{"id":677457,"date":"2026-05-18T12:33:08","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/677457\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T12:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T12:33:08","slug":"nul-points-the-uks-10-biggest-eurovision-flops-of-all-time-television","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/677457\/","title":{"rendered":"Nul points! The UK\u2019s 10 biggest Eurovision flops of all time | Television"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, this is awkward. The UK continued its run of disastrous results in the Eurovision song contest on Saturday night, when Look Mum No Computer<\/a> finished rock bottom of the scoreboard. Cue the usual geopolitical conspiracy theorising and head-scratching about how to remedy matters next year. Paging Cliff Richard and faxing Bucks Fizz \u2026<\/p>\n

It put the cherry on top of a chastening week for Britons in Vienna. No less than Boy George had been roped in to add star power to San Marino\u2019s entry, but it failed to even qualify for the final. The UK now hasn\u2019t won the annual pop party for almost three decades. But where does this latest fiasco figure in the all-time hall of shame? We count down the UK\u2019s 10 biggest Eurovision<\/a> flops, from least bad to absolute worst. Hello Europe, this is humiliation calling.<\/p>\n

10. Andy Abraham (2008)<\/p>\n

\u201cAndy the Binman\u201d, to give him his full name, was an X Factor runner-up who had previously worked as a refuse collector. He won the selection contest, Eurovision: Your Decision, with soul banger Even If \u2013 edging out a visibly furious Michelle Gayle, who had been the bookies\u2019 favourite. Come the big night in Belgrade, Abraham performed second on the bill, the dreaded slot of death, and duly came last with only 14 points. He took some solace from the fact that he wasn\u2019t beaten by Irish entry Dustin the Turkey, who was knocked out in the semi-final. We suspect fowl play.<\/p>\n

9. James Newman (2021)<\/p>\n

Poor James Newman suffered the ignominy of being the UK entry not once, but twice. Having written hits for the likes of Rudimental, Calvin Harris and Kesha, the leather car-coated Yorkshireman was chosen to represent the UK in 2020 with unfortunately titled ballad My Last Breath \u2013 the contest was cancelled due to the Covid pandemic. After a 12-month wait, he entered again with a new song, dubbed Embers, becoming the second British act in history to receive nul points, and finished last.<\/p>\n

8. Scooch (2007)<\/p>\n

Imagine the pitch for this bubblegum pop four-piece as \u201clike Steps, but worse\u201d and you\u2019ll get the idea. They donned cabin crew uniforms for a camp performance of Flying the Flag (For You), complete with \u201cThis is your captain speaking\u201d announcements. Innuendo-laden lyrics included \u201cSalted nuts, sir?\u201d and \u201cWould you like something to suck on for landing?\u201d They scored 12 points from Malta, seven from Ireland and, er, nothing else, leaving Scooch second from last. The press described it as \u201ca crash landing\u201d.<\/p>\n

7. Electro Velvet (2015)<\/p>\n

The UK went \u201celectro swing\u201d a decade ago and paid the price. The duo\u2019s faux-vintage song, Still in Love With You, included a scat interlude and was unflatteringly compared to the jingle from the Birds Eye potato waffles advert (\u201cwaffly versatile\u201d). Diane Abbott MP put down her tinned M&S mojito long enough to tweet: \u201cIs it me? Or was Electro Velvet truly awful?!\u201d It scored a measly five points. One half of the duo, Alex \u201cLarkey\u201d Larke, now sings in a tribute band called The Rollin\u2019 Clones.<\/p>\n

6. Mae Muller (2023)<\/p>\n

After human labrador Sam Ryder<\/a> restored some national pride by placing second in 2022, Liverpool staged the next contest on behalf of war-torn Ukraine. Camden-born Muller \u2013 the granddaughter of actor Billie Whitelaw, fact fans \u2013 was picked to represent the UK on home soil. Her Dua Lipa-esque tune I Wrote a Song finished second from bottom, beating only German metallers Lord of the Lost. We suppose that\u2019s \u2026 something?<\/p>\n

5. Engelbert Humperdinck (2012)<\/p>\n

It sounded like a joke. Unfortunately, it wasn\u2019t. Inspired by those Mediterranean nations who send along cheesy crooners for kitsch value, the UK entered the 1960s balladeer formerly known as Gerry Dorsey. It smacked of not taking the competition seriously and the 76-year-old got short shrift from voters. Not even a lucky necklace allegedly given to him by Elvis could help the Hump. His treacly tune, Love Will Set You Free, scored just 12 points and finished 25th out of 26. The great British public took it with characteristic good grace, with calls to quit the contest in protest.<\/p>\n

4. Michael Rice (2019)<\/p>\n

The former busker from Hartlepool had won forgettable BBC singing show All Together Now the previous year. Packed off to Tel Aviv to perform power ballad Bigger Than Us, he came last after scoring just 16 points. Further embarrassment followed when he was deducted five of those points due to a mix-up with the Belarusian jury. Talk about kicking a man when he\u2019s down.<\/p>\n

3. Look Mum No Computer (2026)<\/p>\n

Look Mum No Points, more like. The UK went for novelty value this year, dispatching synth-popper Sam Battle to Austria armed with shouty song Eins, Zwei, Drei. He received a solitary point from the juries, zero from the viewer vote and finished at the foot of the scoreboard \u2013 the third time since 2020 that the UK has come last. Battle conceded the song was \u201cMarmite \u2013 you either love it or hate it\u201d. Voters went for the second option and had him on toast.<\/p>\n

2. Josh Dubovie (2010)<\/p>\n

Seasoned hit-maker Pete Waterman co-wrote Josh Dubovie\u2019s song, the optimistically titled That Sounds Good to Me. Sadly, the naff Europop confection didn\u2019t sound good to anyone else. Despite a Facebook campaign to get it to No 1 in Eurovision week, it charted at 179. Oops. On the night in Oslo, it scored a mere 10 points. Dubovie later changed his stage name to Josh James to help him \u201cmove on\u201d.<\/p>\n

1. Jemini (2003)<\/p>\n

Liverpudlian stage school alumni Chris Cromby and Gemma Abbey named themselves Jemini because it sounded like \u201cGem and I\u201d. Their live rendition of Cry Baby at the finals in Latvia was painfully off-key, with the duo insisting that a technical fault meant they couldn\u2019t hear the backing track. They registered the UK\u2019s first ever last place finish, receiving the dreaded nul points. BBC commentator Terry Wogan said the UK was suffering from a \u201cpost-Iraq war backlash\u201d. Talent show judge Louis Walsh was less forgiving: \u201cIt\u2019s like somebody went into Boots, walked up to the first person they saw behind the counter, asked if they could sing and they said \u2018no\u2019 \u2013 but got picked anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Well, this is awkward. The UK continued its run of disastrous results in the Eurovision song contest on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":677458,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[49,48,75,348],"class_list":["post-677457","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677457","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=677457"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/677457\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/677458"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=677457"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=677457"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=677457"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}