AJ Odudu will bounce back from her Strictly Come Dancing heartbreak to take on a crucial role in this year's Eurovision Song Contest.
After becoming a huge favourite with both BBC viewers and the Strictly judges during her stint on the show last year, northern presenter AJ and her pro partner Kai Widdrington made all the way to the grand final, only for their hopes of victory to be dashed in the most cruellest of fashions, when AJ suffered a serious ligament injury in training just days before the finale. AJ and Kai gave a tearful on air interview as they were forced to watch from the side-lines to see Rose and Giovanni win the Glitterball trophy, with AJ then being dealt further blow, when the injury also ruled her out of the Strictly live tour.
Since her time on Strictly was brought to an unfortunate end, AJ has been seen on screen as host of BBC's Morning Live, but will soon be propelled back into the Saturday night primetime limelight as she has been given the job of reading out the UK jury scores for Eurovision on May 14 as Sam Ryder goes for glory.
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There are now just a few weeks to go until Eurovision 2022 and, after much speculation on who might get the job this year, the BBC Eurovision account confirmed it would be AJ on Friday morning, with her being the first ever star from the north west to get the role.
Above a photo of AJ and the Eurovision logo, they tweeted: "Ciao Italia, this is SALFORD calling! @AJOdudu will be the first #Eurovision spokesperson to present the UK jury’s douze points from the North West." Fans were very quick to react, with one replying: "Fabulous choice! AJ is going to charm the rest of Europe whilst giving the UK votes," and a second commenting: "A terrific choice, YES AJ."
Last year's UK results were read out by Amanda Holden, who rubbed some viewers up the wrong way with a joke, when she said, in front of millions of viewers across Europe: "Bon Soir. Goedenavond," before adding: "That is good evening in French and Dutch although I've got absolutely no idea which is which."
