The band participating for Ukraine, Kalush Orchestra, was delighted with the victory. “Every win is important to us now,” they said. Ukraine’s delegation said this week that if it wins, it is determined to hold the festival in the capital Kiev. It is not yet clear whether the broadcaster EBU supports this intention. Spain has now also signed up to take care of the organization of the festival in 2023, if it does not work in Ukraine.
Ukraine won the Eurovision Song Contest in Turin by force majeure, mainly thanks to the many votes from the TV-watching public. The difference in points between the judges, with Ukraine finishing in fourth place with 192 points, and the points of the public, was huge. The Eastern European country received no less than 439 points from TV viewers.
scoring
It was mainly the scoring that attracted the attention of journalists in the press center. The scoring was not often rehearsed by the presentation team. It was striking that four countries did not announce their jury points via a so-called spokesperson (that is the one who announces the points on behalf of the country). The organization could not get the connection in order. A hack was taken into account among journalists. Last Tuesday evening, Russian hackers had foreseen it at the Eurovision Song Contest. To the Italian newspaper La Republica The European broadcaster EBU announced that hackers have tried to shut down the website of the Eurovision Song Contest. That attempt failed.
In an official statement on Saturday evening, the EBU said that irregularities had been found in the votes of six countries in the scoring of the second semi-final. An attempt was made to manipulate the results.
As for the show, many journalists complimented the Italian organization. A lot went wrong during rehearsals, such that few believed in a well-running TV show on Saturday evening. But the Italian broadcaster RAI put on a fine show, although it lasted longer than 4 hours.
‘Hoping for more’
The Netherlands took eleventh place (out of 40 participating countries) in Turin. That can be seen as a good result. S10 stated afterwards: “I am extremely grateful for all the support and love I have received from the Netherlands and Europe. That means a lot to me. It remains a competition and of course I had hoped for a slightly higher position, but I look back on the entire period with a very happy and grateful feeling.”
It was the third time in a short time that the Netherlands took eleventh place in the Eurovision Song Contest. The last times were in 2016 (Douwe Bob) and OG3NE (2017). The Netherlands received 129 points from the judges and 42 points from the TV viewers in Europe.
The top 15 this year:
1 Ukraine 631
2 United Kingdom 466
3 Spain 459
4 Sweden 438
5 Serbia 312
6 Italy 268
7 Moldova 253
8 Greece 215
9 Portugal 207
10 Norway 182
11 Netherlands 171
12 Poland 151
13 Estonia 141
14 Lithuania 128
15 Australia 125