THERE was no Eurovision glory for a former North-East binman who represented Romania in the musical extravaganza.

But County Durham-born David Bryan and his band Hotel FM could take consolation in avoiding the dreaded 'nul points' nightmare - finishing a respectable 16th out of 25 countries.

Hotel FM's entry, called Change, was in third place after the fourth round of voting, when Italy granted it a maximum 12 points.

At the time Blue - the UK's big hope - headed the leader board in Saturday night's final staged in front of 36,000 people in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Mr Bryan, 26, who is originally from Newton Aycliffe, became the three-piece pop band's lead singer after being spotted doing karaoke by their manager and was recruited to join a touring cabaret band.

He settled in Romania after meeting his partner out there while carrying out voluntary work in the country.

The former Greenfield School and Arts College student could not be contacted for comment yesterday.

But he told The Northern Echo before the contest: "I enjoy the attention, I enjoy performing and I like being in the spotlight. You don't really think about it, you just enjoy it."

Newly-reformed boy band Blue finished five places above Hotel FM in 11th place.

Hopes of the UK winning its first Eurovision Song Contest since 1997 had been resting on the shoulders of the four-piece's song called I Can, but in the end they couldn't, despite collecting 100 points.

Blue's song, written by members Lee Ryan and Duncan James, was received with enthusiastic applause, despite what BBC host Graham Norton tactfully described as a "tentative start".

When voting began, Blue scored highly, and were briefly top of the leader board, but were swiftly overtaken by other countries.

Former X Factor stars John and Edward Grimes - aka Jedward - who represented Ireland, finished eighth with their energetic hit Lipstick.

The contest was won by the small nation of Azerbaijan with romantic duet Running Scared, performed by Ell and Nikki.

Although she was born in Baku, Azerbaijan, the UK can claim some sort of victory as Nikki - full name Nikki Jamal - lives in north London with her husband and two daughters.