Eurovision 2026 Final Thread 3

[RedToothBrush]

Go.

🤣🤣🤣

Well thanks for the vote anyway!

I clearly need to go back to drinking coffee, I've been weaning myself off and it's affected my ability to write cohesive posts.

No I expecting British ancestry Australians and British expats to vote for us as well British expats elsewhere. According to Google over 1.1 million Brits live in Australia and it is the largest expat community there. That should translate to a few votes and I'm wondering why it doesn't.

You mention a large Greek cohort. I'd be interested to know if the greek speaking expat population voted for Greece.

I appreciate the other facts you mention they're very interesting.

My knowledge of sympathy of antisemitism in this country waaaay predates the current situation, and I have close family connections with the Manchester synagogue that was attacked.

I think that it's very, very reductive to consider it public support. It takes only a few people chucking all of their votes at one country to top a vote. With each country, whatever it's size, giving the same number of votes to their favourite, it then makes it even easier to pick up 12pts in Moldova, whose population is less than that of Birmingham (a city that incidentally will struggle to host the Invictus Games with the IDF).

That's before you get to people who are only pro Israel because they are racist against brown people in general.

I really don't think it actually helps Jewish or Israeli people at all to portray it as a public success.

There are actually more Indian-born people than British. And the most recent stats say 970, 950 not 1.1 million.

This is interesting.
This is the order you would expect the final to end on, if they got the exact same as the Semi Finals. This gives you some idea of drop off in points. The first number is relates to the Semi, the number in brackets to the Final

1 (1) Bulgaria 278 (516)
2 (1) Israel 269 (343)
3 (12) Poland 247 (150)
4 (3) Romania 234 (296)
5 (6) Finland 227 (279)
6 (4) Australia 222 (287)
7 (8) Moldova 208 (226)
8 (14) Norway 206 (134)
9 (7) Denmark 199 (243)
10 (17) Serbia 187 (90)
11 (15) Croatia 175 (124)
12 (9) Ukraine 174 (221)
13 (10) Greece 159 (220)
---
14 (13) Albania 158 (145)
15 (18) Malta 143 (89)
16 (16) Czechia 142 (113)
17 (19) Cyprus 122 (75)
18 (22) Lithuania 101 (22)
19 (20) Sweden 96 (51)
20 (21) Belgium 91 (36)

The countries who scored less in the final than in the semi are in italics. The drop off point is 13th in the semis. After that you drop off significantly (the 11th best or lower rule).

Denmark, Ukraine and Greece all performed better than their placing in the semis. All three were acts that had slots early on in the final before Wogan started drinking. (The theory that the second half of the draw is better falls rather flat with this in mind for Denmark and Greece despite complaints about their draw. Ukraine's explanation is different - see below).

The significant under achievers in the final were Poland, Norway, Serbia and Croatia.

Norway had a nightmare final performance. Norway had public vote in the Final with just 19 points. Their jury vote was fairly similar between both (note this is judged on the performance on the Friday night show).

Poland seemed ok in the final, but tanked on the public vote which they did very well on during the semi. The only explanation I have for this is that they were in Semi 1 and lost all their votes to Ukraine in the final... (interesting to spot this one)

Serbia and Croatia probably were the two acts most vulnerable to a shift in public voting as they were both very niche in their act.

congratulations dudes....

Just to say with regards to UK and the zero points etc - zero from televoting does not mean that literally nobody voted for the song. It means it wasn’t in any country’s top 10. And I’m sorry but the UK song wasn’t a top 10 song, so zero is accurate. It could have literally been the top 11th in every country voting - that would still mean zero points. It’s a bit brutal but it’s fair.

As it happens quite often (not always)
in Eurovision, the best song of the night won. The top 10 were fairly sensible although of course personal taste and everything.

I was surprised with Belgium and Sweden as I thought they were great songs. I was surprised and happy to see the wacky Greek song do well and be well liked in comments etc! When I saw our entry (I’m Greek) a few months ago I was like omg we’re defo finishing last but it grew on me, it’s super catchy.

Moldova I expected to do better as it was so catchy and happy but they still did very well.

Worst song of the night for me which was Poland did bizarrely well in the jury vote.

Until next year!

Seriously the amount of political analysis that is happening is ludicrous. Coming from Greece, a country utterly obsessed with Eurovision, yes there’s an element of moronic and cringey voting (Greece/Cyprus etc) but it’s as simple as people vote the song they like best. If that wasn’t the case, we’d have the same winner every year. I feel the deep political analysis is hilarious. In Greece, Eurovision takes up a huge amount of daytime TV in the run up to the semis and grand final, and there is precisely zero geopolitical commentary attached. The political aspect of Eurovision voting is a bizarre UK obsession, I’m very sorry to say.

The only time there was political voting was the Ukraine wins few years ago, which was a great song too so not bad at all in my opinion.

Maybe there are more people of British extraction, who may not have voluntarily relocated to the other side of the world in times gone by. They also have the British monarch in common but not sure if that translates into a vote.

The Indian born people can’t use their vote for their home country, so won’t upset the apple cart vis a vis the Eurovision.

This video of Dara’s performance shows what the audience saw with regards to the staging. Am struck by how complex the staging is with the dancers moving in and out of shot, crouching to move the chairs unseen and get rid of the masks all while Dara gives a pretty perfect vocal and they all stay in sync with the dance moves. The stage crew ( and dancers) are helped by scenery and chair marks being projected on stage. It’s all complex.

