Sophie Ellis-Bextor once refused to be a judge on Eurovision, she recently revealed. The English singer, 43, was asked to take part in the song contest in 2019.
Eurovision 2019 took place in Tel Aviv, Israel, and it saw Netherlands' Duncan Laurence win with the song Arcade. Speaking to the Radio Times, Ellis-Bextor said that following the success of her hit song Murder On The Dancefloor, which was the most played track in Europe in 2002, she had had a “conversation” about becoming a competition judge.
But she eventually declined, due to a combination of having a young child and not being allowed to chat while watching the show. “I had a very small baby that I was still feeding, and they wouldn’t let me bring it along,” she said. “I’m pretty sure the baby would have been impartial but, you know what, I think part of what I like about Eurovision is that it has very much got its rules… it’s kooky.
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“We weren’t going to be allowed to speak while we were watching it either, and I thought, ‘I can’t watch Eurovision in silence’.”
Eurovision had been a part of Ellis-Bextor's family life since she was “tiny” and watched the programme with her parents as a child. She said “My parents always watched Eurovision and I remember watching it during the eighties when I was in single digits and being pretty fascinated by what I saw”.
She added that the “political undertones” to Eurovision, and Britain’s famous lack of success, was “part of the fun”.
“We should probably brace ourselves for another ‘nul points’ score,” she said. “There have always been political undertones (to the voting), which again, is part of the fun. We quite enjoy that, I think.
“It’s part of the reason Britain treats it in an almost ironic way, and I don’t think it will ever lose that, but some of the songs that are good can have a life outside of Eurovision and be treated as legitimate hits.” This year, the UK actually has a pretty good chance of winning Eurovision. Sam Ryder and his song Space Man are becoming increasingly popular. Ryder has been in the top three favourites to win the song contest for a few days.
According to bookmaker OLBG, Ukraine is the most likely to win Eurovision 2022, with odds of 3/5. Italy is second favourite, with odds of 6/1 and the UK currently comes third with odds of 7/1.
Eurovision continues tomorrow with the second semi-final on BBC Three. The grand final will be on BBC One on Saturday, May 14, from 8pm.
