Who is Bambie Thug? Ireland Eurovision's act well in the mix for Malmo win

Bambie Thug is being tipped to do rather well in Saturday night's Eurovision Song Contest final, having made it through their semi and entered the top five of the odds on this year's winner.

The last time Ireland made it into the finale at Eurovision was back in 2018, when Ryan O'Shaughnessy finished 16th and since then there has been disappointment for the likes of Lesley Roy, Brooke and last year's act Wild Youth, with none of them making the cut.

Having competed at the contest 56 times, Ireland used to have a very proud track record at the annual event, with two wins for Johnny Logan and them winning three years in a row from 1992 to 1994, thanks to victories from Linda Martin, Niamh Kavanagh and Paul Harrington and Charlie McGettigan. Their last win at Eurovision came 28 years ago, when Eimear Quinn triumphed with her song The Voice in 1996.

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Bambie competed in Eurovision semi final 1 on Tuesday night, along with other well fancied acts like Croatia's Baby Lasagna and alyona alyona & Jerry Heil from Ukraine. All three acts, as predicted, were amongst the 10 qualifiers for Saturday's Eurovision final, with Bambie now considered to be right in the mix for victory.

Who is Ireland's Eurovision act Bambie Thug?

Bambie Thug real name Bambie Ray Robinson is a 31-year-old Irish born performer. As a youngster they moved to London to be a student at the city's famous Uradang Academy and, after graduating, themself how to write and sing pop songs, before signing up with an agency and then quitting when they wanted to take them in a musical direction they weren't comfortable with.

Bambie released their first single Birthday in 2021 and is at Eurovision having won Irish final Eurosong earlier this year. While Doomsday Blue has had its critics, it has been championed by many people, including former winner Johnny, who said it would stand out due to its unique sound and attention grabbing staging.