NEAR 2MILLION WATCH BAMBIE THUG AND OLLY ALEXANDER IN EUROVISION SEMIS

Nearly two million tuned in to watch Ireland's Bambie Thug win a place in the Eurovision final.

The UK's Olly Alexander also performed at the Malmo Arena in the first of two semi-finals - the second is set to take place on Thursday.

It was broadcast last night on BBC and the show drew an average of 1.9million views.

There was a peak viewership of 2.2 million, according to overnight ratings.

Bambie Thug is the first Irish Eurovision Song Contest finalist since 2018 following a vote for their performance of Doomsday Blue in Malmo, Sweden.

The Cork-born singer, 31, triumphed with their witchy and mesmerising execution of their alternative song.

Ryan O’Shaughnessy reached the competition for Ireland with Together in Lisbon, Portugal, four years ago, where he came 16th.

Ten countries from each semi-final will win a place in the grand final, which will air on Saturday May 11.

The countries who made it through on Tuesday were Serbia, Portugal, Slovenia, Ukraine, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus, Croatia, Luxembourg and Ireland.

They will join the big five - the UK, Italy, France, Spain and Germany - and the host country, Sweden, in the live final.

A memorable moment of the night was Finland’s entry, Windows95man, who used clever camera angles to appear not to wear underwear on stage during his performance.

The grand final will be broadcast live on BBC One and BBC iPlayer at 8pm on May 11. It will be hosted by Graham Norton.

2024-05-08T16:48:57Z dg43tfdfdgfd