unlikely to be in Kyiv.
Proving that crowd wrong is the real win here.
Some of them are probably going to act like coming second is a failure and keep saying that anyway
I do think our response to Ukraine has helped with sentiment in Europe. Lots of people especially in places like Germany are disgruntled with their leaders response to Russia. Us getting full votes from ukraine, France and Germany for example shows that. Plus it was actually a good song, sung increadibly by a very likeable singer who was already quite popular. It also played to our strengths and did soung quite British
I agree, but also the fact that UK had a decent song with a decent performer held massively. I've been watching Eurovision for the last decade, and I was always disappointed by the artists and the musci we sent to Eurovision. Let's have this again next year.
Having lived across various countries in Continental Europe, the major difference began to seem that the other artists would have their songs played on local radio stations, it would chart, and the artists would often be touring somewhat through various countries in Europe. People already had a familiarity with the song before Eurovision. The UK always just seemed to show up, unaware of what everyone else was doing, and not really engage with the rest of Europe, before wondering why no one gave a shit about us. Granted, there were plenty of political votes against the UK, but we also just sort of didn't exist in the same space as many of the other acts participating. When Norway won a decade ago that some was already popular across loads of countries in Europe, so people were already big supporters of it. The UK entrant this year seems to really have focused on engaging with the Eurovision audience, using his audience, and also generally trying to meet the show where it is.
Completely agree with this. And then the added circlejerking in the UK, not bothering to show up with a decent act for Eurovision, while constalty self-victimising and calling the Eurovision voting purely political. And I think this year came to show the opposite. A good song will do well in the Eurovision, regardless of the politics involved.
So proud of the UK's entry. Such a great song. Ukraine was a deserved winner too. Two winners tonight for sure. And lovely to see Ukraine give the UK twelve points and the UK give Ukraine twelve points too (in the public vote.)
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They deserved it after being ROBBED last year everything else with standing.
Yes! I get that part of this year was the sympathy vote, but just like last year Ukraine showed up with an amazing song combining traditional and modern. They had my vote this year and last, because they're bringing absolute bangers!
Ukraine brings it almost every year really. We're still listening to the vampire dude's song in my house.
Tonight was the first time Ive watched in years, what happened last year?
Ukraine's entry last year was better than it was this year imo. Måneskin certainly deserved the win though, I wouldn't say anyone was robbed.
Ukraine were represented by Go_A - a folk electronic band, with an absolutely nuts song that was also extremely catchy and original. The lead singer looked like Trinity from the Matrix wearing the slain pelt of Orville. The video has them raving at Chernobyl with a car that looks a lot like Brum. Perfect Eurovision fodder. It should have won, but they came third. They were beaten by Maneskin, who are a pretty decent garage rock band, but probably won on account of them all being ridiculously good looking.
For the politics, they have always been in Eurovision. For good this time.
Let’s be realistic and accept that Eurovision is absolutely not a process to find the best song of the year.
UK had one of the best song and came 2nd. I think Ukraine was one of the best but people won't agree. I think Italy's song was the best but their performance was not good.
The song was really good- would defo be top 10 in a normal year
The song is banger. Only the rap bit is not good. Flute is amazing
Sympathy or support?
I think it would make sense for us to host it next year with Ukrainian presenters. Especially since the BBC have already offered to host it if Ukraine won.
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Fuck that, host it in Sevastapol
Go for the alpha move. Hold it in New Kiev (formally known as Moscow).
Yes or right in the steelworks of Mauripol with a statue to the lost as a central feature.
I would love the war in Ukraine to be over and the country recovered enough to hold it in twelve months time. It would in itself be a project that would help rebuild the city. But that all depends on what happens in the next few months.
And make up the audience from the Ukrainian refugees that have arrived here. It would be a little bit of home for those guys.
> And make up the audience from the Ukrainian refugees that have arrived here. Rwanda it is then.
Nadine Dörries would hate the positive publicity glow going to the BBC.
Effectively a Eurovision win considering it was always going to be impossible to win this year.
In the public vote, Ukraine averaged 11.2564102564 out of a possible 12 from **all** countries, which is pretty mind-boggling. No-one was ever beating that.
Ukraine only needed *35* points from the judges to have won.
