Eurovision's viewing figures have taken a shock blow since last year, it has been revealed, as a string of controversies surrounding this year's song contest continues to spiral.

Saturday night's final, broadcast by the BBC, reeled in an average of 7.64million people and peaked at 8.46million, according to official figures from Digital i.

While last year's competition - hosted in the UK for the first time in 25 years - enjoyed a five-minute peak of 11million people tuning in, with an average viewing figure of 9.98million, the BBC said at the time.

Swiss act Nemo ended up taking home the trophy at this year's event in the Swedish city of Malmo - but the range of performances on display followed a couple of notable controversies.

Dutch entry Joost Klein, who was set to sing his viral hit "Europapa", had been disqualified mere hours before the final, while the competition had suffered a series of boycotts and rows over Israeli act Eden Golan's participation in the wake of her homeland's military response in Gaza to the October 7 Hamas attacks.

Klein officially had his spot in the final revoked following an "incident" which led to an investigation by Swedish police in Malmo.

Social media was awash with speculation as to why Klein had been disqualified, with rumours running rife about his 'cancellation' being linked to his stance on Israeli participation.

But AVROTROS, the organisers behind the Netherlands' Eurovision entry, slammed the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)'s decision to prevent Klein from performing.

It said in a statement: "An incident occurred after last Thursday’s performance. Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the green room."

"At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasn’t respected. This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera.

"Joost did not touch the camerawoman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU and police."

More to follow...