Latest news with #TonyArmstrong
SBS Australia
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Eurovision delivers strong Total TV audiences for SBS, dazzling more than 2.21 million Australians tuning in
Total TV National Reach across SBS's live and prime time broadcasts of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest was more than 2.21 million people, with 172,000 watching exclusively on SBS on Demand. This year marked Logie-nominated presenter Tony Armstrong and multi-hyphenate entertainer and global icon Courtney Act's first year in the Eurovision commentary booth. The Grand Final achieved a Total TV National Reach of 1.14 million, with 60,000 viewers watching exclusively on SBS on Demand. The first Semi Final achieved a Total TV National Reach of 1 million, with 91,000 viewers watching exclusively on SBS on Demand. The second Semi Final achieved a Total TV National Reach of 982,000, with 78,000 viewers watching exclusively on SBS on Demand. Early-rising Eurovision fans boosted BVOD viewership, tuning in live on SBS On Demand for the morning broadcasts, compared to the evening prime time shows (see table below). More than 2.2m Australians tuned in for SBS's broadcast of the 69th Eurovision Song Contest, held in Basel Switzerland, with new hosts for 2025, Tony Armstrong and Courtney Act, presenting live, nail-biting morning broadcasts alongside evening shows packed with backstage access and insights, fueling Australia's love of the world's biggest musical event. SBS Head of Unscripted, Joseph Maxwell, said: 'From saunas to sky-high singers, macchiatos to milkshakes, this year's Eurovision Song Contest did not dissapoint in delivering dance anthems, dazzling vocal performances, and voting results that kept viewers worldwide on their toes until the very end. It's fantastic to see Australia's love affair with Eurovision continue, with millions of Australians tuning in across our semi final and grand final programs, including audiences down under waking up to watch our live shows in the early hours in record numbers this year. 'Eurovision is a spectacle unlike any other, connecting audiences from around the world in a celebration of diversity and culture through music. It is unashamedly part of our history at SBS, having broadcast the event for more than 40 years, and we're thrilled to see loyal Eurovision-loving audiences continuing to come back for their fix each year, alongside new viewers getting a taste of Eurovision for the first time.' Austria's JJ triumphed in the Grand Final, crowned the winner of this year's Eurovision Song Contest with Wasted Love, an operatic ballad with soaring vocals that evolved into a club anthem for its finale. Following tradition, the glittering spectacle will now move from this year's host country, Switzerland, to Austria next year, the first time since 2014 that it has hosted the event. While Australia's viral pop sensation, Go-Jo,sadly didn't progress through to the Grand Final following the Milkshake Man's delicious performance in the competitive second Semi Final, Australian Eurovision fans continued to be captivated by the contest and the unique collection of cultures and musical acts that made this year's Eurovision one of the most surprising and unpredictable in recent years. Semi Final One TOTAL TV NATIONAL AVERAGE REACH TOTAL TV NATIONAL AVERAGE AUDIENCE BROADCAST TV NATIONAL AVERAGE AUDIENCE BVOD NATIONAL AUDIENCE LIVE 245,000 142,000 126,000 16,000 PRIME TIME 663,000 165,000 157,000 8,000 Semi Final Two TOTAL TV NATIONAL AVERAGE REACH TOTAL TV NATIONAL AVERAGE AUDIENCE BROADCAST TV NATIONAL AVERAGE AUDIENCE BVOD NATIONAL AUDIENCE LIVE 293,000 152,000 132,000 20,000 PRIME TIME 678,000 195,000 187,000 8,000 Grand Final TOTAL TV NATIONAL AVERAGE REACH TOTAL TV NATIONAL AVERAGE AUDIENCE BROADCAST TV NATIONAL AVERAGE AUDIENCE BVOD NATIONAL AUDIENCE LIVE 615,000 284,000 253,000 31,000 PRIME TIME 805,000 169,000 161,000 8,000 For a pdf copy of this release, click here.
