This year's Eurovision is over and will be unforgettable for many reasons, most of which have little to do with singing. The winner, thanks to the huge support of the juries, was Nemo – or Nemo as it describes itself – but the public had a completely different opinion, giving the highest scores to Croatia, Israel and Ukraine.
Eva Koutoumanou
There were significant differences between the preferences shown by the juries of the countries in this year's Eurovision, compared to those of the audience.
The first place in the final of the 68th song contest was won by the representative of Switzerland, Nemo, with the song "The Code", followed by Croatia and Ukraine.
But until the public gave their votes, the results were somewhat different, Switzerland was in first place, since the juries gave it 365 votes, which ensured the final victory, but in second place was France with 218 votes from the juries and the amazing Slimane, who at one point, in fact, she sang "Mon Amour" a cappella! In third place was Croatia with 210 points from the juries and Italy with 164 points. Rounding out the top five was Ukraine with 146 votes, which after the public votes, moved up to third place.
The biggest surprise was Israel, which did not get much vote from the countries' committees, scoring just 52 points that gave it 12th place. However, the audience gave it the second highest score with 323 votes - first was Croatia with 337 votes - and Israel jumped from 12th place to 5th place, proving that the majority of people did not agree with the "war" that the amiable 20-year-old Eden Golan, who despite the boos she faced in rehearsals, He made an amazing appearance.
As for Marina Satti's "Dice" did not seem to excite the committees, as it collected only 41 points, but neither did the public, so from the 14th place given to her by the committees of the countries, she ended up only in 11th place, which perhaps reflects the general disapproval for the immature attitude she showed as she represented our country. Marina Satti yawned and pretended to sleep at the press conference when Israel's spokeswoman spoke.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just Marina Satti who sought to turn an enjoyable music competition that aims to unite countries into a polarizing political event.
The Netherlands were eliminated shortly before the final after Dutch representative Joost Klein allegedly assaulted a female photographer, with unofficial sources claiming he hit a member of the Israeli production.
Dutch broadcaster AVROTROS issued an official statement on the country's exclusion from the Eurovision final, calling it a "severe and disproportionate punishment".
Ireland also had complaints from the EBU. According to Irish broadcaster RTE, Bambie Thug – or Bambie Thug as it calls itself – called on Eurovision contest organisers to address comments made on Israeli television ahead of Ireland's appearance in Tuesday's semi-final, arguing that the commentary violated Eurovision rules. Bambie Thug stated that Israel should no longer be allowed to participate in the contest. The public and juries, however, kept Ireland and their controversial presence strongly reminiscent of an occult black magic ceremony, with pentagrams and candles, in 6th place.
It is noteworthy that this year neither Greece gave its 12 points to Cyprus and the impressive 17-year-old Silia Kapsis, who despite her amazing performance stayed low in the ranking and in 15th place, nor Cyprus gave her 12 to Greece, probably "in response".
What is certain is that this year's Eurovision will be unforgettable, but for the wrong reasons, mainly. Episodes, pentagrams and confusion about what to call some participants... it, he or she.
The big winner, however, was ERT as it set a record audience with weighted average viewing rates reaching 71.6% in the so-called dynamic audience (18-54) and 68.1% in total, as the Eurovision contest was watched by 2,806,000 viewers, with coverage (for one minute) reaching 4,874,000! And to these incredible numbers must be added an additional 566,000 citizens who watched the final via Ertflix.
