0/5

Eurovision Semi Final Two: qualifying nations

Malmö locks lips on another 10 countries for the Eurovision Final -but Turkey bans the show.

2013-05-18_1608We now have ten more countries to qualify for tonight’s Eurovision Final.

Amongst them are Finland’s Krista Siegfrids whose song Marry Me ended in a same-sex smooch, which some have said is meant to be a support for gay marriage. But politics is a no-no at Eurovision so Krista says it was just a sign of romance (TATU anyone?).

But Turkey’s EBU broadcaster cancelled the screening as a result. Turkey’s TRT claimed the cancellation was due to low ratings not the kiss, but 1 out of 4 households in Turkey reportedly watched the show last season. Gay marriage advocates point out that two women kissed during the 2012 Olympics without incident.

Meanwhile I thought Israel was overlooked in not making it to the Final.

Hungary

Azerbaijan

Georgia

Romania

Norway

Iceland

Armenia

Finland

Malta

Greece

OUT:
Latvia
San Marino
Macedonia F.Y.R.
Bulgaria
Israel
Albania
Switzerland

In Aussie voting via the SBS Eurovision site, Greece was the favourite with 29,098 votes, Norway came in second with 23,926 votes, followed by Romania in third place with 21,358 votes. Alas they have no bearing on the outcome.

Remember that the Final will finish in Malmö at around 7am Sunday AEST so avoid Spoilers online, radio, TV, Twitter, Facebook and social media!

TV Tonight will be publishing Final comments after the broadcast ends AEST on SBS ONE. This includes Twitter and RSS.

David Knox blogs Eurovision for SBS.

2 Responses

  1. Petra Mede is a great host. I did have to laugh when reading a Twitter comment comparing her dress to ” …a half eaten Ferrero Rocher”, 🙂

  2. I didn’t watch all of this semi-final, but the Israeli song was a refreshing change from the popcorn hits which aired before it. I am truly surprised that Israel didn’t make the cut.

Leave a Reply