Last place? I've thought about it

Ahead of going to bat for the UK at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest, Olly Alexander is starting to feel the pressure.

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“I go to bed thinking of Eurovision, dream of Eurovision, wake up thinking of Eurovision,” he says. “I feel like I’ve gone through everything that could go wrong, every possibility, coming last place, in my head already. I’m overwhelmed.”

The now-solo pop singer — who rose to fame as the lead vocalist in synth-pop trio Years & Years before proving his acting chops in Russell T Davies’s drama It’s A Sin — is in Malmö, Sweden ahead of tomorrow’s final. Since the UK holds special status as a “big five” country, his ticket to the final with his entry Dizzy was always guaranteed. But still, Alexander looks uncharacteristically nervous, shuffling in his chair as he shows off an EastEnders-themed sweater vest.

“I definitely have nerves,” he admits. “With so many people watching on TV, and it being live, there’s all these elements that are out of your control… it’s very exposing to be in a competition because you’re literally being pitched against all these other people.”

Though the UK has won Eurovision five times before, delivering some absolute bangers in the process — from Brotherhood of Man’s Save Your Kisses for Me to Bucks Fizz’s Making Your Mind Up — we’ve had a patchier record since the turn of the millennium. Sam Ryder managed to evade our long-running spate of low scores in 2022, but it does otherwise feel like we might be slightly cursed at the contest in recent times.