The Bucks Fizz singer thinks that one act could surprise us all in the final
Former Eurovision winner Cheryl Baker shared who she thinks the “dark horse” of this year’s competition could be days before the final.
The 71-year-old singer became part of group Bucks Fizz in 1981. They were formed specifically for Eurovision and featured four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston.
They went on to win the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song Making Your Mind Up.
Cheryl spoke with Heart Bingo about this year’s competition, which sees 26 countries in the final performing in Switzerland.
As one of the “Big Five” countries, the United Kingdom are automatically through to the Grand Final on Saturday May 17.
Cheryl said: “I’m really surprised at Remember Monday’s long odds of winning Eurovision. They’re deemed to have around a 1% chance of winning the competition, but I don’t know why that is.
“The song is great, the performance is great, and they look amazing. I hope the bookies are wrong and that they do much better than they’re predicted to do.”
She continued: “I’d say they’re dark horses for this year’s contest and can put in a really good performance and surprise a lot of people. They need a ‘rip off skirt moment’ like Bucks Fizz did in 1981 – something in their performance that blows people away. That’s what makes people vote for you, because they want to see that moment again.
“I’m hoping they have something special lined up in their production. The song is good, but they need something else to make the whole rendition fabulous and make people remember it. We wouldn’t have won in 1981 unless we had our ‘rip off skirt’ moment – that’s the difference between doing well in competitions and winning them!”
Cheryl has, however, predicted that Sweden could win a record-breaking eighth Eurovision title on Saturday.
She added: “I’m going with Sweden and KAJ to win this year’s contest. It’s a really catchy routine and reminiscent of Finland a few years ago. Sweden put so much effort into it and it’s so important to them – they’ve got Melodifestivalen to choose their act, which is massive over there.
“I think Sweden take Eurovision more seriously than any other country and it shows. They put everything together to make their song the best – and they’ve got another good song this year in Bara Bada Bastu. I think they’re the most likely winners this year.”
Eurovision Grand Final airs on Saturday 17th May at 8pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer.
