Scott Mills has urged Olly Alexander to "stay away" from him and Eurovision co-presenter Rylan Clark.
Scott Mills loves presenting Eurovision
The 51-year-old DJ, who has presented BBC Radio 2's coverage of the competition for 13 years, admitted he has to act as a "minder" for his co-host to stop him from leading the UK entrants astray with his wild partying, so wants this year's hopeful to stay well away from them until after the final.
He told the Sunday Mirror newspaper: “I do have to look after Rylan and make sure he doesn’t go too far astray.
“In previous years – though he’s not allowed to any more – he has taken the UK contestants out for the night, and that can’t really happen because they need to sing on Saturday. He wouldn’t take them out the night before the final, but maybe the night before that..
“He always goes straight in while I’ll hold back a bit, so I’m like his minder. I’m the one who makes sure he goes to bed and doesn’t
turn up late.
“But having said that, I have gone astray at times. There have been nights that ended at 5am, and some of the hangovers have been bad.
“In Sam Ryder’s year – and Sam is a good friend of mine – he absolutely swerved me and Rylan for the whole week and it was the right thing to do.
“I remember him coming towards us in the hotel in Turin and being like, ‘Hi, guys, I just need to go and rehearse’. “He did well to stay away from us – and now Olly needs to do the same.”
Scott believes the 'It's A Sin' actor can win the competition with his track 'Dizzy' because he won't let nerves get the better of him.
He said: “This year, I really think it could be anyone’s. All it takes is a great performance.
“Olly is a world-class actor who has experience of these big stages so that won’t faze him.
“Add that to the staging – and I hear his is amazing – and we could be in for a surprise.
"I know him well and I think he’ll breeze it because he’s a seasoned performer. You often see people’s nerves run away with them but that isn’t going to happen to Olly.”
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