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Who is Måns Zelmerlöw? Swedish Eurovision winner to co-host UK search for 2018 entry

The Local Sweden
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Who is Måns Zelmerlöw? Swedish Eurovision winner to co-host UK search for 2018 entry
Former Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw. Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT

Swedish singer, TV host, and former Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw will host the TV search for the UK's entry to the contest.

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Zelmerlöw will co-host Eurovision: You Decide, set to be broadcast live from the southern English city of Brighton next February. The venue, Brighton Dome, is where Abba won the 1974 edition of the contest with their performance of Waterloo.

IN PICTURES: Måns Zelmerlöw through the years

Zelmerlöw will share the honour of hosting with British presenter Mel Giedroyc, who is best known for her role as co-host of The Great British Bake Off.

The Lund-born singer was a household name in Sweden long before his Eurovision fame, having entered Swedish talent show Idol in 2005 and competed in Melodifestivalen – the Swedish show which decides the country's Eurovision entry – three times before winning in 2015.

His song Heroes went on to win the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest and since then he has become a regular face on Swedish TV, presenting TV shows, starring in musicals and even parodying Miley Cyrus at the Swedish Gay Gala.


Zelmerlöw performs at the QX Gaygala in 2014. Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT

He also hosted the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Stockholm, together with comedian Petra Mede.

In that competition, the pair presented a spoof song, Love Love Peace Peace, as an example of how to put together a winning song for the competition. 

It made fun of some of the typical tactics used by Eurovision entrants, from elaborate costumes to elements of national folklore, with the chorus: "Love, love, peace, peace, four women baking bread, peace, peace, love, love, and a man in a hamster wheel."

The UK could probably use all the tips Zelmerlöw can give them, having reached the top ten only twice since 2000, while Sweden has been the most successful country in the contest in the 21st century, with two wins and a total of ten top five results.

READ ALSO: Six signs Sweden takes Eurovision too seriously

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