Eurovision icon Cheryl Baker thinks the UK is back in the embrace of Europe after decades of choppy waters for the nation.
The 69-year-old music star - who won the iconic singing contest in 1981 as part of Bucks Fizz - says politically the UK has been in the Eurovision wasteland in recent years, but things have changed.
She has high hopes that our entrant for the 2023 contest - Mae Muller who is performing a track titled I Wrote A Song - could score well with both the jury and viewers.
She also thinks that the glow of last years’ Eurovision - which saw Ukrainian band Kalush Orchestra win with their song Stefania - will carry over to the 2023 contest which is being held in Liverpool.
Speaking to the Mirror in partnership with ICE 36, Cheryl was asked if she thinks the UK can win this year, after being pipped to the post last year - and her response was hugely positive.
She gushed: “Yeah, I do.
“Europe fell out of love with us for one reason or another, over the past decade, or two decades really, fifteen years, but I think we're okay again now. I think they love us again now.
“We're allies with Ukraine. I think they like us again. It is obvious, y'know I know some people say it's nothing about with politics, but it is.
“Because you see the juries when the juries are giving their votes, and we're doing okay.
“I remember, I can't remember who the artist was but we were on the left hand side of the board with the juries, and then the public vote came in and we went all the way down to the bottom and that's because they were sticking two fingers up at us saying, for whatever reason, 'we don't like you.' And so they showed it by not voting for us.”
Cheryl went on to explain how last years’ entrant Sam Ryder - who stormed to second place with his hit single Space Man - proved the UK was back in the fold.
She said: “Last year with Sam we did get the votes. He is a great ambassador for the United Kingdom and for the Eurovision Song Contest.
“He just made it okay again to love Eurovision. And showed the rest of Europe we do love it, I know we take the mickey out of it, it's our sense of humour. A British sense of humour.”
She explained further: “We like to mock, we like to make fun, we like to take the mickey and we like to laugh at ourselves.
“Other countries take Eurovision much more seriously than we do.
“I think one man has turned it around for the Eurovision and that man is Sam Ryder. I met him and told him what I thought of him. I told him he's my new Eurovision god, I bowed to him, I did.”
Cheryl even thinks Sam’s performance last year could even help this years’ entrant gain a leg up.
She explained: “I do think that this is gonna rub off this year for Mae [Muller].
“I think we'll do well because of Sam last year, because we're the host country and because she's gonna do a great performance."
The Grand Final of the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest will air on BBC One on Saturday 13 May from 8pm.
* Follow Mirror Celebs on Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.
