Richard Madeley has landed in hot water with UK based Eurovision fans, with them accusing him of having an 'ignorant' attitude towards this year's event, just as the show made a glaring error over the Ukraine entry.
Eurovision 2022 gets going on Tuesday with the first semi-final, with the second following on Thursday. Thankfully for United Kingdom entry Sam Ryder,. he won't need to compete in either, as he has a guaranteed place in the Eurovision final on Saturday, along with host nation Italy and 'big 5' countries France, Germany and Spain.
Current Eurovision odds strongly hint that Sam could do rather well with his track Space Man, with some bookies having him as high as second favourite in the betting. That might come as a surprise to casual Eurovision viewers, given that James Newman finished rock bottom last year after receiving no points from either the juries or the public.
READ MORE: How many countries are in Eurovision? Acts and songs for this year's contest
But to those who follow the contest religiously, the optimism behind Sam is no surprise, given he has been promoting Space Man across Europe over the past month and has been gaining a lot of support from all over. So those who tuned into Tuesday's GMB were far from impressed with Richard after he shot down studio guest Richard Arnold's suggestion that Sam could actually win this year.
The former This Morning presenter fired back: "What do you mean?! I'm not saying it's not a great song, it's just that Europe hates us," with the conversation also hinting that the only reason the UK 'will do well,' is because they've helped Ukraine after the Russian invasion.
Richard's attitude did not go down well at all with Eurovision fans who tuned in at home, with one taking to Twitter to rant: "Richard Madeley trotting out the usual ‘EUROPE HATES US’ whilst ignoring the fact that we haven’t even liked most of our own songs in the last decade."
Another responded: "It's such an ignorant view, spouted by those that know nothing about Eurovision. Such a discredit to Sam too, whom the whole of Europe loves," with a third reacting: "Lasted about 15 seconds turned onto hear Richard Madeley saying nil points for our Eurovision entrant. Still a poor and cruel programme."
Richard's stance was rather surprising given he was praising Sam not so long ago on the show and matters weren't helped by the fact that when talking about Ukraine being favourites to win, they played last year's entry Shum by GoA, rather than 2022 entry Stefania by the Kalush Orchestra.
Reacting to that, one viewer tweeted: "Hahaha @GMB showing a clip of last year's Ukraine entry and Richard being all negative about the UK. Can't say I'm surprised. Do your research you idiots," and another posting: "You’ve just played last years Ukraine entry by GoA claiming it will win Eurovision tonight. Nill points to GMB.
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