When I hear the words Eurovision Song Contest, I think of cheesey wannabe pop acts, generic beautiful-looking females and the terrible UK entry. Granted, not all of our entries have been bad, we have won the contest a number of times, but the thought of our entry is more than enough to put me off watching.

But not this year. When I heard Lordi were going to be performing Finland's entry, for the first time, I looked forward to watching the contest.

I had heard a couple of Lordi songs in the past off their old albums, so I knew roughly what to expect. When it came to the night, I tried hard to watch the acts before Lordi, but after about five songs I had to turn over.

Then, Lordi came on and blew me away. Not only were they completely made up (which I heard takes about three hours to do) but they actually played their own instruments! The song Hard Rock Hallelujah was nothing like I had heard in a Eurovision contest and I enjoyed every minute of it.

And, seeing as they won, so did a lot of others.

People say they are Satan worshippers but they forget the costumes are just part of their gimmick. They even have a song called Devil Is A Loser, not the title of a song you would expect from a band of Satan lovers.

A Norwegian was quoted as saying, "My eight-year-old kid was so scared we had to change channel, we will never watch the contest again."

This brought a smile to my face as it was obvious this could be said about any of the contestants, considering how cheesey some entries can be.

If anything, Lordi has changed my outlook on the contest. They have shown me that the odd gem can still shine through this now heavily political contest.

-Nick Jackson, Brighton