Eurovision victory eludes UK's Blue

Winners Ell/Nikki, Nigar Jamal and Eldar Gasimov, from Azerbaijan celebrate winning the Eurovision Song Contest in Dusseldorf, Germany (AP)
12 April 2012

Their song was called I Can, but when it came to the crunch, it turned out that Blue couldn't.

Hopes of the UK winning its first Eurovision Song Contest since 1997 had been resting on the shoulders of the newly-reformed boyband.

But they could not hit the heights achieved by Katrina and the Waves 14 years ago, ending up in 11th place in Dusseldorf, Germany.

They scored a total of 100 points however - 10 times more than last year's British entry Josh Dubovie, who came last.

The contest was won by the small nation of Azerbaijan with romantic duet Running Scared, performed by Ell and Nikki.

Although she was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, the UK can claim some sort of victory as Nikki - full name Nikki Jamal - lives in north London with her husband and two daughters.

Irish twins Jedward - who were awarded the maximum 12 points from the UK vote - came in 8th place with Lipstick.

Former X Factor stars James and Edward Grimes impressed with their big-shouldered red sparkly jackets and trademark quiffs as they gave a high-energy performance of their song.

Blue's song, written by members Lee Ryan and Duncan James, was received with enthusiastic applause, despite what BBC host Graham Norton tactfully described as a "tentative start".

When voting began, Blue scored highly, and were briefly top of the leaderboard. But they were swiftly overtaken by other countries,

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