"I said, 'because she is the most talented artist that we had and I think she's a major, major star'.
"I think we would have come second but there's a problem when you go further east," he continued.
"If you're talking about Western Europe - Germany, fine; France, fine; Spain, fine; Greece, fine; Scandinavian countries, fine. But Ukraine? Not so good."
Asked whether he thought racism had ultimately cost the UK the title, he commented: "Well, it doesn't mean that we would necessarily have won that year but we could have come second."
The 2009 contest was won by Norway's Alexander Rybak, who was born in Belarus and sang his own composition, Fairytale.
In actuality, Ewen performed better than some of the UK's other entrants in recent years.
Andy Abraham and Josh Dubovie both came last, in 2008 and 2010 respectively.
This year the 76-year old crooner Engelbert Humperdinck received just 12 points for his song Love Will Set You Free, earning a second-to-last finish.
Meanwhile, the EBU pointed out that 2001 winner Dave Benton, representing Estonia, was of Caribbean-American descent.
The BBC, which broadcasts the competition in the UK, said the corporation had "no evidence whatsoever" of any racism around the Eurovision.
"Jade Ewen got to a very respectable fifth place in 2009 when 32 out of 41 countries gave the UK points," said a spokeswoman.
"Jade was given points from 19 Eastern European countries, including Ukraine, in 2009."
