The UK is not bad at Eurovision, 2025 act Remember Monday say

Remember Monday have said that the UK is “not bad” at the Eurovision Song Contest, despite the national pessimism in the UK that their fellow European countries do not vote for them.

Lauren Byrne, Holly-Anne Hull and Charlotte Steele, friends since Farnborough Sixth Form, are the first all-female multi-person act since 1999 when the UK was represented by the group Precious.

They will perform the energetic pop song What The Hell Just Happened? on Thursday in Basel, Switzerland.

Steele said as a “massive Eurovision fan, I feel like every country thinks that their country” does not do well in this event, as many have concerns about the dreaded “nul points”.

She also said “it’s because there’s so many different countries that are involved”, before claiming that “the UK have the most medals out of any country if you, if you take first, second and third, we are up by quite a long so I don’t think it’s that bad”.

The UK, France, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg have five Eurovision wins each, placing them below Sweden and Ireland, who are the leaders, triumphing seven times.

Their wins include, groups Brotherhood Of Man (1976), Bucks Fizz (1981) and Katrina And The Waves (1997), and solo acts: Sandie Shaw (1967) and Lulu (joint winner in 1969).

The UK has been a runner-up 16 times, a Eurovision record, most recently with British singer Sam Ryder coming behind Ukraine in 2022 with his song Space Man.

Remember Monday also said that Israel’s participation in Eurovision is a “too complex” issue for them to give an concrete answer on – ahead of them performing in the same semi-final as Israeli singer Yuval Raphael.

Organiser, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) has defended Israeli broadcaster Kan being included in the contest amid the war in Gaza, which has seen more than 52,000 people killed.

The EBU argues that Kan has nothing to do with the Israeli government, and Eurovision should be “united by music”, and non-political.

Broadcasters from countries such as Spain, Ireland and Iceland have called for a discussion on Israel taking part, while former Eurovision stars including the UK 2023 act Mae Muller, who placed second last in Liverpool, have urged that the Middle Eastern country be thrown out.

Byrne said: “We just think it’s really difficult,it’s such a complex issue, and that’s really difficult to comment on in a little sound bite.”

Her band members weighed in saying they were committed to the event’s slogan of “united by music”, and Byrne added: “We’re so excited to be here and be meeting all the acts and participating in such an amazing competition.”

During a press call, Byrne, 30, also said she was hoping to use their musical theatre experience, of Hull starring in Les Miserables and The Phantom Of The Opera, Steele being in Mary Poppins and Byrne having a role in both Matilda and the touring production of Six, to keep them calm.

She said: “It helps in terms of the nerves, the thing that we were just talking about, you know, we are very used to feeling incredibly nervous but still having a job to do, and so having to go on stage and do formats that you’ve rehearsed.”

“I think the scariest thing is that I want us to be proud of the performance,” Hull said. “The only people that can control that is us, obviously scores and everything, we’d love some lovely numbers to come up, but that’s not anything that we can kind of control or contribute towards.

“So I think for us, as long as we are proud of what we do on that stage.”

The final will feature performances from the “Big Five” countries (United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, France, Italy), who are through, with host country, Switzerland’s Zoe Me.

Fans can also tune into BBC Radio 2 for live commentary from broadcasters Richie Anderson and Sara Cox. In addition, Rylan Clark and Scott Mills will also be providing commentary for the Eurovision Grand Final on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds.

The final will take place in Basel on May 17 and can be watched on BBC One and iPlayer from 8pm BST.