No Big Deal But The Eurovision Betting Odds Show The UK's Sam Ryder As The New Second Favourite To Win

Space Man is blasting up the betting odds in the lead-up to this year's final.

We’re trying not to build our hopes up. We’re trying not to get ahead of ourselves. We’re trying to be cautious. But, folks… it looks like we might actually have a shot of winning Eurovision.

This year, singer-songwriter Sam Ryder is representing the UK with his song Space Man, which has already had heavy rotation on both Radio 1 and Radio 2.

He’s also been doing the rounds on various TV shows around Europe, and having now landed in Turin, he’s impressed Eurovision fans with both his rehearsal footage and press interviews.

Following the news that the UK will be performing in the second half of the live final next week (usually seen as a more coveted spot in the running order), Sam has now risen up the rankings in terms of the bookies’ odds.

Sam Ryder in Turin earlier this week
Sam Ryder in Turin earlier this week
Nderim Kaceli/LiveMedia/Shutterstock

According to Oddschecker – who compare betting odds from around 25 of the UK’s bookies – Sam has overtaken the representatives for both Italy and Sweden, and is now second favourite to win Eurovision on behalf of the UK for the first time in 25 years.

Ukraine is still the firm favourite, where they’ll be represented by Kalush Orchestra with their song Stefania.

Speaking to journalists this week in Italy, Sam spoke about how winning the contest is not his main aim, and how he hopes he can change people in the UK’s attitudes to Eurovision:

The UK has had a somewhat complicated relationship with Eurovision in recent years, infamously finishing with nul points for the second time in history in 2021 following James Newman’s performance of Embers.

It’s now been a quarter of a century since we won the contest, with Katrina And The Waves’ anthem Love Shine A Light.

This year’s Eurovision Song Contest final will air live on Saturday 14 May on BBC One.

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