Three more contest contenders receive the Superfan treatment as our panel ponders the second batch of Malmö hopefuls. We’re on home turf for our National Triple Play as we delve into the UK’s Eurovision archives, and one of you opts for a very beautiful song from Cyprus as this weeks Fan Favourite. Plus our regular catch up of whats been happening in the Eurovision News…

Bambie Ray Robinson, known by their stage name Bambie Thug, is an Irish singer-songwriter. They are known to mix numerous genres in their music, coining their own term, 'ouija-pop', out of disdain for being put into one genre. Robinson is set to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 after winning the Irish national final Eurosong 2024 with 'Doomsday Blue'.

Christina Metaxa is a Cypriot singer. Her brother Nikolas Metaxas was 2nd in the X-factor. He wrote the song 'Firefly' for her sister, who sang it in the 2009 Eurovision Song Contest. Christina did not have a singing career after Eurovision.

The United Kingdom has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 65 times. It first took part in the second contest in 1957 and has entered every year since 1959. Along with Sweden and the Netherlands, the UK is one of only three countries with Eurovision victories in four different decades. It is one of the “Big Five” countries, along with France, Germany, Italy and Spain, that are automatically prequalified for the final each year as they are the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). The British national broadcaster, the BBC, broadcasts the event and has, on multiple occasions, organised different national selection processes to choose the British entry. The United Kingdom has won the Eurovision Song Contest five times, and has finished as runner-up on a record sixteen occasions. The UK has hosted the contest a record nine times, four times in London (1960, 1963, 1968 and 1977) and once each in Edinburgh (1972), Brighton (1974), Harrogate (1982), Birmingham (1998), and Liverpool (2023).

The United Kingdom’s five winners are Sandie Shaw with the song “Puppet on a String” (1967), Lulu with “Boom Bang-a-Bang” (1969 in a four-way tie), Brotherhood of Man with “Save Your Kisses for Me” (1976), Bucks Fizz with “Making Your Mind Up” (1981) and Katrina and the Waves with “Love Shine a Light” (1997). The UK has also achieved a record sixteen second-place finishes, the first in 1959 and the most recent in 2022.

James Richard Newman is a British singer and songwriter, brother of John Newman – a well known singer, sognwriter, musician and record producer. During the 2014 Brit Awards, James won the Brit Award for British Single of the Year as a co-writer of “Waiting All Night”, a song by English band Rudimental

Newman was selected to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 with the song, “My Last Breath” before its cancellation. He instead represented the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 2021 with the song “Embers”, which came in last place with nul points.