The United Kingdom scored 'nil points' and finished dead last in a crushing defeat in the 2021 Eurovision Song Contest.
The competition, which was held in Rotterdam, Netherlands, after the show was cancelled in 2020, was won by Italy with rock band Maneskin’s Zitti E Buoni.
They are the first group to win the competition since 2006.
READ MORE: Graham Norton Eurovision: 14 of his sassiest comments and jokes from previous finals
The UK’s hopeful James Newman scored zero points from the jury vote and from the public vote, the only entry to do so poorly.
The 3,500 fans in the arena and fellow artists cheered the Brit on as he took the defeat in good humour, drinking a beer and standing up to applause from the live audience in the arena.
Newman, who is the older brother of pop star John Newman, had hoped to win over viewers with his rendition of upbeat track Embers, which was inspired by the end of lockdown.
He performed in front of a crowd of 3,500 fans at the Ahoy arena.
The final of the Eurovision Song Contest was watched by an average of 7.4 million people in the UK on Saturday night, giving BBC One a 48.5% share of the audience.
The UK also came in last place in 2019 with Michael Rice’s Bigger Than Us.
Famous fans of the contest were quick to send Newman their support.
Great British Bake Off star Matt Lucas tweeted: “We love you James Newman.”
BBC Breakfast host Dan Walker wrote: “Wowsers #NilPoints
“Well done James Newman for laughing it off.
“Only way to respond to a spectacular Europe-wide boot in the bits.”
Singer Tom Grennan wrote: “JAMES NEWMAN IS A TOP LAD.”
Drag Race star Michelle Visage said: “I am sending this tweet to James Newman and James only. You were INCREDIBLE.”
On stage after the band’s victory, Maneskin frontman Damiano David shouted into the microphone: “We just wanted to say to the whole of Europe, to the whole world, rock and roll never dies.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel