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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Entertainment
Charlotte Tutton

Eurovision viewers thrilled as 'real winner' Mika performs medley at contest

Viewers tuning into The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 on Saturday night were left surprised by a familiar face.

Singer Mika, real name Michael Holbrook Penniman Jr, took up hosting duties for the live annual contest which took place in Turin, Italy - before performing a medley of his hits towards the end.

Mika was joined by his co-hosts for the evening, Italian TV presenter Alessandro Cattelan and Italian singer Laura Pausini.

As Grace Kelly and Happy Ending singer Mika hosted the live proceedings, some viewers tuning in from their homes had to double take.

Many were in disbelief that the singer was hosting the show, with them not realising he would be despite it being announced before the live final.

Viewers tuning into The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 on Saturday night were left surprised by a familiar face (Getty Images)

As some questioned the decision, others were loving seeing Mika back and were excited to see what he would bring to the contest.

As he sang some of his memorable tracks, viewers were loving it and called it the moment of the night.

Taking to Twitter, fans even joked they wanted Mika to win the whole show, despite him being the host and not an entry.

One fan commented: "Wait… mika is THAT MIKA?? How did i not know??" as another said: "ITS MIKA!!!!!!"

A third said: "Can Mika be awarded the winner?"

Mika was joined by his co-hosts for the evening, Italian TV presenter Alessandro Cattelan and Italian singer Laura Pausini. (Getty Images)

A fourth fan tweeted: "Sorry guys but Mika is the winner of this edition of #Eurovision."

Another said: "i just love mika there’s nothing more to say."

Mika is well known in Italy, with his songs being a huge hit in the country - while he was also a judge on The X Factor Italy in 2013.

The singer has actually lived in the country for years too, and he recently spoke about his Eurovision hosting gig.

Speaking on The One Show, Mika said: "I learnt to speak Italian just because I got this opportunity to go and do The X Factor in Italy.

"I learnt in a couple of months, luckily my Italian is better now, the ironic thing about this whole thing is that I’m gonna do Eurovision, the biggest TV show Italy has ever had to put on, and the whole thing is in English."

The Eurovision Song Contest 2022 is available on BBC iPlayer.

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