But Dara is an utter pro - she was 3rd in the Bulgarian X Factor in 2015 when she was 16/17, has been a coach on the Bulgarian Voice for several years and coached the winner twice. She also appeared on Dancing With The Stars and was runner up. A couple of years ago a K-pop singer covered one of her songs and had a big hit with it. No wonder she can dance and still hit all the notes.

Bangaranga had an amazing staging which lifted the song and looked slick and like a music video in places. The staging which I think was unveiled for the first time in the semi is what gave it the momentum to win. The song alone is well performed but a bit chaotic with different sections. The staging pulled the different sections together.

Nemo and JJ were also great singers even if you don’t like their songs. I suspect Sam Battle could not match any of them vocally. Although we were along the right lines in terms of dressing the singer in pink with whacky backing dancers and complex staging. the UK and Bulgaria did all those.

Didn’t he shout out about his ‘fagg&t’ fest/performance or something to that effect at the end? Slurs are all progressive now, eh.

Plenty of recent winners or songs that just did well prove that isn't true.

Sorry to keep adding links. My first one didn’t work and the second is from the semi final. This one is from last night and shows the staging being brought in while the countdown to going live ticks down and Dara coolly gets into position. It’s fascinating.

I can't wait until the stand in videos get posted. The artists don't do all the rehearsals for logistical.reasons but the cameramen still need practice - so you get a lot of variably qualified amateurs doing the routines.

This video on twitter is doing the rounds

https://x.com/TomCross_/status/2055367184675717409

Its a video of the Friday Night Jury show. Sam Battle is sat on his own during voting but the Danes invite him to come and sit with them. He waves the Danish flag about. This shouldn't have happened. Its not ok. He's not supported. How lovely is that of the Danes though!

Thanks for this. Its really interesting and explains something. The massive jury vote makes a lot more sense too.

Oh ok so you want me to Google an image of a video? I'm sure that will be super helpful.

Normally when someone tries to prove a point they would be the ones responsible for actually proving it.

Watching the set changes was absolutely fascinating in Liverpool. Worth every penny of the (very expensive) tickets.

@RedToothBrush ‘I also think the result will not help get Iceland, Ireland, The Netherlands, Spain or Slovakia to return next year. This upsets me. I want them back.’

I’m Irish. I have to say that I never thought Ireland would be sending acts that made Dustin the turkey look relatively good. It was a mercy to be spared the acts which have been sent in recent years.

‘Wild Youth’ (oddly didn’t seem that young), were involved in controversy at home as they sacked their choreographer because they were horrified and sickened over his tweet referring to a male rapist called ‘Zara Jade’ as a man. The convicted male rapist ‘Zara Jade’ seemingly ‘identified’ as a woman, and was described as such after he was convicted of stabbing, falsely imprisoning and robbing a vulnerable person. ‘Zara Jade’ had previous convictions for rape and sexual offences.

I hope the ‘youths’ in the band weren’t too sickened and horrified when this poor, violent rapist was incarcerated in a man’s prison alongside other men, and not a woman’s prison. Sickening, I’m sure, that this rapist could not get to stress and harass (or worse) women who are locked up. I must have missed their outrage and concern for the women who were locked up with dangerous men like the other ‘Bambi’ (as in Kardashian’s and not Thug). And others.

And of course ‘Bambi Thug’ had the big strip off to reveal the colours of her ideology, and flagged support for men like her namesake while shouting the doctrines/slogans about ‘Trans rights’. Yeah, eff the rights of the women who had to be stressed out by having to endure men who are a danger (because of physical or sexual violence) in what is supposed to be women’s prison. And the rest!

So, it is good to get a bit of a break from it all this ‘progressive’ , new and improved misogyny. Exactly the same as the previous sort. Not quite as outre as Romania’s ‘Choke me’, but I’m sure the misogynistic fervour can become more rabid. That J.J. fellow can chime in with his refrain of ‘b&tch’, ‘b&tch’, as he obviously likes to yell that at women.

One bean (woman, pronounced ban) from Mná na hÉireann (women of Ireland) who has got that off her chest!

Going almost off subject, or off on a tangent, but it seems to me that the same qualities needed for a good UK Eurovision entry are the same needed for a good Bond theme - a big, great singer and a song with a touch of camp, sex and grandiose glamour. Sadly, we haven't had any great Bond themes for a while, either.

Otherwise, as hinted by @BippidyBoppety it might be an idea to pick a singer from the London musical genre, someone who would be up for it and comfortable singing live, a great voice and see Eurovision as a step up. I've heard good things about the West End musical Kinky Boots - isn't the lead the tall black dancer from Strictly? Apparently he's a great singer, too. Wouldn't someone like him - or him - be worth approaching?

Incidentally, Ollie A's staging may have been spectacular but even though many of the arena couldn't see it and it was too sexualised, he himself had to fork out for it and he didn't make his money back.

That’s lovely of the Danes, but why was no one with him? Not on.

I was thinking the same thing about Bond themes earlier!

Conchita's Rise Like A Phoenix gave great Bond vibes.

I think my MADtrust vid didn't link, sorry. If you can be arsed, the show Once did a great skit of "Early Morning Jews" ...

Michael Ball was performing as Sweeney Todd - his cast performed his One Step At A Time which had every person in the audience on their feet.

Johannes was coached to death to get through the big Whitneyesque number in Kinky Boots but although the rest of his performance was funny & moving he didn’t really do that song justice.

Lucie Jones a West End singer did Eurovision a few years ago. She has an an amazing voice. Someone like Rachel Tucker or Sam Barks could be incredible.