Fifteen countries competed in Thursday's Eurovision Song Contest semi-final, but only ten advanced to Saturday's Grand Final. Who advanced and what shockers occurred when the results were revealed?
Ben and I were so confident going into Thursday's Eurovision Song Contest semi-final. We each had the same top 10, which matched what we presented.((Though wildly different opinions and how the individual entries measured up.)) The bookies and the press both swapped Slovenia for Switzerland, which didn't seem too farfetched, particular as rehearsal footage went live. Despite these markers, we were only 8 for 10 in predicting which acts would advance to Saturday's Grand Final:
- Austria
- Belarus
- Finland
- Greece
- Malta
- Norway
- Poland
- Romania
- Slovenia
- Switzerland
As stated before, Switzerland advancing was not a huge shock. However, when it was revealed soon after that Slovenia would be advancing, I knew that we were in for a huge shock somewhere down the line. Then Belarus was announced. WHAT?! Because of these two surprises, Ireland and Israel found themselves sitting on the sidelines. Ireland may not have been that shocking—the group's performance was low energy and there seemed to be some tech issues. Israel, though, was a favorite across the board.
The true favorite though may be Austria's Conchita Wurst. During an intermission green room interview, the audience in the B&W Hallerne arena were going nuts—I don't recall anything quite like it with any Eurovision contestant. Between the end of the semi-final and the beginning of the press conference, Austria moved into third place behind Sweden and The Netherlands(!) in the betting odds. It has since moved up to second.
Saturday's Grand Final swiftly approaches. Ben and I will have an extended preview going up before Saturday's show. During the show, follow us on Twitter (Ben @BenMSmith and Mike @WEIOtv) for our commentary. There is no doubt: this will be an exciting show.
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