Eurovision

[Sometimeswinning]

I dont know why I'm watching it! It needs to go really. How are we behind Israel? They're not even Europe!

Wow, there are a lot of butthurt posters here who don't seem to understand how the Eurovision voting system works. Nobody voted for the UK to get zero points - not one single country.

The voting countries award points to their top ten songs, which means that there are 16 other songs that don't get any points from them. Unfortunately, the UK was among those 16 "also-rans" for each of the voting countries. They could have been top of that list - everybody's 11th favourite song - or bottom of that list - everybody's least favourite song - but there's no way to tell from the scoring. There was certainly no way for all the countries to conspire to make sure that the UK got no points altogether - it really doesn't work like that. Germany (which got 3 points) could easily have ended up with no points overall as well, if it hadn't come 9th and 10th on someone's lists.

I think some posters are taking the final scoreboard as a ranking or an indication of how "good" each song is, but it doesn't really work like that. The songs that do well are those that have really broad appeal and that appear in nearly everyone's top ten. That doesn't mean that the other songs are crap, just that they didn't stand out well enough. Also, winning songs need to appeal to both the juries (who tend to go for songwriting skills) and the publics (who like spectacle and catchy tunes, which is why Finland, Italy and Ukraine shot up the charts when the public votes were announced). The UK entry was pleasant enough but didn't really appeal on either of those grounds (I've never understood why our stagings are so consistently awful).

Sorry, I may be taking this too seriously . But it really isn't true that the other countries are ganging up to victimise the UK.

Also, is someone seriously complaining that we spend less than 1p per capita to enter Eurovision?

Song was poorly performed. Perhaps nerves got the better of him. He just didn't sound great.

Wow people can take offense at anything!

As PP said, more people in Britain watch it than many other places and we pay in to the EBU anyway for access to shared news reports so of course they won’t withdraw!

And it really was a forgettable song, like Spain’s. Spain got single digit points because although it was forgettable he wasn’t flat, Germany was memorable. Britain’s was forgettable and not fantastic so of course it wouldn’t feature in anyone’s top 10 (points go to the top 10).

Would anyone here really have put it in their top 10 performances of the night?

The thing is, the song possibly didn’t deserve to be last, but countries can only award points to the top ten. It could be that every single voting country decided that the UK entry was an inoffensive middle of the road placing it 11th-15th in their rankings. That still means nil points. It was neither a catchy tune nor a memorable performance, or even a marmite song.

x post with the brilliantly named @QuentininQuarantino!

The song was a load of bland shite so I'm not surprised it did badly, but there were worse songs!

Amanda Holden was just such an embarrassing representative for the UK, and totally upheld the stereotype that we never bother learning any other language - fucking cheers for that Amanda...

The Italian front man doing cocaine, had totally missed that! The best bit is the band mate giving him a nudge though! 😂

Just looking at the list of past entries, we had some pretty good tunes in the 90s didn't we!

It’s the biggest campest European cheesefest you could ever wish for! Just magnificent. I’ve always thought pretty much all of the songs from every country are pure shite, but I watch it because it’s so hugely entertaining and I absolutely love it!

It’s not to be taken seriously. When it comes to music, and I mean proper music, the UK pretty much top trump the rest of the planet.

The Italian dude having a wee toot made me laugh. They were proper full on Eurovision shit! Crushing Switzerland at the last moment and the look of disappointment on his smug face was superb. This is what you want.

Iceland though, legends!

Amanda Holden was a complete cringe - amongst all the other presenters speaking their second and third languages! She came across as what the public perception of Brits is in Europe - ignorant xenophobes who don't understand why everyone doesn't just speak English!

Has she issued an apology yet or something?
Because that was rude and stupid and yeah... She just did the perfect English speaker from UK or US stereotype. Could only be more perfect if she asked something stupid geographically on top. 🙄

I know, what was Amanda Holden thinking? Was she deliberately trying to put across an 'oh I'm so ditzy but look at my fabulous outfit' vibe and just missed how her comment came across?

This is a show where every year the presenters do the whole thing in what is at least their second language, and the representative of the country from which that language originates proceeds to tell the whole world that she can't even tell the difference between French and Dutch?

