Rylan and Scott Mills are very excited about this year's Eurovision Song Contest in Liverpool, as you might expect!
Following last year's victory for Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra in Turin, Eurovision 2023 is being hosted in Liverpool on behalf of Ukraine — with 25-year-old singer-songwriter Mae Muller representing the UK in the grand final on Saturday, May 13 with her heartbreak anthem "I Wrote A Song".
With the contest on home soil for the first time in 25 years (the UK last hosted in Birmingham in 1998, following Katrina And The Waves' victory with "Love Shine A Light" in 1997), Eurovision fever is sweeping the nation — and for the very first time, the competition's semi-final heats will be broadcast on BBC1.
We caught up with Scott and Rylan, who will be commentating on the semi-finals for BBC1 viewers on Tuesday, May 9 and Thursday, May 11, at the launch of the contest in Liverpool to find out what they're planning...
Scott Mills and Rylan interview for Eurovision 2023
Does it feel like a really big deal to have the semi-finals on BBC1 this year?
SCOTT: "Yeah, it really does."
RYLAN: "It's different for us, because we get away with a lot on BBC3 — but we're not going to change anything, so it's maybe the worst decision they've ever made!"
SCOTT: "In my time, it's been on BBC3, BBC4, then BBC3 again — but I think that because it's here [in the UK], obviously, people are going to tune in, and I'm not sure everyone is ready for what they're going to see on a Tuesday night!"
What are some of your favourite memories of previous contests?
SCOTT: "We've done some bonkers things for this contest. I've been rolling around in a field with Mel Giedroyc, pretending to be police officers in some mad VT."
RYLAN: "I was in a glass lift dressed as Madonna in Tel Aviv [in 2019] — and that's very normal for us."
SCOTT: "It's really hard to explain Eurovision to someone that's not been, because for most people it's just something that happens on Saturday night, you have a couple of drinks and watch it on TV — but I think that's because it hasn't been in the UK for so long."
RYLAN: "It's going to take over the country, definitely."
Last year was the UK's best result since 1998. We don't have to compete in the semi-finals, but are you nervous about the prospect of us getting low scores again in the final?
RYLAN: "No, not at all, we've got so much faith in Mae. She just gets it — she's been performing for years."
SCOTT: "And what happened to Sam last year, that hardly happens to anyone — it's very rare. What we've got to do now is maintain that momentum and excitement, and not go back to those conversations that have stopped now, which go 'Ohh, Europe hate us' — they don't, they just want us to send someone good. And we are!"
What do you like about Mae's song?
RYLAN: "It's so catchy."
SCOTT: "It's a modern pop song that we should be sending to Eurovision in 2023. It sounds very Eurovision, but it also works on the radio — if you hear it with a bunch of other songs, it stands up. It's a good song, and I think it's exactly what we should be doing after what happened last year. We're slowly turning that boat around, and it's going in the right direction."
RYLAN: "We're heading away from the iceberg!"
As well as commentating on the semi-finals for BBC1, you'll be commentating on the final for BBC Radio 2. Will it be hard to keep calm when the results come in?
RYLAN: "Last year, I was on the floor in the arena!"
SCOTT: "It was bonkers, we couldn't believe what was happening."
RYLAN: "We were hearing 12 points for the UK and we were like, 'what? What?' Our accreditation gets us everywhere apart from the stage, basically, and I wasn't having it last year in Turin."
SCOTT: "No, you weren't."
RYLAN: "We brought straight through, I had a row with the security guard!"
SCOTT: "He took my hand."
RYLAN: "It was like Thelma & Louise, I just went 'hold me, we've got to be there for it!' And the next thing you know, Sam's crying, I'm crying, it was just such a special moment."
SCOTT: "We couldn't not go up to him. We had a great time last year, didn't we?"
How will you cope when it's all over for another year?
RYLAN: "We've spoken about this before — you do get the blues after Eurovision, because you're in that bubble and then all of a sudden it's all over. Then you're on the plane back, then you're home, and as much as we've got great lives, you sit there and go 'I'm not in that fantasy world where nothing is wrong' — at Eurovision, whatever country you're in, for one week, nothing is wrong." The comedown afterwards is just us rocking back and forwards, on FaceTime..."
SCOTT: "'Oh, I miss it! I want to go again!'"
- The Eurovision Song Contest Semi-Finals air on BBC1 on Tuesday May 9 and Thursday May 11 at 8pm, followed by the Grand Final on BBC1 on Saturday May 13 at 8pm
