A collective groan was heard around the UK on Saturday evening when the dreaded ‘nil point’ was announced for the country’s entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest. 

Years And Years’ Olly Alexander, 33, represented the UK in Malmö, Sweden with his raunchy track Dizzy, and while things appeared to be looking positive after the jury vote he sadly received a seemingly unfathomable no votes from the public.

Switzerland’s Nemo stormed to an unassailable victory after the non-binary singer scored 365 points with the juries and 226 from the public for a total of 591, sweeping past Croatian entry Baby Lasagna’s score of 547.

The UK finished with a low score of 46, as fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their heartbreak as they insisted that the star ‘deserved better’ – in what some deemed a career-ruining moment for the singer and actor. 

Whispers of sabotage surrounded his appearance, including claims his sound was failing, his vocals were weak and a cancellation in the final dress rehearsals. 

So what went wrong for the beloved star in what has been deemed ‘the most politically-charged’ Eurovision in HISTORY?

A collective groan was heard around the UK on Saturday evening when the dreaded ‘nil point’ was announced for the country’s entrant at the Eurovision Song Contest

Years And Years’ Olly Alexander , 33, represented the UK in Malmö, Sweden with his raunchy track Dizzy, and while things appeared to be looking positive after the jury vote he sadly received a seemingly unfathomable no votes from the public

Switzerland’s Nemo stormed to an unassailable victory after the non-binary singer scored 365 points with the juries and 226 from the public for a total of 591, sweeping past Croatian entry Baby Lasagna’s score of 547

The show has been marred in controversy amid Israel’s presence while it wars against Hamas in Gaza – with pro-Palestinian protesters descending on Malmo on Saturday night

SOUND SABOTAGE

During the performance, social media was flooded with claims that the star’s rendition of Dizzy was thwarted with technical issues. 

Disappointed viewers insisted something was array with the show after the saucy performance seemed to be extremely quiet with damaged sound.  

Twitter users penned: ‘What’s wrong with the sound on #ollyalexander performance? Or is it just my telly? Sounded quiet… Hmmmm. The actual song is good; however it did sound like the volume on Olly’s vocal had been turned down…

‘For what it’s worth I really liked the Olly Alexander song and staging but his voice was really badly served by the sound mix’; ‘What’s happened to the sound on Olly Alexander’s performance?…

During the performance, social media was flooded with claims that the star’s rendition of Dizzy was thwarted with technical issues 

‘Why does Olly Alexander sound so muffled? Vocals don’t seem balanced to backing.’; ‘Have they got the sound mixing off for Olly Alexander? He’s got a much stronger voice than this…

‘We too thought UK entry Olly Alexander had sound issues, not sounding like radio play, raw, not his fault but output transmission. Other countries sound mass produced & so good as if not live. Did Olly have sound technical problem?…

Others critiqued the singer’s voice as they wrote: ‘Olly Alexander really can’t sing live. Weakest vocals of all entries tonight……by far.’

‘Unpopular opinion, I really don’t rate Olly Alexander this is bad, so bad…’; ‘His voice isn’t as strong on this track. Which is so annoying knowing how great he can sound’.

‘What an awful performance and don’t get me started on that off key singing.’; ‘I’m sorry Olly Alexander but this absolute trash, compared to even what’s been on already…’

‘Ouch. Wonder if Olly Alexander has considered a different career that doesn’t involve singing in a key.’; ‘He was off key the whole song and just didn’t fill the stage like the other acts’.

Disappointed viewers insisted something was array with the show after the saucy performance seemed to be extremely quiet with damaged sound

However, fans were quick to take to X – formerly known as Twitter – to complain that the Olly’s vocals sounded ‘weak’ as they questioned what was wrong with the sound as he appeared to suffer sound issues

Others critiqued the singer’s voice as they wrote: ‘Olly Alexander really can’t sing live. Weakest vocals of all entries tonight……by far’ 

ZERO POINT

After the UK finished with a low score of 46, as fans took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to share their heartbreak as they insisted that the star ‘deserved better’.

They wrote: ‘No cause why tf did Olly Alexander get 0? y’all deserved better’; ‘Zero public points for the UK – my jaw DROPPED #Eurovision2024…

Eurovision fans were left heartbroken after Olly Alexander received a ‘harsh’ ZERO points in the public vote as they exclaim he ‘deserved so much better’

‘Really feel for Olly Alexander, to get 0 public votes for Eurovision is really harsh! Everyone hates the U.K! I think it’s no longer about music but about politics now. Congrats to Switzerland’.

However Olly and his team seemed to take the news in their stride as they were pictured laughing and cheering after the news was announced.

The star didn’t look disappointed as he celebrated with his dancers after the jam-packed performance.

Other disappointed fans wrote: ‘Olly Alexander deserved so much better than that’; ‘Olly Alexander, one of UK’s best performers, got 0 public votes…. I’d have never predicted that’.

‘Can’t believe #OllyAlexander got zero points from the public vote. Rather mean!!’ ; ‘U.K getting zero points from the public vote. I guess leaving the E.U really triggered the continent more than expected’.

‘anyways olly alexander getting 0 public votes made me giggle his song was good but the performance ruined it all… That small taste of left side was nice’ after Olly made it into the top half based on the jury votes alone…

‘Poor Olly Alexander couldn’t even get a pity point from the public’, while another questioned: ‘UK getting 0 points and Isreal getting over 300?’.

However Olly and his team seemed to take the news in their stride as they were pictured laughing and cheering after the news was announced

The stage was a feast for the eyes as it was transformed into a cross between a boxing changing room and an emotional cage

CANCELLED

One day before the show hit the stage, Olly’s Eurovision interview was cancelled ahead of the Grand Final so the star could rehearse. He and other acts were due to speak to the media on Friday but chaos backstage meant he could not appear. 

An email sent from the organisers of the show on Friday read: ‘Please note that the big five and Sweden media conference originally scheduled for 18.30 (5.30pm BST) has been cancelled because all artists want to focus on rehearsals.’

The big five also includes Italy, Germany, France and Spain.

The cancellation of the media conference was yet another twist and turn in the most chaotic and political Eurovision in the competition’s history, which also saw the Dutch act pulled and the Isreali entry picketed.

The buildup has been overshadowed by the Gaza-Israel conflict, with activists calling on organisers to ban the Jewish state.

Huge pro-Palestine protests attended by the likes of Greta Thunberg have already taken place in the host city of Malmo in Sweden – forcing Israeli singer Eden Golan to take shelter in her hotel guarded by armed police.

Eurovision hasn’t been an easy road for Olly after he faced technical difficulties during the first Eurovision semi-final performance

 The UK finished with a low score of 46 despite the impressive choreography and catchy tune

‘CAREER DESTROYING’

Many have insisted that the performance could spell the beginning of the end for Olly’s previously dazzling career. 

Despite this, he insisted that his motivation for taking part was to introduce himself to a wider audience. He told the Daily Star Sunday newspaper: ‘I did Eurovision because it was a great opportunity to promote my music.

‘That was part of my decision. I’m releasing new music for the first time in a few years. I hope that Eurovision will be a brilliant platform for ‘Dizzy’. It is the first song from my new album, I’ve got a lot of new music to come.’

The It’s A Sin actor thinks Eurovision does a lot to promote artists around the world.

He added: ‘People love the songs they see at Eurovision. They do really well. They’ve been embraced by a younger audience.’