Eurovision star Sam Ryder said he was ‘hurt’ when he lost out on Emmy

Eurovision star Sam Ryder has said he was “so hurt” when he did not win an Emmy for his Ted Lasso single.

The British singer-songwriter, who represented the UK at the 2022 Eurovision competition, lost out to Ed Sheeran for Outstanding Original Music and Lyrics at the 2023 ceremony.

Speaking on Elizabeth Day’s podcast How To Fail, the 35-year old expressed about his disappointment and how much work was put into the song, Fought & Lost, which he co-wrote for the hit Apple TV series Ted Lasso and features Queen guitarist, Brian May.

Ryder said: “Gratitude is the force that holds it up.

“I remember being so hurt that we didn’t get it because we put so much work into it and it was such a selfish viewpoint that I had then in that hotel room and I thought that wasn’t me. I’m totally not about that and popular opinion would say, ‘Oh, that’s what you would have wanted, the gold medal, surely you wanted to win’. I never felt that.

“I know if I’ve done my best work and I’ve carried myself to the standard that my family and my loved ones would expect of me, I do not care about the end result because it’s nothing, but that was the first time something for whatever reason crept past.

“It felt like when you see an action movie and there’s a massive fight or just a foray of energy. Bullets are flying, everything’s going on and the main character is suave, dodging everything, James Bond style and then the scene dies down and they walk away, and then the camera pans down and they realise they actually did catch a bullet or something in typical cinema technique and that’s what it felt like.

“That was really rough actually. I think no one is without ego. It exists in all of us. It’s part of us almost that keeps us in check. It’s a voice where you can challenge it and make sure that it keeps you on the right path, ego unchecked is the problem.”

The singer scored the UK its best Eurovision Song Contest result in more than 20 years with his 2022 performance of Space Man, coming in second behind Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra.

He has since released new music including a Christmas single, You’re Christmas To Me, which reached number two in the charts and a number one album titled There’s Nothing But Space, Man!