Next year’s Eurovision Song Contest will not be hosted by Graham Norton. The author and presenter appeared to rule himself out from hosting duties during an interview on This Morning on Wednesday 28th September.
Norton, who has been the show’s commentator since 2009, surprised This Morning hosts Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield when he asked them if they had “thrown [their] hats into the ring to host”.
While Schofield said he wasn’t “allowed” due to the contest being broadcast by the BBC, Willoughby pointed that it surely must be Norton’s job.
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“I don’t want to give up the commentating,” Norton answered. “If I stop the commentating, someone else will do it and they might be better than me and then I’ll lose that job.
“Well, I might wander on and wave, and then run back to my rabbit hutch and put my ear things on.”
Willoughby then suggested Rylan Clark-Neal for the job, though Norton didn’t reveal whether there had been any conversations on who might host the programme in his place. Other popular contenders, however, include Love Island winner Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Radio 1 DJ Scott Mills.
The competition will be hosted in the UK, despite Sam Ryder coming in second place. Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra were crowned the winners, but the country couldn’t take on hosting duties due to the ongoing Russian invasion. Liverpool and Glasgow are the two UK cities currently in the mix for holding the competition.
“Both of them are beautiful cities,” Norton said. “They’ll look great on camera, they both have a big musical tradition, so you know either one. May the best city win.”
The 2022 Eurovision Song Contest final aired on the BBC on Saturday 14th May – listen to all of this year’s Eurovision songs on TIDAL, while the full album of tracks is also available on CD and vinyl now.
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