Ryan O'Shaughnessy is a singer from Dublin, Ireland, who finished 5th in Series 6 of Britain's Got Talent.
In his audition, he performed an original song entitled 'No Name', about a girl he liked. When asked to name the girl however, he was unable to. David described the song as 'One of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard', with Alesha adding 'It was very lovely'.
During the Deliberation stage, it was revealed that he had already signed a contract with Universal due to him competing on The Voice of Ireland, meaning that he was unable to continue with Britain's Got Talent, with Simon telling him 'we were going to give you a yes, but I can't'. However, after being eliminated from The Voice of Ireland, he was released from his contract at Universal and was able to compete on Britain's Got Talent once again.
In his Semi-Final, he performed another song, entitled 'First Kiss'. David remarked 'You are writing the most beautiful songs I have ever heard', with Alesha adding 'I truly believe you will be a successful songwriter'.
In his Final performance, he performed 'No Name' once again, explaining before his performance that the girl he wrote the song for had left him. Amanda described the performance as 'Extraordinary', with Simon adding 'I think you're the dark horse in this competition'. He finished 5th in the public vote overall.
Before BGT[]
Between 2001 & 2010, O'Shaughnessy portrayed the role of Mark Halpin in the Irish soap opera ‘Fair City’.
After BGT[]
In 2012, O'Shaughnessy released his debut single, 'No Name', which peaked at #31 in the Official Singles Chart. His debut self-titled album peaked at #9 on the Official Albums Chart.
In 2014, O'Shaughnessy portrayed the role of Piers an Irish comedy feature film entitled ‘Poison Pen’.
In February 2018, O'Shaughnessy was chosen by the Irish broadcaster RTE to represent Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018 in Lisbon, Portugal. He sang the love ballad "Together", a song notable for featuring homosexual dancers, which Chinese broadcaster Mango TV refused to show; as a result, the EBU terminated their contract with Mango TV. He qualified for the Final, making Ireland's first appearance at the Eurovision final since 2013, and finished in 16th place with 136 points.
He read out the Irish jury points at the 2021 contest, while Amanda Holden read out the UK jury points.
In 2023, O'Shaughnessy put out a series of tweets where he voiced his opinion on RTE's handling of Eurovision. Amongst his tweets, he claimed a creative director initially wanted him to pop out of an exploding cake in his Eurovision staging.