Did anyone like the song that won? To me it just sounded like a horrendous tuneless noise. Absolutely awful . I thought France's entry was awful too. Our song was boring, but it definitely wasn't the worst!

Yeah I thought the winning song was pretty shite, it was just a bog standard rock song with nothing special about it at all.

Our entry didn't set me alight although I liked James and felt bad for him. My winners were Iceland but when Italy won they were so emotional about it I thought it was very sweet so I was pleased for them.

This morning I couldn't tell you one thing about their song other than it was a rock song. Cant remember how it goes at all. I just have our entry stuck in my brain. I told DH and he said exactly the same thing. So although we didn't take much notice at the times, James' song has become a proper ear worm.

Peak Eurovison is Fairtytale by Alexander Rybak for Norway 2009

All downhill since then!

Best all time act? ABBA?

theculturetrip.com/europe/articles/10-best-eurovision-song-contest-winners-of-all-times/

Do people really give that much of a shit about winning that they want to flounce when we fail? It’s just a silly, enjoyable (for me!) song contest.

@Gooseysgirl

The UK song wasn't the worst, but the performance was terrible. I was cringing for him... Graham said on the radio earlier in the day that performing wasn't JN's strength (or words to that effect), and I thought it was quite obvious on the night that this was the case. Amanda Holden behaved like a complete dick... voting had closed at the point, but her behaviour doesn't really help the cause does it!

I really cannot stand this narcissistic, talentless, overexposed (in every sense of the word), ridiculous, self-obsessed woman. And she looked like Emu last night.

The U.K. has been sending crap entries for years

Then cry “foul play” for zero points

But they don’t even try to win it.

You get what you deserve. That song is not on my playlist, how many of you are liking and listening to the U.K. entry ? Thought not ...

I like how that loss unleashed idiots😂
Just saw people on Twitter moaning that (combo of few tweets so tldr) all these people want to come and live in UK but obviously hate UK so much they give them no points and how hypocritical it is😂 It also looks like Izrael getting some is very sore point and salt rubbed into wounds, for the fans.

But hey. It made history as second nul. Positive thinking!

The uk's entry was t great but James is a songwriter not a singer- not one of those Eurovision songs would I want to listen to again - all poor, but that's Eurovision - not to be taken seriously

I'll feel a bit anxious when we start getting points - it will mean some other country has done something seriously bad to end up last......

The best Eurovision song ever was Ruslana's Dyki tantsi 😁

People should enjoy the annual entertainment spectacle for what it is ie essentially a select geographic (Europe to Asia to Australia) cheesy cringe spread of geopolitics with neighbours guarantee to support each other in tone deaf predetermined block voting hence nul points without Ireland etc. The Royaume Uni entry was “crap” and off key by all accounts. This event allows off radar tiny nations (San Marino et al with imported acts) a “level” playing field and oh occasionally actually some decent memorable tunes periodically. We have Adele and Coldplay etc so by default appreciate world beating British musical talents. I also believe many continental European languages and cultures including French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese (eg Camila Cabello) have amazing popular world music styles but again in recent years tend to also like UK not take this seriously as a competition and send in likewise B side clown acts in keeping with the trend of soft diplomacy playing it down to blend in and perhaps not necessarily wishing to be obligated to host the next event should they unexpectedly win.

Talking about an over reaction and unnecessarily looking for offence playing the victim card:

Eurovision POLL: Should the UK boycott the song contest after 'Brexit payback'? VOTE
UK POLITICIANS are blaming Britain's crushing defeat in the Eurovision Song Contest being partially down to Brexit, so Express.co.uk asks readers should the UK boycott the event?
By RICHARD PERCIVAL
10:00, Sun, May 23, 2021

www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1439995/Eurovision-song-contest-UK-boycott-poll-vote-James-Newnam-reaction-latest

The BBC and the UK should pull out of this now. It's ridiculous. At least James Newman took it for the joke it is and was in good spirits all the way through. I suspect he knew the outcome before he performed.

Back to Holden, one country introduced her as the ex-wife of Les Dennis. I noticed something funny about her mouth as well, as if she'd got it frozen on one side. She looked lopsided.