Two million tune in to watch Bambie Thug land place in Eurovision final

Almost two million viewers tuned in to watch Irish entry Bambie Thug land a place in the grand final of the Eurovision Song Contest, according to the BBC.

The semi-final of the competition was broadcast in the UK at 8pm on Tuesday on BBC One, hosted by radio DJ Scott Mills and TV personality Rylan Clark.

The two-hour show drew an average audience of 1.9 million, giving the channel a 16.3% share of viewers.

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

The programme was the first of two semi-finals, with the second set to take place on Thursday.

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.

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 chanty alternative song at the semi-finals on Tuesday.

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

Another 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.

Olly Alexander from the UK also performed at the Malmo Arena.

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.