might not have won 2022 for the UK, but he was far from disappointed as he celebrated his after the final.
The results of this year’s competition was a nail-biting affair to say the least, with Sam topping the leaderboard after the jury vote and making it look as though a victory could be on the cards.
However, the televote confirmed that ’s Kalush Orchestra had reigned supreme, with and urging for him to receive a knighthood.
As Twitter became awash with messages congratulating the singer on his brilliant run in the contest, radio presenter Scott Mills shared a video of himself behind the scenes with TV presenter Rylan Clark and the UK’s man of the moment, Sam himself.
As the trio had their arms around each other, Sam grinned from ear to ear as he happily exclaimed about ‘destroying the stigma’.
‘Just destroyed the stigma! Thanks everyone for supporting. That was an incredible, incredible, rewarding journey. I hope you enjoyed it!’ he said to the camera, as chants for the UK could be heard in the background.
At the end of the video, Rylan joined in the chanting while pulling Sam away, as Scott blew a kiss at the camera.
In another video shared by Scott, Sam said it was ‘job done’ after Eurovision came to an end.
During an interview with Metro.co.uk ahead of the final, Sam opened up about the in the UK, describing the negative attitude towards the competition as ‘toxic’.
‘I would love it if we could even just have a conversation about that negative stigma and how it was perpetuated how we’ve got to the place where we are now where it’s got so almost toxic, that we believe that Europe doesn’t like the UK,’ he said.
‘There’s other countries like Norway, they’ve lost 11 times – God bless Norway – but they don’t have that. Do you know what I mean?’
After the final ended, fans from the UK commended Sam on how well he did, while also congratulating Ukraine on their win.
Blue – who competed in Eurovision in 2011, wrote on Twitter: ‘Well done @SamRyderMusic. We are so proud of you, thank you for carrying the flag.’
‘Well done #Ukraine ?? Brilliant stuff @SamRyderMusic … you took us to the left side of the leaderboard & showed us that maybe everyone doesn’t hate us as much as we thought ? #Eurovision,’ wrote news broadcaster Dan Walker.
Eurovision is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
