Wogan apologises for Eurovision mix-up

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Sir Terry Wogan apologised for his Eurovision gaffe today, but refused to take the blame.

Confusion reigned on Saturday night's Making Your Mind Up show when Sir Terry announced that French singer Cyndi had won.

Seconds later his co-host Fearne Cotton confirmed that Scooch were the actual winners.

Sir Terry joked on his Radio 2 breakfast show this morning: "I'm thinking of getting in touch with Andrew Flintoff. We could do a double act."

He told listeners: "I suppose I should make a little apology to Cyndi - although I'm not taking the blame for this - because I was the one who did say Cyndi had won.

"And if she's listening, my apologies for raising your hopes at the last minute, which was inadvertent and I'm sorry."

He added: "It probably wouldn't do her career any harm, either. She's a fine singer."

Four-piece group Scooch will represent the UK at the Eurovision Song Contest in May with their song Flying The Flag (For You).

Sir Terry said: "I shall be cheering them on in Helsinki. Scooch were the clear winners. Just ignore what you hear old fools say."

Cyndi - full name Cyndi Almouzni - said yesterday she was left confused by the mix-up. "Very honestly, I wasn't understanding what was going on because it was so fast.

"I did not know what was going on. It was pretty fast and they corrected it. When I got off stage, people were saying: 'What happened?"'
She wished Scooch well, adding: "They are very nice. I wish them good luck."

BBC director-general Mark Thompson sought to make light of the blunder. Referring to the TV phone lines scandal, he told BBC1's Sunday AM programme: "I think they were trying so hard to get the phones right that something else must have gone wrong.

"I'll find out tomorrow morning exactly what, but whoever's fault it was I'm sure it wasn't Terry Wogan's."

 

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