Olly Alexander‘s dad has said he was “surprised” that his son’s song ‘Dizzy’ received the dreaded ‘nul points’ from the public at last night’s Eurovision.
Despite high hopes for this year’s UK entry, Alexander finished in 18th place out of 25 countries with 46 points, a position he only achieved thanks to his jury score.
Now, his dad David Thornton has shared his thoughts, saying that Eurovision still offered a “fantastic learning experience” for Alexander [via BBC].
“I enjoyed every minute of it,” said Thornton. “To me it’s a real surprise the public didn’t sort of connect with that song, though the juries gave it a really good score.”
He added: “He’s had a wonderful time out there. It is just one more step in wherever he’s going to go next.”
In the semi-final, some fans suggested Alexander’s vocals had been “weak” and “off-key” after his mic pack fell off mid-performance.
In an appearance on ITV’s Lorraine, Alexander said: “I had a slight wardrobe malfunction – my mic pack fell off – and had to improvise but that’s fine – it’s live TV, it happens.”
Switzerland won this year’s Eurovision with Nemo’s song ‘The Code’, marking Switzerland’s first Eurovision win since 1988, when Celine Dion competed with ‘Ne partez pas sans moi’. They are also the first ever non-binary winner of Eurovision.
Croatia, who had also been particularly popular in the run-up to the contest, finished as runners-up with Baby Lasagna’s ‘Rim Tim Tagi Dim’. Ukraine’s Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil were just behind in third with ‘Teresa & Maria’, while France and Israel round out the top 5 with Slimane’s ‘Mon Amour’ and Eden Golan’s ‘Hurricane’ respectively.
Bambie Thug finished sixth with ‘Doomsday Blue’, marking Ireland’s best performance in Eurovision for 25 years.
Meanwhile, Nemo hit out at the competition’s “double standard”, branding its organisers as “unbelievable”.
During their appearance at the post-show press conference, Nemo took the opportunity to criticise the way that the contest was run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), making specific reference to their policy of not allowing non-binary flags into the arena.
“I had to smuggle my flag in because Eurovision said no, but I did it anyway, so I hope some people did that too,” they said. “But, I mean, come on, this is clearly a double standard.”
Nemo also appeared to break the crystal winner’s trophy, and added: “The trophy can be fixed – maybe Eurovision needs fixing a little bit too, every now and then.”
They went on to describe the Eurovision experience as “really intense, and not just pleasant all the way”.
“There were a lot of things that didn’t seem like it was all about love and unity. And that made me really sad and at the same time … there was so much love here as well,” they continued, and dedicated their win to the “people that are daring to be themselves and people that need to be heard and need to be understood.”
Ireland’s entrant Bambie Thug was more scathing in their views on the EBU in their press conference. “I’m so proud of Nemo winning,” they said, sounding close to tears. “I’m so proud that all of us are in the top 10 that have been fighting for this shit behind the scenes because it has been so hard and so horrible for us. I’m so proud of us.
“I just want to say,” they continued, “we are what the Eurovision is. The EBU is not what the Eurovision is. Fuck the EBU. I don’t even care anymore. Fuck them. The thing that makes this is the contestants, the community behind it, the love and the power and the support of all of us is what is making change.”
“The world has spoken,” they concluded. “The queers are coming. Non-binaries for the fucking win.”