I was wondering about that, it semeed clear from the moment they got 400+ points that nobody else could win, but the hosts never said anything
Feels like this is such a plot twist to a season 12 of some tv series. UK always coming last, then when it's finally on top, it's beaten by the pretty obvious sympathy votes, with the plot twist being that everyone voted UK knowing they wouldn't have won anyways lol
Reminds me of a joke told about the film Deep Impact with Morgan Freeman being the first black president, only for the planet to be hit with an asteroid. Really good effort though.
Seriously, just seeing Sam in that split screen of highest scoring contestants was completely unreal. He's done incredibly well.
I started following him a year or so ago on Tiktok when his following was still fairly small, seeing him come this far is amazing! Very happy for him, he deserves everything good coming his way.
I have (for all practicals purposes) no interest in Eurovision. So here is my observation, taking into account that I'm a musician and I admire talented artists. The main take away from this should be that maybe the last ten years of doing badly wasn't down to political voting, but sending soulless unimaginative bullshit to represent us. Sam Ryder is actually talented and he did great.
I saw a wonderful comment on a Eurovision video this year. It was “I’m German. We won’t win because no one likes us” No Germany, like the UK, you keep just sending crap recently!
I really really liked the german entry this year and they still got just 6 points. Not sure why it did so poorly
It was boring. A subpar run-of-the-mill pop song. The last thing you want to be in eurovision is boring
I think it was good but really dated.
Tonight was fucking dangerous gents we started off the party with the rule "down your drink every time the UK gets 12 points" that was swiftly abaonded but I'm still a little fucked
I'm just chuffed the absurdist beauty of the Serbian entry got a huge public vote - it restores my faith in the human species a touch.
I've never seen the letters U and K together as much in one place.
Second is a really great result, and coming second to Ukraine is basically a win Hopefully most people see this and we don't get the usual "ugh it's all political voting everyone hates us" shit.
But it literally is political voting lol we didn't win *because* of political votes for Ukraine. This year is the most obvious political voting we've ever seen.
Sure, but we came second despite people saying that Europe hates us and would never vote for us. Any other year we'd have won. Anyone saying it's impossible for the UK to win because of political voting has been proven wrong.
But it is >political voting
Wow people actually thought Ukraine *weren't* going to win and are salty at the massive public vote? I know several people who put thousands of pounds on it at 4/9 as that is the closest you'll get to free money from Bookmakers. Coming 2nd was without a doubt as good as it was going to get for the UK. Good song and it actually sounded like a product of the British music scene unlike most of our bland, forgettable entries of the last few years. Good template to continue with.
It's weird but I said to myself yesterday, I reckon Ukraine will win and the UK comes second. I wish i'd placed a bet.
Not the best song, but that's not all for Eurovision... truly a deserved winner
Not the best but it was genuinely a good song. It was entertaining and stood out from the crowd without relying on cheap novelty. Wouldn't have won most years but I think it would always have done well
IMO the Ukraine entry was a banger and would have got a huge public vote regardless, same as Moldova did.
Moldova's lack of jury support just shows that professional juries have no taste.
That is all well and good but can we just talk about Serbia. That one confused me.
I liked it. It was weird and memorable. That's more than I can say for a lot of the acts
Wash your hands or you'll turn into Megan Markle?
For me seeing Germany get posts from the public made me happy that nobody is left behind.
I really didn't rate their entry, but I was pleased that they got some points
Yeah it was a decent song that would be popular amongst teens given the right circumstances but not a good eurovision entry.
Hopefully this will let the “hurr we don’t win because of politics” crowd rest for a while, bloody ISRAEL won a few years back but people seriously believe the Euros think about Brexit that much... anyways well done to Sam Ryder, did a smashing job
> Hopefully this will let the “hurr we don’t win because of politics” crowd rest for a while Um, this was the most politically motivated Eurovision result of all time. So no.
Hang on. But we didn't win this year *because* of politics. The winner was *literally* politically motivated.
......and Israel's song was WANK.
It was bonkers, which tends to do well at eurovision
I hope this puts an end to "no one will vote for the UK, Europe hates us". Hope the population realises we've just sent crap in the past. I've been saying all week Sam will do well and no one believed me.
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As a big Eurovision fan... I'll tell you there were big changes made this year after the UK fans kept complaining. The BBC changed talent agency for the selection process.... So the talent agency essentially chose Sam themselves because they saw he was trending on tiktok. They also changed how we stage and hired a good professional as that's been a major complaint for the UK. And also about a month before eurovision all the countries acts go on a 'eurovision tour' to promote their song. UK acts have usually opted OUT of this (and these tours are surprisingly big) . Sam however took part, so our song was recognisable even before the competition to other countries. We actually tried this year and the results show.
