As his odds of winning drop even further, Sam Ryder has been declared the UK's best Eurovision hope in years after a brilliant first rehearsal gave fans an exciting teaser of what to expect in the final.
This year marked 25 years since the last time the United Kingdom won Eurovision, when Katrina and the Waves triumphed in Ireland with their anthemic Love Shine a Light. Since then, it would be fair to say that the UK has had a mixed bag of fortunes in the annual contest, to say the least.
Acts have finished rock bottom of the leaderboard on a number of occasions, with an absolutely devastating result for James Newman in 2021. After waiting a year to get his chance to perform on stage, with the 2020 event scrapped because of Covid, the singer/songwriter received nothing from either the juries or public vote for his song Embers.
