UK flops at Eurovision and finishes rock bottom YET AGAIN as Bulgaria pips Israel to glory

Bulgaria clinched Eurovision victory on the event’s 70th anniversary; While England’s entry hits rock bottom again.

There was a tense final vote as Bulgaria beat out Israel for the trophy, winning the competition for the first time with Dana and her catchy pop song Bangaranga.

Meanwhile, the UK’s entry Look Mum No Computer – with its wild entry Eins, Zwei, Drei – was eliminated from the competition after receiving just one point from the jury vote and the dreaded zero from television.

For the third year in a row, the UK did not receive a single point in the Eurovision television voting.

A loud chorus of boos and jeers rose from the crowd as the televised votes were cast for Israel; which allowed their entry to momentarily put Noam Bettan at the top of the leaderboard.

However, after the second semi-final on Thursday, Bulgaria was the final favorite to win the competition.

Israel finished in third place with 516 points, followed by Israel with 343 points and Romania with 296 points.

The contest was full of surprises, with bookmakers’ favorites Finland and Greece receiving just 138 votes and 147 votes respectively.

Meanwhile, the UK’s entry Look Mum No Computer – with its wild entry Eins, Zwei, Drei – was eliminated from the competition after receiving just one point from the jury vote and the dreaded zero from television.

Israeli Noam Bettan finished the competition in second place with 343 points.

The slogan for last night’s pan-European musical extravaganza was ‘Unity through Music’, but this was a far cry from the situation ahead of the Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna.

In fact, this year’s competition was marred by disagreement over continued Israeli participation.

Five countries (Spain, Ireland, Netherlands, Slovenia and Iceland) decided to boycott the contest due to Israel’s participation.

Meanwhile, when Noam Bettan performed his song in the first semi-final on Tuesday, he was met with boos from the audience as well as chants of “Free Palestine” and “stop the genocide” in reference to the Gaza War.

Austria’s broadcaster ORF later confirmed in a statement that some viewers had been removed by security.

Mr Bettan, 28, reportedly received protection from security agency Shin Bet, Mossad and elite Austrian units during his time in Vienna.

There are reports that protesters were arrested outside the Wiener Stadthalle Arena, where the competition was held.

Pro-Palestinian protesters took to the streets in the Austrian capital yesterday, waving Palestinian flags and carrying banners saying ‘don’t mention Palestine’ and ‘unite with genocide’.

Viktoria Eibensteiner, one of the protesters, said: ‘I think it is very important to show a symbol that shows that Austria is against war crimes, that Palestine, Lebanon are not the scene of Israeli crimes.

‘So… we want to take a stand against genocide, against war crimes, and that’s why we’re here today; ‘This is a celebration that serves to counter the Eurovision Song Contest and the normalization of war crimes.’

Jamil Sawalmeh, Country Director of ActionAid Palestine, said: ‘Justice cannot be a song that Europe sings for some and remains silent for others.

‘While Eurovision is in the spotlight across Europe today, the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues as the Israeli Government steps up its attacks on Palestinian lives and rights in the West Bank, while Palestinians face bombardment, forced displacement and deepening suffering.’

Final result of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest

Bulgarian Dana emerged as the final favorite for the championship

Bookmakers’ favorites Finland’s Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen (both pictured) did not perform as well as expected

Ferto was expected to perform better than he did on the night with the catchy song of Akylas from Greece.

The bookmakers’ favorites to win were Finland’s Linda Lampenius and Pete Parkkonen, who performed a pop-rock song with Ms. Lampenius’ impressive violin solo.

Delta Goodrem, who joined Australia, was also in the front row to receive the biggest awards in the final.

The 41-year-old Australian singer wowed the audience in the semi-finals on Friday morning with her epic song Eclipse, which took Australia to the grand final for the first time in three years.

Earlier this week, Rylan Clark was praised by viewers after directly addressing the controversy surrounding Israel’s participation in the singing competition.

Commenting on the semi-final with Angela Scanlon at the start of Tuesday’s first semi-final, Rylan told viewers that five countries had refused to take part this year.

He said: ‘As I’m sure you know, this year Eurovision has faced one of its most challenging years; Following Israel’s continued participation, five countries withdrew, leaving us with 35 acts to compete in this year’s live shows.’

Rylan was praised by fans for referencing the controversy surrounding the contest, writing of

‘I’m very thankful to Rylan for talking about the withdrawals and that’s because of Israel.’

Pro-Palestinian protesters at a rally in Vienna ahead of last night’s competition

‘Rylan is showing his emotions, which is good for him.’

‘Do the BBC and Rylan actually acknowledge the withdrawing countries and their reasons?’

And the TV presenter’s comments show just how much controversy has arisen around this year’s competition.

For the third year, the rivalry has been marred by calls to exclude Israel from the conflict in Gaza and elsewhere.

Spain declared a boycott in December after the European Broadcasting Union announced that Israel would be allowed to compete and Ireland, Slovenia, the Netherlands and Iceland also boycotted.

Some Spanish fans, although bittersweet, respect his choice to take a stand by not taking part in this beloved event.

Spain’s broadcaster has repeatedly expressed its disapproval of Israel’s participation.

In the 2025 semi-final, RTVE commentators talked about Palestinians killed in the war while also introducing the Israeli singer.

Before broadcasting the finale, the channel broadcast the message ‘Peace and justice for Palestine’ on a black background to hundreds of thousands of Spanish television viewers.

As the Eurovision finals take place in Vienna, RTVE will broadcast a tribute to the network’s musical history.

The song will feature the performance of musicians Tony Grox and Lucycalys, who will be sent by RTVE to represent Spain at Eurovision.

Ireland’s national broadcaster will instead air a Eurovision-themed episode of sitcom Father Ted.

Part of the 10-episode program about Palestinians will be shown to Slovenians.

People can still watch Eurovision on the European Broadcasting Union’s YouTube channel, but the lack of an artist or commentator from their own country makes the atmosphere decidedly less passionate.

The boycotts are a financial blow to Eurovision, which is largely funded by participating broadcasters, and to public broadcasters at a time when many are under financial pressure due to government funding cuts and social media competition.

Eurovision, long a forum for discussing good-natured and sometimes bitter national rivalries, has struggled to separate pop from politics in recent years.

Russia was expelled in 2022 following a large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Tensions rose again after Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people, and the subsequent Israeli operation in Gaza that killed more than 70,000 people.

The last two Eurovision contests have seen pro-Palestinian protests both outside and inside venues, forcing organizers to restrict political flag waving.

Many artists and countries have called for Israel, which has participated in Eurovision since 1973 and is one of the few non-European countries to do so, to be excluded from the competition.

The 2024 contest in Malmö, Sweden, and the 2025 event in Basel, Switzerland, saw pro-Palestinian protests, including calls for Israel’s expulsion over its war against Hamas in Gaza and allegations that Israel ran a rule-breaking marketing campaign to get votes for its contestant after placing second in 2025.

The five countries announced in December that they would not participate this year after organizers refused to kick out Israel.

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs Eurovision, has tightened voting rules in response to allegations of voting rigging, halving the number of votes per person to 10 and tightening safeguards against ‘suspicious or coordinated voting activity’.

Israel came in second overall with their song ‘New Day Will Rise’, receiving 83 percent points from the public.

The winner, Austria’s ‘Wasted Love’, received just 41 per cent of the public vote and had to rely on support from national juries to come out on top.