Where did the UK place in Eurovision 2024?
London: The grand final of this year’s contest took place this evening (May 11), with Olly Alexander flying the flag for the UK with his track ‘Dizzy’.
However, after the jury and public votes had been taken into account, Olly ended up in 18th place with a total of 46 points (scoring 0 points from the public) – though was higher than last year’s entry Mae Muller, who finished second-to-last with 24 points.
This year’s competition was won by Switzerland, whose entry Nemo finished on top with 591 points with their song ‘The Code’.
Earlier, Netherlands entry Joost Klein was disqualified from the final after police investigated “a complaint made by a female member of the production crew” following a Semi Final this week. Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS later said the “exclusion order is not proportional to this incident”.
They added in a statement: “An incident occurred after last Thursday’s performance. Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the greenroom. At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed.
“This wasn’t respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera. Joost did not touch the camera woman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU and police.”
This year’s Eurovision has proved controversial due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Israel and Palestine.
The long-running conflict between Israel and Palestine reignited following Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2024, which has led to recurring attacks by Israel. Ongoing calls for a ceasefire continue including from the UK, which voted for a ceasefire at the UN Security Council in March.
Some have called for the expulsion of Israel from Eurovision 2024, and some fans have boycotted the event entirely.
Eurovision competitors including UK’s Olly Alexander made a statement calling for a ceasefire, and other celebrities have made similar calls, including Mean Girls’ Renee Rapp, Euphoria star Hunter Schafer, and Marvel actor Mark Ruffalo. In February, Mark Ruffalo told Deadline: “We’ve come to understand this bombing isn’t working, we’re not going to bomb our way to peace, and all we’re saying is, what’s wrong with giving a ceasefire a chance?”