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ABC News
ABC News
National
music and pop culture reporter Mawunyo Gbogbo

Australia's Sheldon Riley garners support from national juries at Eurovision

Australia's Sheldon Riley performs in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest

In order to earn your place at the top of the glittery Eurovision ladder, singers need to be popular with both the public and the professional juries which cast their vote to decide a winner.

SPOILERS AHEAD: You have been warned!

And Australia's Sheldon Riley was very popular with these professional juries, which are made up of participating countries that can vote for each other but not themselves.

Riley received a respectable 123 points from these juries.

But when those points were combined with the public vote, his overall score was 125.

That's right – just two votes from the public.

Sheldon Riley performs in the 2022 Eurovision Song Contest (Supplied: SBS)

When that was announced, the room showed its support for Australia, which has been a participant in Eurovision since 2015 when it competed in the 60th anniversary of the song contest in what was meant to be a one-off affair.

"This has been the most incredible experience of my entire life," Riley said.

He went on to say he was told for a long time that dreaming of performing in Eurovision was futile.

He was not too worried about where he placed. He was happy to have made it to the grand final.

"My performance was received so well by the room and it means the absolute world," Riley said.

"This is everything I could have dreamed of."

Riley was dressed in a flowing white outfit weighted in pearls and paired with a crystal mask when he took to the Eurovision stage to sing Not The Same.

The 23-year-old from the Gold Coast mirrored his Australia Decides performance when he removed his mask towards the end of the song in a dramatic reveal — but he wasn't quite as overcome by emotion this time.

Diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome at age six, the Filipino-Australian performer is best known for his work on reality TV shows such as The Voice and America's Got Talent.

The Eurovision stage is the biggest one he's been on — it's the world's largest live music event.

Australia finished in 15th place.

Ukraine's Kalush Orchestra came out on top with the song Stefania, scoring a massive 430 points from televoters alone to take a total of 631 points.

The United Kingdom, which typically doesn't place well in Eurovision, shot up to second place with Sam Ryder's SPACE MAN.

The competition was this year held in Turin, Italy.

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