{"id":105682,"date":"2025-05-16T07:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-16T07:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/105682\/"},"modified":"2025-05-16T07:30:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T07:30:09","slug":"eurovision-grand-final-dealt-blow-as-ncuti-gatwa-pulls-out-of-show-tv-radio-showbiz-tv","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/105682\/","title":{"rendered":"Eurovision Grand Final dealt blow as Ncuti Gatwa pulls out of show | TV & Radio | Showbiz & TV"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ncuti Gatwa will no longer take part in the Eurovision Grand Final, the BBC<\/a> has confirmed tonight (May 15).<\/p>\n

Following the results of the Eurovision Semi-Finals being announced, the BBC<\/a> press office issued a statement confirming that the Doctor Who and Sex Education star would no longer serve as the UK’s spokesperson due to “unforeseen circumstances.”<\/p>\n

The acclaimed actor would have been delivering the results of the UK’s National Jury live, but he will instead be replaced by Sophie Ellis-Bextor in the role. Previously stars such as Joanna Lumley, Amanda Holden<\/a> and Catherine Tate have taken on the position.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the BBC<\/a> shared: “Due to unforeseen circumstances, unfortunately Ncuti Gatwa is no longer able to participate as Spokesperson during the Grand Final this weekend.”<\/p>\n

They continued: “However, we are delighted to confirm that BBC<\/a> Radio 2\u2019s very own Friday night Kitchen Disco Diva Sophie Ellis-Bextor will be presenting the Jury result live from the UK.”<\/p>\n

The statement came moments after the results of the second live Semi Final were announced, with Israel<\/a>, Finland, Germany, Luxembourg, Denmark, France, Lithuania, Greece, the UK, Austria, Armenia and Latvia’s acts all qualifying for the final show.<\/p>\n

Ncuti had been unveiled as spokesperson earlier this month as the final will coincide with the release of a themed Doctor Who episode titled The Interstellar Song Contest.<\/p>\n

Regarding her new role as spokesperson, Sophie Ellis-Bextor shared: “I love Eurovision and it\u2019s a privilege to be part of 2025\u2019s Grand Final.<\/p>\n

“What an honour it is to announce the UK\u2019s jury score on such a special show which always puts music front and centre. I am very much looking forward to delivering the iconic douze points from the United Kingdom!”<\/p>\n

Reacting to the news, one Eurovision fan predicted that “Sophie will do a grand job”, as another shared their hopes that Ncuti was “secretly filming Season 3.”<\/p>\n

“What a wonderful replacement!” gushed another viewer. “Glad Sophie can step in she will do a great job,” penned a fourth.<\/p>\n

The Eurovision Song Contest Grand Final will be shown at 8pm on Saturday night (May 7) on BBC<\/a> One and iPlayer<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ncuti Gatwa will no longer take part in the Eurovision Grand Final, the BBC has confirmed tonight (May…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":105683,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[192,77,13735,15215,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-105682","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-bbc","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-eurovision-song-contest","11":"tag-ncuti-gatwa","12":"tag-tv","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114516343138332675","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=105682"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/105682\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/105683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=105682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=105682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=105682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}