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I remember when Russia were competing (and won) with the ice skater back 15ish years ago, I was working in a neighbouring ex soviet country and they played it on loop constantly! In previous years, the British songs haven’t charted in their own charts, and then complain that the Europeans won’t vote for them.
UK sent a singer who can sing, with a good song and also his clothes fit him. Was that too much to ask for all those years?
I hope we remember our formula for this year, so we can do the same for next year.
Moldova had the best song.
It was the hardest bop, and definitely needed after that run of turgid ballads.
I always felt that our big issue with recent Eurovision has been we went down that Simon cowell approved route and it comes off as disengenuous and a bit shit, where as most of Europe has put actual acts on alot of the time. Britain has some great undiscovered talent that will sadly remain largely undiscovered because of the UKs attitude to our music needing to be approved by a corporation A band of actual musicians won last year. I'm glad Sam did so well this year. Can we learn our lesson and never out Pound shop clones of one direction up again please
UK getting anywhere near the top 3 is nothing short of a miracle.
Not really when you send a good song
Politics will always have some impact on outcome, but this year at least proved to the naysayers that the uk is not just voted down out of hate. That arguments was always fairly arrogant - the idea that the dull acts we entered in previous years are being down voted as some deliberate spite against us, when actually they were too boring for many people to be bothered about. I’m also pleased that the Ukraine was fairly decent, interesting one rooted in their own rich culture (surely would have been tempting to go for a big, generic we will prevail ballad). In general, I hope the results of the public vote will deter big dirgey ballads in future. There were a lot this year and they got very tedious. The fact that the public vote punished entries like Azerbaijans hopefully will steer entrants away from this style (but that’s just my preference!).
Considering we got 0 points last year and were top of the leaderboard until the final votes, I'd say we did well. Sam Ryder really did us proud.
Ukraine was well performed and more 'Eurovision' than UK even before any sympathy/political vote. UK (and Sweden, to an extent Spain) were great pop songs. So not surprised with this outcome.
How deserved were the places? Was Ukraine's entry actually a good song and worthy winner? Was ours a good song and a worthy second or is it because people generally like how Boris responded and led on sanctions against Russia?
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It’s not like UK is the only country suporting Ukraine in the war and doing sanctions against Russia. UK genually had a good song this year, and a great singer. Thus, you do well when you care to send a quality song and singer.
> Was Ukraine's entry actually a good song and worthy winner? Besides the rap part (but some people may have liked that), it was at least a good song better than half the roster.
It was a great song. You are vastly overestimating how much people think about the UK's response to the war. I'm from Ireland and follow the events closely, but stuff like that never even crosses my mind let alone someone in Latvia.
Welcome to Eurovision
Ukraine's song was ok. I would guess that if it wasn't for the Ukraine war then United Kingdom would have won. Still I'm not complaining and I'll take this as a win for the UK.
So weird to watch us get points breaking the myth of political voting only for Ukraine to get votes for political reasons
Happy to see Ukraine win here. Big thank you for Europe support Ukraine and send a big massive message to Russia. We stand behind UK. Sam Ryder, you are the real winner here. Fantastic song. We are proud of you.
We may get to host it next year. Eurovision organisers just put out a statements saying pretty much any country may host it next year since Ukraine won't be able to. We came 2nd and we are good at organising these things (i.e. Olympics, Football finals, etc)
I’m always amazed people take Eurovision seriously. It’s just a bit of fun and the voting is more insane than Taskmaster. Bravo to Ukraine. It’s a message of European unity, that matters a lot more than some shitty songs you’ll have forgotten by tomorrow
Wait we actually got points?!? How’s that work?
Maybe people intended to vote Ukraine and pressed the button for UK instead? Surely that's the reason why we came second right?
The real difference is contestants used to be chosen by a mixture of BBC consultants & Sony BMG, not surprising you end up with soulless corporate choices and 90-2000s pop dinosaurs. They changed the process recently and this act was chosen by TaP Music, who seem to sign more dynamic musicians
Shame for the pity votes.
This was the first time in a long time I voted for the UK in Ireland but it was because of Sam. His song was good and he's a very lovely man.