Olly Alexander said he has experienced “a lot of love” after representing the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest.
It was a disappointing night for the British hopeful, who finished the competition in 18th place with 46 points after his performance of the song Dizzy at the Malmo Arena in Sweden.
The 33-year-old and his team reacted jovially as the UK was the only country to not score from the audience tally on Saturday night.
Though we may have received nil points from the voting public - which I shall be claiming as iconic! - I’ve also seen a lot of love and I’m truly grateful
Olly Alexander
Switzerland’s Nemo finished in first place with 591 points, while Croatia’s Baby Lasagna was given 547 points and Ukraine’s Alyona Alyona & Jerry Heil with the emotional and religious song Teresa & Maria landed on 453 points.
“Eurovision 2024 is over!! I’m so happy for @nemothings – they’re amazingly talented and the sweetest, kindest person,” Alexander said in a post on Instagram.
“Honestly I don’t know where to even begin with this whole experience, I’m going to be processing things for a long time!
“For now I just want to say I am so proud of the performance and my team, everybody absolutely smashed it and gave it their all to bring the vision to life.
“I met so many talented wonderful people on and off the stage and I’m really thankful we were able to support each other throughout.
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“Though we may have received nil points from the voting public – which I shall be claiming as iconic! – I’ve also seen a lot of love and I’m truly grateful.”
His comments come after organisers of Eurovision said that they will review the competition after some delegations “didn’t respect the spirit of the rules”.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) said in a statement: “We regret that some delegations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmo didn’t respect the spirit of the rules and the competition both on-site and during their broadcasts.
“We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention.
“The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the ESC in Malmo to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.
“Individual cases will be discussed by the event’s governing body, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group made up of representatives from participating broadcasters, at its next meeting.”
This year the competition saw disqualifications, pro-Palestinian protests and complaints by Ireland’s entry Bambie Thug.
The “ouija pop” star secured a sixth place finish in Ireland’s first grand final of the music event since 2018.
The singer told journalists: “Kan the broadcaster incited violence against me twice, three times. We brought it up to the EBU. They said they follow up.”
The competition was also mired in controversy surrounding the participation of Israel’s Eden Golan, and a large group of demonstrators were outside Malmo Arena as the acts performed.
Several protesters were detained and taken away by police, including Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
There was also controversy after the disqualification of the Netherlands’ contestant Joost Klein, who was stopped from taking part over an “incident” where he was alleged to have made verbal threats to a female production worker.
This move was strongly criticised by the Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS, which called the penalty “very heavy and disproportionate”.
