BBC Eurovision's Graham Norton takes aim at final result as UK 'ignored' in vote

Graham Norton did not hold back when it came to condemning the 'snubbing' of the United Kingdom by the public in the Eurovision Song Contest final on Saturday, as Olly Alexander suffered the unwanted fate of being the only act in the whole competition to get nothing in the televote.

After a technical malfunction blighted his performance in Tuesday's semi final, fans were hopeful that Years & Years star Olly could bounce back in style in Saturday's grand finale. The running order draw was kind to the 33-year-old, putting him in 12th place out of 25, after the Netherlands were disqualified with just hours to go.

Olly's Eurovision final performance went a lot smoother than the one a few days earlier, with the crowd in the Malmo Arena reacting wildly as his track Dizzy built to a rousing crescendo. While points for UK took a while to come in the jury vote, they did eventually, with a high of 8 for Olly, as he ended up on 46..

READ MORE: Eurovision 2024 final LIVE: Results see Switzerland win as UK get zero from public

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But sadly, although a number of countries saw a big boost to their tallies with the addition of the public, Olly didn't get the same helping hand, with him getting zero from the televote. and condemning him to an 18th place finish. And, as Olly got up out of his seat, appearing to take the knockback well, BBC commentator Graham was quick to criticise the result, remarking: "Oh that is brutal. Well done for clapping Olly, well done for smiling."

Picking up on the reaction from the Malmo crowd Graham added: "Not a popular result in the arena. I don't know why that happened. Really, really unforunate."

In stark contrast to the UK, Israel, who were next to get their public vote score, soared up the standings having got 323 points.