EUROVISION 2022 LIVE: Ukraine tipped for victory, TikTok star Sam Ryder ‘hopeful’ of avoiding another ‘nil points’ for Great Britain, while BBC’s Graham Norton provides hilarious commentary
This is MailOnline’s live coverage of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022:
Host commentator
Ukraine walked out to huge cheers from the crowd at the Pala Olimpico stadium in Turin, Italy tonight.
The eastern European country is a hot favourite to lift the trophy at the Eurovision Song Contest final.
Members of the Kalush Orchestra were granted special permission to leave their war-torn country by their president Volodymyr Zelensky.
Their song Stefania is a combination of rap verses and a folk chorus.
Ukraine will be the 12th act tonight.
British fans have been spotted outside the stadium hosting tonight’s Eurovision song contest in Turin, Italy.
Waving Union Jack flags, the supporters donned astronaut costumes, referencing Sam Ryder’s song Spaceman.
Ryder will be the 22nd to perform tonight and is one of the favourites this year, however he will have stiff competition from Ukraine, who is expected to receive huge support.
Conchita Wurst reveals how winning Eurovision changed her life ahead of tonight’s contest
Conchita Wurst has revealed how her Eurovision win paved the way for people all around the world just like her.
‘I kind of feel that they were forced, especially in Austria, they had to think about what is masculine and what is feminine. Whether they wanted to think about it or not. And this truly came to an acceptance,’ the 33-year-old said.
Read the full story on MailOnline here:
The UK’s Sam Ryder feels there’s been a change in attitudes towards Eurovision
Sam Ryder has said he feels there’s been a change in attitudes towards Eurovision in the UK due to the younger generation, ahead of his performance in the final tonight.
The 32-year-old singer is the UK’s entry for the European competition this year, and hopes to buck the nation’s poor performance in recent years.
In a new behind-the-scenes video documenting Sam’s journey to Eurovision, the musician said: ‘The level of songwriting and performance, and musicianship – it keeps elevating every year.
‘That’s why I’m so excited for not just the distance future of Eurovision, but it’s immediate future, especially in the UK because I feel a shift in the attitude towards it.’
Explaining the shift, he said: ‘There’s a new younger audience getting involved through apps like TikTok. And I think it’s going to be incredible.
‘It’s going to become unstoppable. And I really am excited for the moment it starts to launch careers in the UK.’
During the documentary, Sam described how it felt to keep his entry secret from the world, saying it was ‘pretty easy’.
He said: ‘It was pretty easy to keep the secret actually because I always tell myself if an opportunity comes along I never believe it’s happened until that moment actually happens and you’ve walked off stage.’
He concluded by saying that he was not overly concerned with doing well in the contest, and his priority was the music and enjoying the experience.
It comes as his odds of winning the contest have been slashed by bookies as Saturday’s final approaches.
The current favourites for the contest are still Ukraine however, after they advanced to the grand final, after band Kalush Orchestra took to the stage during Thursday’s semi-final in Turin.
However, track record over the past decade has shown that the pre-empted favourites of the competition have only taken home the prize half of the time.
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