SBS Australia
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- SBS Australia
Eurovision 2025 live: Grand final begins in Basel, Switzerland
Itching to get in on the action? You can watch the Eurovision grand final by heading straight to . Tony Armstrong and Courtney Act are hosting and commentating Australia's coverage live from Basel, Switzerland. The stream has just kicked off — so quickly run to the kettle to top up your coffee. — Alexandra Koster 21m ago 6:24am Yes, Australians can vote in the Eurovision grand final. Votes can be cast via the official Eurovision Song Contest app. Download for Android and here. You can also head to to cast your vote. Each vote costs 70 cents and you can cast a maximum of 20 votes per transaction. — Jessica Bahr 6m ago 6:39am Fun fact: The backstage team at Eurovision only has about 35 seconds to change the set. That's all the time they get to make sure the props are swapped out for the next performance and to get all the performers ready, mic'd up, and in the right spot. "We call it the Formula 1 tyre change," Richard van Rouwendaal, the Dutch Eurovision stage manager told BBC. "Each person in the crew can only do one thing. You run on stage with one light bulb or one prop. You always walk on the same line. If you go off course, you will hit somebody." "It's a bit like ice skating." The stage crew has about two weeks to practice before the big day. — Alexandra Koster 6m ago 6:39am The Netherlands is up next, with Claude's 'C'est la vie' There's something nice about not knowing the words to any of these songs as a mere uncultured monolingual speaker, but feeling a jolt of excitement when they say, in English, "it goes up, it goes down". So true, Claude. It does go up and down. — Alexandra Koster 7m ago 6:39am I know I'm not the only person who still dreams Finland's infamous 'Cha Cha Cha' by Käärijä at the 2023 contest (robbed!). Finland's Erika Vikman channels the Finnish Eurovision spirit — which I can only assume is absolutely whackadoo — with 'Ich komme'. It gets so intense towards the end that I'm just left staring at the screen as my eyes are assaulted with blasts of light and 'ICH KOMME' in big letters, which translates to 'I'm coming'. Our overlords, Courtney Act and Tony Armstrong, also drop that we may be getting a surprise performance from Käärijä tonight?! Yes, yes, a thousand times, yes. — Alexandra Koster 31m ago 6:15am If I could have access to a time machine, I would use it to take me back approximately seven minutes so I could watch Iceland's performance again. A dash of K-pop, a sliver of Irish dancing, mixed with an electronic sea shanty, Iceland's Væb is immediately making me want to invest in some silver get-up. — Alexandra Koster 34m ago 6:11am As a quick palate cleanser, here are some of the best posts on X right now: — Alexandra Koster 37m ago 6:09am The girls are here. Now we've got Remembering Monday with 'What the Hell Just Happened?'. They literally look like a jazzier, more Sabrina Carpenter version of The Powerpuff Girls. In my view, that's always a sign of a winning performance. They even cap off their performance with big smiles inside a love heart! This is canon now, as far as I'm concerned. — Alexandra Koster 37m ago 6:08am The Eurovision Song Contest is always a visual treat, with many performers going all out with not only their vocals, but also their outfits, visual effects, and stage design. Here are some of the best images so far. — Jessica Bahr 52m ago 5:54am It's not Eurovision unless it literally looks like someone has placed a sheer stocking — or a schmear of Vaseline — over the camera lens. The crowd is chuffed by Ukraine's entrant, Ziferblat with 'Bird of Pray'. My favourite part was the screen blackouts that immediately made me believe I had a power outage, as I'm sure it did for many other watch parties out there. — Alexandra Koster 56m ago 5:49am The wind machine really is working overtime for Lithuania, with Katarsis' 'Tavo akys'. It's kind of giving an even campier version of Evanescence, which I am absolutely an advocate for. The performance is capped with 44 'Tavo's'. I'm not sure what Tavo means in Lithuanian, but according to Nameberry, a baby names meaning website, Tavo translates to "staff of the Goths", which is just really lovely. — Alexandra Koster 1h ago 5:40am 1h ago 5:36am I fear this may be the best performance of the night so far, Estonia's entrant Tommy Cash with 'Espresso Macchiato' — which I will be singing for the next year. I never knew I needed to see someone float above a background of coffee beans until now. Stunning. Gorgeous. No notes. — Alexandra Koster 1h ago 5:32am Okay, Alice in Wonderland! Next up is Luxembourg's entrant, Laura Thorn with 'La poupée monte le son'. There's also a costume change, so we've really just gotten the full Eurovision experience. — Alexandra Koster 1h ago 5:29am We start off the performances with a hot (get it?) performance from Norway's entrant, Kyle Alessandro with 'Lighter'. Unsurprisingly, the stage is plastered with pyrotechnics. Flame on! — Alexandra Koster 1h ago 5:25am As the finalists for this year's competition roll onto