‘I haven’t had a loo break since 2009!’ The truth about Eurovision – as told by its biggest icons

How did Lordi sing in a giant condom? How many sex lives has Epic Sax Guy helped? And what will push Graham Norton to retire? As Eurovision hits 70, legends of the song contest spill the beans

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ot many 70-year-olds spend their nights with pop singers in sparkly catsuits. Or nightmarish monsters barking out heavy metal. Or 160,000 giddy Europeans staring at them as they get progressively more drunk. There’s only one, in fact – the Eurovision song contest. To celebrate its uniqueness, we’ve spoken to some of the most interesting people ever involved with the contest to tell their tales. Happy seven decades of Eurovision!

Mr Lordi, frontman of Finnish metal band Lordi, winners in 2006

When we were invited to enter the Finnish national contest to be the Eurovision entry, we thought we had absolutely no chance. We just wanted some free TV for our new album. Then we won the popular vote by a landslide.