How many times has UK scored zero points at Eurovision? Details explored as Olly Alexander suffers nil points blow in final

Olly Alexander's performance at this year's Eurovision only earned him a grand total of 0 public points. It was announced on Saturday, May 11, the day of the Eurovision final that Alexander's performance of his track Dizzy garnered a decent 46 points from the jury vote but failed to bring in any public points at all as the UK ended their run with an 18th place finish.

On two separate occasions in the past, the UK has ended their Eurovision run with 0 points in total. The first was in 2003 when Liverpool-based pop group Jemini performed Cry Baby, and the second time came in 2021 when James Newman's performance of Embers garnered him 0 points.

Olly Alexander performed his track 'Dizzy' in the competition (Image via Instagram/@ollyalexanderr)

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Olly Alexander and the United Kingdom finished 18th in this year's Eurovision

This year's Eurovision did not go well for the United Kingdom. Olly Alexander of Years & Years represented the island nation this time with a live performance of his synth-pop track Dizzy. The singer managed to bring in 46 points from the jury vote but couldn't bag a single point from the public vote.

This saw the United Kingdom finish in 18th place out of 25 nations with a grand total of 46 points. The nation was ranked 13th in jury votes and last in televoting. The professional jury vote made up 50% of the total points awarded while the public vote contributed to the remaining 50%.

Olly Alexander's performance at Malmö, Sweden saw the singer perform whilst dancing inside a box resembling a boxing locker room, which later transformed into an emotional cage alongside four male dancers.

Despite the catchiness of the track, The Guardian wrote that many criticized the choice of the song while others disliked the set itself. Others pointed out issues in the sound department by claiming that Olly's vocals sounded muddy.

Olly Alexander and his team appeared unfazed after the voting results were read out despite the setback. The singer broke his silence after the disappointment in an Instagram story where he congratulated this year's winner Nemo of Switzerland. The singer shared Eurovision's official post of Nemo's victory and wrote:

"Nemo !!! You did it !! I'm so so proud of you. It's been such an honour to be on this journey with you. You broke the code."

Olly's father David Thornton told the BBC that performing in the final was a fantastic learning experience" for Alexander who had a "wonderful time" in the competition. Thornton stated that he was enjoying "every minute of it".

However, he was surprised by the public vote. Alexander's father told BBC:

"To me it's a real surprise the public didn't sort of connect with that song, though the juries gave it a really good score."

He added:

"It is just one more step in wherever he's going to go next."

2024's competition was won by Switzerland's Nemo, who managed to rake in a grand total of 591 points, 365 from the jury and 226 from the public with a dazzling performance of their track The Code.

This is the first Swiss victory since 1988. Despite winning the public vote with 337 points, Croatia's Baby Lasagna came in a close second with 547 points in total.

The United Kingdom has bagged an impressive five Eurovision titles in total. However, the UK's most recent victory dates back to 1997 when Katrina and The Waves performed Love Shine a Light and amassed a winning total of 227 points.

In 2022, TikTok singer Sam Ryder came pretty close when his performance of Space Man amassed 466 points, landing him a second-place finish.