the stage, I can't help but think of a universe where our boy Go-Jo was up there, sprouting the multiple benefits of drinking his delicious milkshakes. Go-Jo was eliminated in the second semi-final on Friday morning. Alas, 37 countries have competed in this year's Eurovision, and 26 have made it through to the final. Our finalists are: Albania: Shkodra Elektronike — Zjerm Armenia: PARG — SURVIVOR Austria: JJ — Wasted Love Denmark: Sissal — Hallucination Estonia: Tommy Cash — Espresso Macchiato Finland: Erika Vikman — ICH KOMME France: Louane — Maman Germany: Abor & Tynna — Baller Greece: Klavdia — Asteromáta Iceland: VÆB — RÓA Israel: Yuval Raphael — New Day Will Rise Italy: Lucio Corsi — Volevo essere un duro Latvia: Tautumeitas — Bur Man Laimi Lithuania: Katarsis — Tavo Akys Luxembourg: Laura Thorn — La Poupée Monte Le Son Malta: Miriana Conte — SERVING Netherlands: Claude — C'est La Vie Norway: Kyle Alessandro — Lighter Poland: Justyna Steczkowska — GAJA Portugal: NAPA — Deslocado San Marino: Gabry Ponte — Tutta L'Italia Spain: Melody — Esa diva Sweden: KAJ — Bara Bada Bastu Switzerland | Zoë Më – Voyage Ukraine: Ziferblat — Bird of Pray United Kingdom: Remember Monday — What The Hell Just Happened? — Alexandra Koster 2h ago 5:05am Welcome to our coverage of the 2025 Eurovision Song Contest grand final. Finalists from 26 countries are taking to the stage in Basel, Switzerland. We will be recapping performance highlights, major moments, and results as they come in. You can also watch live on SBS and — Jessica Bahr
Daily Mail
17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Drag star Courtney Act reveals 'disastrous' wardrobe malfunction moments before Australia's hopes were dashed in Eurovision semi-final
Drag star Courtney Act suffered a 'disastrous' wardrobe malfunction just moments before Australia's hopes were dashed in the Eurovision semi-finals. Courtney, real name Shane Jenek, is taking on Eurovision hosting duties for SBS alongside Tony Armstrong. She shared a clip to Instagram just just prior to Australian hopeful Go-Jo taking to the stage in the second semi-final in Basel, Switzerland. Shot in her hotel room, the clip shows Courtney busily getting glammed up in a Milkshake Man costume - a nod of support to the Australian hopeful. As she stepped into her form-fitting dress, the unthinkable soon happened with Courtney suffering a last minute wardrobe malfunction. As she turned to 'zip up', a long string attached to the zipper, to aid in the process, snapped, leaving Courtney without a means to close her garment. Not one to be dissuaded, Courtney quickly hopped out of the dress to do a quick repair job. However, disaster soon struck again when the zipper broke for a second time. Captioning the post, Courtney wrote: 'What is your favourite milkshake flavour? @heyimgojo's is Spearmint, I think mine is Banana. 'Meanwhile disaster struck when my zipper broke getting ready! Will I make it to the ball on time? 'Or just keep my back to the wall the whole night so no one notices my gapping dress? Thankfully Go-Jo came to the rescue! While Courtney was unclear what the singer did to rescue the dress, she did admit in the comments that it was, indeed, fixed and she did make it to the event on time. 'I asked someone in the lobby to do it up for me. The zipper didn't break, just the handle bit came off. Thankfully,' she shared. Her followers were quick to comment on the panic-inducing post, including fitness icon Michelle Bridges who empathised with the drag star. 'OMFG I felt your pain instantly!!! Zippers!!!!!' the former Biggest Loser host wrote. Another chimed in with: 'You are truly a professional b/c I WOULD CRASH OUT,' while a third offered: 'Why did I feel my heart drop when the zip came off.' Despite narrowly avoiding sartorial disaster, Courtney was unable to prevent Go-Jo from crashing out of the iconic singing contest on Friday (AEST). The Western Australian-born singer was competing alongside the likes of Montenegro, Ireland, Georgia, Czechia, and Serbia. Go-Jo, real name Marty Zambotto, bowed out after his tongue-in-cheek song Milkshake Man, written by Aussie pop star Amy Sheppard, did not win over the crowd. Devastated fans went online to share their heartbreak over Go-Jo's shock elimination. Just got back home from work and seen Australia's Milkshake Man has not made the Final at Eurovision. What the hell?!? We should all be ashamed! Ridiculous. Justice for Go-Jo,' one devastated fan wrote. 'I'm speechless. He gave us a wonderful show and Europe paid him dust. We are proud of you Go-Jo,' a second person added. 'Go-Jo not qualifying in #Eurovision.. RIGGED,' another sniped, as a fourth added: 'The biggest robbery that I've seen in Eurovision history. So sorry Go-Jo. I REALLY wished you qualify.' Despite the loss, the singer sad it was an 'incredible' experience. 'Aside from the result this journey has been the most incredible thing that I've ever experienced in my whole entire life,' Go-Jo said after the performance. The 2025 Eurovision Song Contest grand final will be broadcast from 5am (AEST) on Sunday, and replayed at 7.30pm, on SBS and SBS On Demand.
