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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Hana Carter

Eurovision: Bulgaria latest country to pull out of Liverpool 2023 over increased fees

Bulgaria is the latest country to pull out of Liverpool's Eurovision Song Contest.

The country joins North Macedonia and Montenegro in the decision to ditch 2023's competition over an increased entry fee.

The BBC reported that countries have been asked to pay more to take part to make up for the money lost following Russia's ban.

Russia pumped money into the competition previously, but has been shunned from Eurovision following its invasion of Ukraine.

The EBU, who organise the event, have now confirmed the list of 37 countries who will be taking part next year.

The price that the participants are being asked to shell out has not been made public yet, but the BBC believe that the total cost for all the entrants comes to £5million.

Eurovision will be held in Liverpool next year (SplashNews.com)

The host is also expected to pay an additional sum.

The three counties who have dropped out were unable to make it past the semi final stage in this year's contest, which saw Ukraine win.

After the competition was unable to be held in the country, which is currently under attack by Russia, the UK will be hosting next year.

Sam Ryder came second for the United Kingdom in Eurovision 2022, which helped secure the hosting rights on behalf of Ukraine (Jessica Gow/TT/REX/Shutterstock)

Sam Ryder came second in the singing contest with his song Space Man, which scooped 466 points.

His success was the UK's biggest since Imaani was a runner-up to Israel's Dana International in 1998.

“It puts the argument firmly to bed that the UK hasn’t won because of Brexit or because of what Europe thinks of us,” said the TV critic and Eurovision pundit Scott Bryan.

The President of Ukraine said that the country would hold the competition 'one day' (BBC)

“It has been down to the fact that our entry was not interesting or good enough.”

Sam was already a star in his own right, which didn't help the like of Engelbert Humperdinck who finished 25th out of 26 when he took part in 2012.

He was the most popular musician on TikTok with his home-recorded versions of songs by Adele and Michael Jackson.

Malena Fox of Armenia won it in 2021 (CHRISTOPHE PETIT TESSON/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock)

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After his performance he said that it was all “about the love of singing, the joy it brings you”

This year's contest had a global audience of 183 million and was watched by an average of 8.9 million in the UK.

Liverpool was chosen to host the contest because of its "cultural offer that puts Ukraine at the heart" of next year's event, says the BBC.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that the contest would "one day" be held in Mariupol.

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