Bucks Fizz star Cheryl Baker fears Olly Alexander has little chance of Eurovision victory as she admits the song isn’t ‘strong enough for Eurovision’

Eurovision legend Cheryl Baker has expressed her fears about Olly Alexander’s Eurovision performance on Saturday.

The Bucks Fizz star, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1981, admitted she thinks Olly has little chance of winning, even though she really wants to.

The Years and Years singer, 33, who represents Britain with his catchy tune Dizzy, divided fans with his performance during the semi-final on Tuesday night.

While half seemed to love the song and raved about the expressive staging, others noticed that Olly’s vocals were slightly off and shaky, as it was even hoped he was preserving his vocals ahead of Saturday’s final.

And it looks like Cheryl also has reservations about the raunchy song, as she shared The mirror that the singer should consider making some significant changes to the song if he wants to have a chance of winning.

Speaking to the publication, she said: “I like the song, but it’s not going anywhere. It’s a hit, but I don’t think it’s strong enough for the Eurovision Song Contest. You have three minutes or less to make your mark.

‘In those three minutes you have to build and keep it running. He changed it up vocally with some high notes, but I don’t think the song is quite suitable for it, it just stays at the same level.’

Cheryl suggested that Olly add some significant changes to the song as she wondered whether, with just over 48 hours to go, the star would be able to make the changes logistically.

However, the star also wished Olly all the best, adding: ‘It would be great if he brings the Eurovision trophy back to Britain. Olly has such an incredible voice and I hope he wins – let’s just hope that, as usual, I’m completely wrong when it comes to the predictions.’

According to the betting company’s odds BetMGMOlly is an outsider to win, with unpromising odds of 150/1.

Britain last took the victorious title in 1997 when Katrina and the Waves went to number one with the song Love Shine a Light.

It was the fifth time that Britain had reached number one after Bucks Fizz previously won in 1981 with the hit Making Up Your Mind.

Meanwhile, Croatia is tipped to win with their artist Baby Lasagna, real name Marko Purisic, rated at 11/10, making them the current favorite.

Elsewhere, Switzerland is also winning hearts with singer Nemo, on 15/4, despite finishing in 20th place last year.

Italian Angelina Mango follows closely behind at 7/1 and achieved an impressive fourth position in 2023.

Olly gave it his all when he took to the stage in Malmö, Sweden on Tuesday evening joined by a group of handsome shirtless backup dancers as they performed the explosive number.

Using clever camera work, Olly and his dancers appeared to spin around and walk across the ceiling in the packed performance.

Olly’s boxing-themed routine saw him wearing a distressed vest and red trousers worn with a colour-coordinated jockstrap over the top.

The raunchy number saw Olly sensually caressing his hands over the dancers’ shirtless bodies before they started a dance scene and the singer pushed to the beat.

However, the star also suffered a wardrobe malfunction during the performance after his microphone pack fell off in the second chorus and was left dangling behind him.

Taking to Instagram on Wednesday, Olly struggled to hide his emotions as he admitted the little accident left him ‘thrown off’ and was left ‘worried and stressed’.

He told fans: ‘Eurovision update. The first semi-final was last night, I performed, it was good. I had a little wardrobe malfunction, and my microphone pack broke down halfway through the performance, so I had to catch it.

“It threw me off a bit. I was concerned. There were elements of the routine that I couldn’t do as well as I would have liked and I was stressed that the packaging would fall off completely and my in-ears would fall out.’

He took a few deep breaths and continued, “But it doesn’t matter. That’s the thrill of live music, anything can happen on television.

‘But the show was great, so many great competitors and everyone did so well. It was heartbreaking that someone had to go home.”

Earlier in the day, Olly also spoke to Scott Mills on his Radio 2 show, during which he admitted: “I had a little wardrobe malfunction when my mic pack fell off in the second chorus, so I was a bit confused and stressed by that.”

Scott, who commentates on Eurovision alongside Rylan Clark, added: “Good thing it happened now,” while Olly replied: “Oh exactly.”

Speaking about the performance as a whole, Olly said: ‘It was very good to perform in the semi-final as there is less pressure so I am there with all the other competitors but I have already qualified for the final so I can leave the seeing the whole show as if it were real, but not having to worry about the mood, so that was good.”

Directed by Theo Adams, Olly admitted that when the concept for the staging was first presented to him it blew his mind and it is the most rehearsed performance he has ever performed.

‘When he [Theo] first started telling me what the performance would be because there’s obviously a lot of manipulation with the cameras and on set things are made in such a way that it’s like you don’t know if they’re upside down or the right way up. I was stunned and I was very confused, and sometimes I’m still confused by the performance and what’s going on!

“It’s the most rehearsed thing I’ve ever done, the precision is pretty amazing.”