The Guardian
16-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Tony Armstrong: ‘The tone of the world shifting. The way that I'm getting spoken to is wild'
For someone so easily recognisable, Tony Armstrong is surprisingly unaccustomed to being famous. When he opened his front door to find paparazzi outside his house in Brunswick, his first thought was that they were birdwatchers. Rather sweetly, he walked up to ask them what bird they'd spotted: 'I was like, 'Hey, is there something cool in that tree? Oh, shit!'' Armstrong may not used to fame but he does politely endure it. As we walk around Brunswick more than one person gawps at the 35-year-old, so recognisable with his curls and that moustache as he strides along a mural-lined laneway while wearing the most Melbourne of uniforms to boot: a garish Wah-Wah jumper accessorised with a takeaway coffee cup. 'I just need a fixie with a loaf of sourdough and some pet-nat in the basket,' he jokes. Brunswick, with its graffitied houses, web of tram lines and concentration of bougie cafes and wine bars, has been his happy home for almost a decade. He helpfully points out the 'good Coles' and 'shitty Coles' but refuses to show me around the monolithic Barkly Square shopping centre: 'I don't want to have a panic attack.' Somehow it has survived Brunswick's gentrification, which now manifests in peculiar ways: think community radio stickers on $100,000 cars. Sign up for the fun stuff with our rundown of must-reads, pop culture and tips for the weekend, every Saturday morning 'Like, there's a Porsche,' Armstrong says incredulously, pointing at a car outside his local pub. The next car is also a Porsche. 'Fucking hell, that's a Maserati,' he says, pointing at the next, openly appalled. We meet on the precipice of two bastions of democracy: a week before the federal election and two weeks before Eurovision. Armstrong is buzzing about the latter, as he's about to fly to Switzerland to cohost the SBS broadcast with the drag queen Courtney Act. 'Eurovision is like The Hunger Games meets Rock Eisteddfod but everyone has a bazillion bucks to make the biggest, campest thing they can,' he says. 'It's awesome.' On the spectrum of Eurovision acts, Armstrong enjoys the camp oddballs more than the warbling divas: 'Give me, like, Käärijä from Finland any year. Cha cha cha!' As for Australia's entry this year, Go-Jo's innuendo-heavy techno bop Milkshake Man, 'I'm still wrapping my head around it. I think Go-Jo was built in a lab?' Eurovision is his perfect assignment: low-stakes fun, unfettered creative expression and very likely to feature pyrotechnics. As a sort of ambassador from the hetero-masculine world of Australian sport – he was an AFL player before becoming a sports broadcaster and TV personality – it is Armstrong's hope he can lure in people who wouldn't normally watch something so queer, absurd or earnest. 'There's nothing cooler than people who have a fucking crack,' he says. 'If you have a go, I've got respect coming out the wazoo. But the kids at school who loved Eurovision had no social cachet. They were outsiders – so was I, until I got good at sport. I get what it's like to not be the cool kid.' Armstrong 'grew up as an only child' – a distinction he makes carefully, having met his father for the first time in late 2023. 'I met Dad and with him came a half-brother and two half-sisters,' he says. 'I didn't know of their existence. I don't want to pretend they don't exist, but I also grew up without dad around, or siblings.' He doesn't want to say more yet: 'It's just so new and we're still working through it. Not in a bad way but it is big – I am still working out how I feel.' The weather takes a turn for the wintery so we duck into Armstrong's local: a cosy pub with kitsch patterned carpets and roaring fireplaces. Armstrong remembers when it used to be 'a real dark old shithole – I loved it'. Over one hour four people who know Armstrong walk over to our table to say hello, while one stranger cheerfully raises his pint in exaggerated approval, which Armstrong graciously acknowledges. These days he tends to avoid pubs when the footy is on. 'That would be wanting to be seen.' Does he mind being recognised? 'I don't love it,' he says 'Being recognised means you are doing a good job in my business, fucking annoyingly. I'm very conflict-averse so it has taken me ages to learn how to shut down conversations… and, if people have a few beers, they start forgetting they only know you through a screen.' Between 2008 and 2015 Armstrong played 35 games for the Adelaide Crows, Collingwood and Sydney Swans but he was never that famous then. 'I was lucky that I sucked,' he smiles. But you were a pro! I protest. 'No, no, I sucked,' he says cheerfully. 'Call a spade a spade.' He likens his footy career to a backing singer – doing the same work as the stars but always on the periphery – which allowed him to watch how the high-profile players bore intense public scrutiny. 