Eurovision 2015: Andreas Kümmert declines to represent Germany on live TV

German singer Andreas Kümmert won the vote of the public but declined to represent his country at this year’s Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna on live TV.

Andreas Kummert initially thanked the public for selecting his song Home Is In My Hands as Germany’s entry.

But, shortly afterwards, Andreas Kummert took the microphone from presenter Barbara Schoeneberg and said: “I’m really not in the right shape to accept this.”

Instead, he said: “I give my title to Ann Sophie.”

Runner-up Ann Sophie, 24, looked visibly confused by the turn of events; while many in the studio audience booed.

After being confirmed as the winner, Ann Sophie turned to the audience and asked them: “Do you even want this?”

Finally accepting her fate, Ann Sophie launched into her song, Black Smoke.

The finalists had been through three rounds of voting to decide who would represent Germany in the competition in Vienna in May.

Andreas Kummert gave no further explanation for his withdrawal – but the rock singer is no stranger to performing live, having won The Voice of Germany in 2013.

Ann Sophie had made it to the finals by way of a fan-voted “wild card”, after competing against nine other young unknown singers at a concert in which the audience selected the victor.

The singer was born in London and grew up in Hamburg. At the age of four, she started with ballet dancing, and at 14 she knew that she wanted to be a singer.

Six years later Ann Sophie moved to New York to study at the Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute to become an actress. At the same time she started her music career, singing in bars and recording her first self-written songs. In September 2012 Ann Sophie’s first album was released, and after three years in the US she moved back to Hamburg.

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