Sam Ryder made a passionate plea for support behind the scenes at Eurovision, before finishing in a tremendous second place.
After the doom and gloom of last year when UK Eurovision entry James Newman finished rock bottom of the leaderboard with no points from either the juries or the voting public, some people assumed there'd be more of the same this year, as Italy hosted the Eurovision Song Contest.
But how wrong they were as the UK's Sam Ryder, after being declared winner in a Eurovision rehearsal on Friday, the Space Man singer came very close to winning for real, after coming top with the juries before the always game changing Eurovision voting twist handed Ukraine victory after a huge triumph in the televote. Having toured Europe in the run up to his participation in the annual event to promote the song, Sam got the plaudits he deserved, with the UK getting their best placing since Katrina and the Waves won back in 1997.
READ MORE: Sam Ryder centre of Eurovision rules row as vote twist 'robs' him
Eurovision fans in the UK couldn't vote for Sam, meaning he relied on getting support from across the continent to land a good score in the televote. And, having issued a voting plea on Friday night, the TikTok star made an appeal on social media after taking to the stage in Turin.
In a video that was widely shared on social media, the 32-year-old said: "Hey what's up friends?! We just played in front of 200 million people! It's all 'cos of you, thanks so much for getting us here in the first place." He then went out to hit home just how people could vote for him and it definitely paid off.
While some fans and cynics feared that, despite liking the song, people across Europe wouldn't feel compelled to vote fr he UK, Sam actually finished fifth out of 25 countries in the televote.
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