'Fame is not natural,' he says. 'If we ever meet again and I say, 'I am so used to this' – I want you to whack me.' The brutality of professional sport taught him how to accept rejection, which has also helped him in media. 'This business is who can eat the most shit and who can remain sane whilst doing it the longest,' he says. Since he left ABC Breakfast last year, he worries whether the phone will keep ringing; he jokes that he regularly shakes his partner, the Kaytetye music producer Rona, awake to check: 'Can we keep the lights on?' After his AFL career ended he spent four years trying on various hats – advertising, mentoring, being an agent – until a chance conversation with the former Brisbane Lions player Chris Johnson lead to Armstrong trying out as a commentator on the National Indigenous Radio Service. He immediately loved it. 'I'm so passionate about commentating,' he says. 'I never imagined this would be my job. But I'm so lucky that it has turned out to be a blend of my skills and passion.' Sign up to Saved for Later Catch up on the fun stuff with Guardian Australia's culture and lifestyle rundown of pop culture, trends and tips after newsletter promotion This led to him being hired by the ABC, reading sports news on breakfast television for three years. But he struggled to warm to the work. 'I had to keep reminding myself that it was important,' he says, then pauses. 'I don't want to shit on the industry that gave me everything, particularly when I want to keep working in it,' he clarifies. 'Look, I just didn't find news creatively fulfilling. For two and a half minutes, every 15 minutes, I just basically read out results. What it meant for people to see someone who looked and sounded like me doing that job – that was important. That was what gave it meaning.' A couple of (very early) mornings towards the end, Armstrong found that he couldn't get out of bed, unable to bear going to work. 'I was supposed to be on air way more than I was at the end. But I knew news wasn't going to be forever, because I didn't love it enough for it to be for ever. And I was really struggling, because I was trying to do all these other things – books, documentaries.' He was 'desperate and stupidly competitive', stretching himself thin until, 'I couldn't get out of bed at all. I'd never really taken time off – if I wasn't on air, I was shooting something else.' The first morning he couldn't get out of bed, 'That was what I knew. Time's right.' Even now he always seems to be hosting another show, or writing another kids book. But he gives himself space for downtime. He has seen a psychologist since his footy days – another vulnerability he's happy to be open about in the name of doing some good – and makes time for his favourite comforts: 'Meaningless TV, anime and mid-90s action movies.' 'There's nothing quite like falling asleep to that soothing sound of explosions and gunfire,' he says, laughing. He can also, finally, enjoy sport again. As we sit in the pub, neither of us yet know that Australia will resoundingly reject Peter Dutton's culture wars at the election but Armstrong is wary of how politics and discourse has changed, beyond the campaigns. 'We're seeing rights being walked back all around the world and freedom of speech being wrongly defined as tolerating hate speech,' he says, adding: 'I can viscerally feel the tone of the world shifting. It is fucking crazy – the way that I'm getting spoken to now is wild.' Armstrong has always been unafraid to expose the racism he has copped but it is only getting worse. 'Way worse – I'm just incredulous about the brazenness,' he says. But he would never go into politics. 'Fuck no,' he says, immediately. 'I'm too radical for politics. I want to shoot from the hip every now and then. 'I think my value is being where I am now.' Eurovision, hosted by Tony Armstrong and Courtney Act, airs on SBS. The semi-final two, featuring Australia, will begin at 7.30pm on 17 May. The final will begin at 7.30pm on 18 May
ABC News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- ABC News
Go-Jo represents Australia on world stage at Eurovision Song Contest
A long way from his WA hometown of fewer than 1,000 people, Marty Zambotto, 29, known as Go-Jo, has gyrated across the Eurovision Song Contest stage in the second singer, who grew up in a house classified as a "tin shed", was the first act in the running order to take to the Eurovision stage for semifinal two on Friday, representing Australia with the song Milkshake Man. He invited crowd participation, and the audience responded enthusiastically to the call and response, with several people waving Australian flags. There was a costume change before Go-Jo gyrated across the stage in nothing but a red scarf and his sparkly baby-blue figure-hugging slacks. "I'm so proud," co-host Tony Armstrong said after his performance. "That is how you open semifinal two, Australia!" co-host Courtney Act followed up.
