Lucie Jones wins the British ticket to Eurovision

After a 90 minute show, Lucie Jones was announced as the United Kingdom’s representative for the Eurovision Song Contest 2017 with the song “Never Give Up on You”.
Giving a competent performance on the night, including some soaring vocals, Jones was announced by presenter Mel Giedroyc as the winner of the show once the public and jury votes had been combined.
As is usual for the BBC, no public vote was revealed – and consequently due to the nature of the show, neither was a jury vote. Furthermore, it is unlikely that a full set of voting results for tonight’s show will be revealed by the British broadcaster in the near future.
Immediately after the win, it was announced that Jones will be appearing live on Graham Norton’s Radio 2 show tomorrow morning to speak to the UK’s commentator about her win and the upcoming contest in Kyiv.

“I forgot you were singing and just listened to the story”

Jones has considerable experience at performing on stage, having been involved in numerous musicals as well as making several small television appearances during her career to date.
“Never Give Up on You” is co-written by Eurovision winner Emmelie de Forest, who won in 2013 for Denmark with “Only Teardrops”. The other writers on the track are The Treatment and Lawrie Martin.
The expert panel passed considerable praise to Jones after her performance with British pop star Sophie Ellis Bextor saying that she “forgot [Jones] was singing and just listened to the story” whilst Strictly Come Dancing judge Bruno Tonioli said that she had captured the audience with the power of her voice. Finally, vocal coach CeCe Sammy, who incidentally was 1/5 of the UK jury vote last year, added the comment that Jones has an “incredible voice”.
Once famed for a shock elimination to Jedward in a sing off on The X Factor, Jones will now be able to claim being a British Eurovision representative as a career highlight, usurping that memorable moment in reality TV history.
You can watch Lucie Jones’s live performance of “Never Give Up on You” below.