Scott Mills: 'My main job is to stop Rylan taking Olly Alexander on a boozy night'

Scott Mills says his most important job at Eurovision is to stop his co-presenter Rylan Clark from leading Olly Alexander astray.

The radio DJ says his “Eurovision husband” is renowned for taking the UK hopefuls on boozy nights out. And he put Sam Ryder’s second place success with Spaceman in 2022 down to the fact he gave Rylan the slip in the run-up to the final. Scott, who has presented Radio 2’s coverage for 13 years, said: “I do have to look after Rylan and make sure he doesn’t go too far astray.

“In previous years – though he’s not allowed to any more – he has taken the UK contestants out for the night, and that can’t really happen because they need to sing on Saturday. He wouldn’t take them out the night before the final, but maybe the night before that. “Rylan loves to talk to everyone. He’s still in touch with security guards from Lisbon, and the lady who looked after us in Tel Aviv.

“He always goes straight in while I’ll hold back a bit, so I’m like his minder. I’m the one who makes sure he goes to bed and doesn’t
turn up late. “But having said that, I have gone astray at times. There have been nights that ended at 5am, and some of the hangovers have been bad.

“In Sam Ryder’s year – and Sam is a good friend of mine – he absolutely swerved me and Rylan for the whole week and it was the right thing to do. “I remember him coming towards us in the hotel in Turin and being like, ‘Hi, guys, I just need to go and rehearse’. “He did well to stay away from us – and now Olly needs to do the same.”

This year’s Eurovision, which kicks off with the semi-finals on Tuesday, will see It’s A Sin actor Olly, 33, go up against favourites from countries such as Switzerland and Croatia. Last year’s UK hopeful Mae Muller finished second from bottom with 24 points, despite fans’ high hopes for her entry, I Wrote A Song.

But Scott, 51, reckons Olly will outperform expectations with his track Dizzy, despite being one of the underdogs. He went on: “This year, I really think it could be anyone’s. All it takes is a great performance.

“Olly is a world-class actor who has experience of these big stages so that won’t faze him. “Add that to the staging – and I hear his is amazing – and we could be in for a surprise. “I know him well and I think he’ll breeze it because he’s a seasoned performer. “You often see people’s nerves run away with them but that isn’t going to happen to Olly.”

This year’s Eurovision is being held in the city of Malmo after Swedish act Loreen triumphed in 2023 with her pop anthem, Tattoo. She became the first woman to win the contest twice – and Scott reckons organisers have their work cut out equalling last year’s party atmosphere, which saw Liverpool transformed into a non-stop Eurovision festival.

Scott said the celebrations were so epic that many stars who were there, including TV host Hannah Waddingham, have been hit by the “Eurovision blues”. He went on: “Last year was just a whole week of fun and joy.

“I personally think Liverpool did a better job of Eurovision than any city has ever done. So much so that people who were involved last year are now getting Eurovision blues. The other day Hannah sent me a voice note saying, ‘I’m so jealous, I want to do it again. Now I’m just going to be watching on telly like everyone else’. She is missing it badly. I really hope she has another chance to do it.

“Eurovision blues is an actual thing – you do get a real comedown afterwards. When you’ve hosted the show, seeing someone else do it is going to be hard, especially when you absolutely smashed it like she did.” Scott has been involved with Eurovision since 2011, when he presented the coverage with Mel Giedroyc before Rylan, 35. But he insists he will never get tired of it and will only stop if the BBC pull the plug on him.

“It’s like Christmas for me – it’s my favourite week of the year,” he admitted.“ Whichever country you are supporting, it feels like everyone is on the same team. There’s that community spirit and everyone is happy. It’s a very happy place to be for a week, just meeting up with people and having fun. “This is our World Cup, really. It’s been amazing in the last few years to see people in the UK fall in love with it again.”

The Eurovision semis are on Tuesday and Thursday at 8pm and the final is on Saturday at 8pm, on BBC One and Radio 2