Austrian singer JJ has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Basel, Switzerland, after a nail-biting finish that saw him topple Israel from pole position at the very last minute.
The 24-year-old, who is a counter-tenor at the Vienna State Opera, took the title with the song Wasted Love, an tempestuous electro-ballad about unrequited love.
“Thank you so much for making my dreams come true,” he said as he accepted the coveted glass microphone trophy. “Love is the strongest force in the world, let’s spread more love.”
The singer scored 436 points, with Israel in second place on 357 and Estonia third on 356. The UK’s act, Remember Monday, placed 19th with 88 points.
For the second year in a row, the UK received zero from the public.
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JJ’s younger sister broke through security guards to hug him after his victory was announced.
The Austrian said his whole family had arrived to support him at the contest, including his 85-year-old grandfather, and a four-month-old niece, who watched outside with his brother.
It is the third time Austria has won the contest, with previous victories going to Udo Jürgens’ Merci, Cherie in 1966; and Conchita Wurst with Rise Like a Phoenix in 2014. JJ was inspired to take part in Eurovision by Conchita.
The singer had always been one of the favourites to win, but the most hotly-tipped contestants were Sweden’s KAJ – whose tongue-in-cheek ode to sauna culture, Bara Bada Bastu, ultimately took fourth place.
Speaking after the show, JJ said he was “so pleased” that viewers had connected with his story of heartache.
“I wanted to let them have an insight on my deepest soul [and] how I felt when we wrote the song.”
“What I’m trying to commit [to] is that there’s no wasted love. There’s so much love that we can spread around. It’s the strongest force on planet earth.”
Asked how he would celebrate, he replied: “Honestly, I need to sleep now. I’m tired.”
For the second year in a row, there was controversy over Israel’s participation, with protestors arguing for the country’s dismissal over its military action in Gaza.
Pro-Palestinian protests took place on the streets of Basel in the hours before the contest.
Later, a man and a woman people were prevented from invading the stage during Israel’s performance.
“One of the two agitators threw paint and a crew member was hit,” said Swiss broadcaster SRG SSR in a statement to the BBC.
“The crew member is fine and nobody was injured.
“The man and the woman were taken out of the venue and handed over to the police.”
The performance, by young singer Yuval Raphael, was unaffected.
The 25-year-old is a survivor of the Hamas attacks of 7 October, 2023, an experience which coloured her delicate ballad, New Day Will Rise.
The Israeli delegation said Raphael was left “shaken and upset” by the incident, but that it was “extremely proud” of her performance “which represented Israel in a respectful manner”.
Elsewhere, Eurovision was its usual explosion of high camp, sexual innuendo and dresses being removed to reveal smaller, tighter dresses.
Malta’s Mariana Conte was forced to rewrite her disco anthem Serving Kant to remove what sounded like a swear word – but performed the censored version with a knowing wink, safe in the knowledge the audience would fill in the blanks.
Although it was a fan favourite, Conte could only manage 17th.
Estonia’s Tommy Cash, who came third, also kept the innuendo train running, with Espresso Macchiato, a caffeinated disco anthem featuring the unforgettable phrase: “Life is like spaghetti, it’s hard until you make it.”
Another highlight was Finland’s Erika Vikman, who dispensed with double entendres entirely on Ich Komme, a vibrant hymn to sexual pleasure.
The singer ended her performance by taking flight on a giant phallic microphone that shot sparks into the air.
It thrust her into 11th position, and a permanent place in the Eurovision pantheon.
The contest also dealt with more weighty subjects like economic migration (Portuguese rock band Napa) and environmental catastrophe (Latvia’s Tautumeitas, who scored 12 points from the UK jury).
Dutch singer Claude delivered a heartfelt tribute to his mother in C’est La Vie – an upbeat anthem that reflected on her positivity as she uprooted the family from their home country of the Democratic Republic of Congo as a child.
In a touching climax, the 21-year-old danced with an image of his childhood self in a mirror on the stage.
Also reflecting on their childhood was French singer Louane, whose tearjerking ballad was dedicated to her mother, who died of cancer when she was 17.
In one of the night’s most striking performances, she was surrounded by a whirlwind of sand as she hollered the word “mother” over and over again.
One of the favourites to win, it ended the night in seventh place, after receiving a disappointing 50 points from the public.
JJ’s performance was similarly dramatic. Shot entirely in black and white, it saw him being tossed around on a rickety boat, as waves (of emotion) threatened to consume him.
An honourable mention also goes to Italy’s Lucio Corsi, whose harmonica solo in Volevo Essere Un Duro marked the first time a live instrument has been played at Eurovision since 1998.
The UK spent a third year in the bottom half of the leaderboard, despite a spirited performance from girl group Remember Monday.
A group of friends who met at high school, their inventive pop song What The Hell Just Happened? drew on their many years of experience in West End theatre.
The girls pulled off their tricky three-part harmonies while dancing around a fallen chandelier, but the performance didn’t connect with voters.
Despite earning a healthy 88 points from juries – including 12 from Italy – it bombed with viewers.
They ended in 19th place, one below last year’s entrant Olly Alexander.
The group laughed off their “nul points” score from the public, holding up peace signs and hugging each other as the score was announced.
The voting was chaotic overall.
Thirteen of the 26 finalists received the maximum of 12 points from at least one jury, leaving the competition completely open before the public vote was counted.
Israel, who had been languishing in the bottom half of the table, then received 297 points from the public (out of a possible maximum of 444). Twelve of those points came from the UK.
For a while, it looked like Yuval Raphael’s lead might be unassailable – but Austria’s tally of 178 was the last to be announced, leaving the singer empty-handed.
There was disappointment, too, for fans of Canadian singer Céline Dion, who had been rumoured to appear at the contest.
The singer won Eurovision for Switzerland in 1988, and had appeared in a video wishing the contestants good luck at Tuesday’s semi-final.
Despite hopes from Eurovision organisers that she might turn up, the moment never came to pass.
