Louis Walsh thinks he and Simon Cowell can save UK’s Eurovision hopes

Louis Walsh reckons he an Simon Cowell could improve the UK’s chances at Eurovision success.

The UK has won the contest five times however our last victory was back in 1997.

In more recent years, the UK has regularly struggled to get off the bottom spot. 2019 marks a decade since a UK Eurovision entry cracked the Top 10, with Jade Ewen’s It’s My Time placing at Number 5 in 2009.

This year’s UK Eurovision entry comes from Michael Rice and his song Bigger Than Us, selected in BBC’s You Decide show back in February.

It’s odds aren’t great, given a 250/1 shot of winning by some bookmakers.

Former X Factor judge Louis Walsh reckons if he and Simon Cowell were to team up, the odds would be better.

He said: “The UK can win Eurovision again for sure yes, but it needs to be a group like Bucks Fizz or an old pop style song. They need a great writer.

“A lot of the great songwriters are afraid to put their songs in because the competition doesn’t have any credibility where we are. Whereas in Eastern Europe they look at it as a serious TV show.”

Louis told the Daily Mirror newspaper: “They always do a competition to choose the song but you need an established artist, I would do it with Simon Cowell if he wanted to do it, or one of the major labels like Sony or Universal wanted me to get involved I would do it. Absolutely.

“But you need a great song and a great singer and then you work on production and promotion.”

The 2019 Eurovision Song Contest, which is taking place in Tel Aviv, Israel, continues with the second semi-final tonight (May 16) before the final this weekend on May 18.

The semi-finals air at 8PM on BBC Four with the grand final on BBC One from 8PM on Saturday.

Graham Norton will provide commentary as usual while Rylan Clark-Neal will be the UK’s voting spokesperson.