Sam Ryder has already been called as winner of Eurovision, unfortunately it was during a rehearsal for Saturday’s final.
While it won’t be until 8pm GMT that millions of viewers get to see all 25 countries in this year’s Eurovision final in action, the fact is that by the time the famous Eurovision Song Contest fanfare sounds there will have already been plenty of rehearsals and, more importantly, the jury final which is when each act performs for the juries from each participating country.
And it was during Friday afternoon’s rehearsal that UK entrant Sam was called as the winner, with some unsure whether that was a good thing or not. A member of the press who was the rehearsal at Turin’s Pala Olimpico arena took to Twitter to post: “They just said it. ‘The winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is the United Kingdom., Even just hearing that out loud sounds weird.”
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Another reacted: “ OK well the UK won the fake Jury results...this means they won't win the actual thing lmao.”
After the rehearsals, things got much more serious for all those involved when they performed for the juries, to determine their scores before viewers across the continent and Australia have their say in the crucial televote.
Tickets were on sale to be at the jury final and those who saw Sam in action had some very positive things to say about his performance. The BBC Eurovision account tweeted: “Our man @SamRyderMusic has JUST sung his head off in the #Eurovision Jury Final! And he smashed it.”
A Eurovision expert reacted: “ Another big favourite with the crowd tonight. Sam Ryder’s vocals are completely insane, and he exudes joy from start to finish.”
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