Eurovision Song Contest: Joe and Jake will represent UK in Sweden
Pop duo Joe and Jake have been selected to represent the UK at May's Eurovision Song Contest in Sweden.
The singers, both former contestants on The Voice UK, won a public vote with You're Not Alone, an uptempo, piano-driven song "about unity and love".
"It feels amazing," said Joe Woolford, 21, from Ruthin, Denbighshire. "We're just so proud."
"It's going to be incredible. We hope we make you all proud," added Jake Shakeshaft, 20, from Stoke-on-Trent.
The duo will be hoping to avoid the fate of last year's entrants, Electro Velvet, who came third from last, scoring just five points.
'We can win'
The UK last won the contest in 1997, when Katrina and the Waves topped the leaderboard with the anthemic ballad Love Shine A Light.
Frontwoman Katrina Leskanich said she hoped victory could be achieved again in Stockholm.
"Everybody said in 1997 that we couldn't win it because of political votes but it's an absolute crock.
"We have everything we need to win it this year."
Joe Woolford is a former PE teacher, who was one of Rita Ora's finalists in The Voice 2015, while former garden centre worker Jake Shakeshaft was picked by will.i.am, only to be eliminated in the battle rounds.
The duo were selected to represent the UK at Eurovision during a live show at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London, which was broadcast on BBC Four.
They beat five other hopefuls, including former girl band singer Bianca Claxton, whose song was co-written by Leona Lewis, and country duo Darline, who had been the bookmakers' favourites.
It was the first time since 2010 that the public had been given a say in the UK's entry.
"It means the world to us that everyone picked up the phone and voted for us," said Shakeshaft. "It makes a huge difference going into the competition knowing we're the public's choice."
Asked by host Mel Giedroyc how they would celebrate their victory, Woolford replied: "We're not going to celebrate. We're going to start working on the song for Stockholm so we can win!"
Joe and Jake will perform their entry in Sweden this May where, for the first time, the UK entry will also feature in the semi-finals.
In previous years the UK has only been allowed to perform in the grand finale - which many considered to be a disadvantage as viewers were denied the opportunity to become familiar with the song in the preliminary stage.
However, the UK will still pre-qualify for the final, along with the host country and the other members of the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy and Spain), who are the biggest financial contributors to the European Broadcasting Union, which stages the contest.
Joe and Jake said they intended to develop a spectacular staging for their song in Sweden.
"The song's an anthem," said Woolford. "We want it to be a big performance. We'll definitely try and pull a few tricks out of our sleeves."
Voting change
This year's Eurovision also sees a change to the voting procedures, which organisers hope will give the contest more "drama".
For the first time, each country's vote will be split - with juries of professionals giving their votes first. The votes from viewers will be added in later and announced at the end.
The new method means a song that scores badly with the judges could still jump to the top should it rank higher with the public.
Last year's contest was won by Mans Zelmerlow, whose dance track Heroes secured 365 points.
A record-breaking 197 million viewers worldwide watched the contest, beating the 2014 viewing figures by 2 million
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