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Sheldon Riley wins Eurovision: Australia Decides

Former finalist from The Voice is off to Turin, Italy, after winning Australia's vote.

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Sheldon Riley is off to Turin to represent Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022.

The former Voice finalist was selected as the winner of Eurovision: Australia Decides with the song Not the Same.

He scored 100 points, outranking Voyager (winner of Audience vote) and Jaguar Jonze (winner of Jury vote) in third place.

Sheldon Riley, 22, said: “I’m speechless, this is everything I have worked for and dreamed of since I can remember. I am so incredibly honoured to represent Australia on the biggest stage in the world. I have said this a few times throughout this Aus Decides experience that people will choose different when given the chance to see it. Thank you for giving me my chance to prove that.”

SBS Head of Entertainment Emily Griggs said: “Eurovision – Australia Decides 2022 had a wonderful sense of camaraderie among the artists but onstage, competition was fierce. With such an impressive line-up there was no clear winner which was exciting. I am thrilled that Sheldon Riley will be heading to Turino in May. His performance was mesmerising and his passion for Eurovision is undeniable. I can’t wait to see Sheldon continue on the road to Italy.”

Creative Director of Eurovision – Australia Decides and Director of Blink TV Paul Clarke said: “Sheldon has worked so hard to create this song and staging, and he will shine as the original artist he is on the biggest musical stage of all.”

A total of 11 acts performed in a Live broadcast at the Gold Coast Convention Centre, hosted by Joel Creasey and Myf Warhurst. It was the third time Australia has voted publicly, but the first in two years following the global pandemic.

Earlier today the European Broadcasting Union announced Russia would be prevented from competing this year following an invasion of Ukraine.

Eurovision Song Contest will be held May 10 – 14 in Turin, Italy and broadcast Live on SBS.

This post updates.

24 Responses

  1. I really like Sheldon, but I think this is all a bit high art for a mainstream event like Eurovision. I think Voyager or Jaguar Jonze would have been the better choice. I also think that perfomers connect with audiences at home through the eyes as much as anything else and that mask needs to come off sooner.

  2. Can someone please explain how we even get an entry into this? Noting we are not part of Europe, does anyone actually think we will be allowed to win it? To me it appears someone is making a significant financial investment into something that has little to no chance of giving any return…

    1. With respect it’s been reported many times before. Did you check via Search? Australia is a long-standing associate member of the EBU and the body wanted to reflect Australia’s decades of enthusiasm for the event. Israel also not part of Europe, Dami Im came second etc.

  4. Well, that was interesting, keep waiting for it to build to a mind blowing crescendo, only to fizzle out. All I got from it was “were not the same”.

  5. Congrats to the winner..
    It appears Jaguar Jonze was disadvantaged with voting limitations.
    Her song I believe was clearly the winner. That is probably my musical taste opinion.

  6. Thought Paulini was the strongest performer of the night, but Sheldon was definitely top 5 so the outcome was better than it could have been.

    There was way too much padding and drawn out content. SBS really need to consider the format next time as it just felt like it dragged.

    Taking an hour to get to the fourth performance is just not going to keep the audience engaged.

  7. Paul and his team did a great job once again. My only feedback is that they need to improve the voting sequence. There was so much filler and then the voting was over so quickly. They could have built the suspense so much more.

    I wonder if Voyager won the televote in a landslide – if so the televote points method of previous years may have given them the win. That aside, if you want to equalise the jury and televote apportionment (I don’t necessarily think you have to – I didn’t mind the old method), then they should have used the same rank/points system for the jury as what they introduced for the televote. Would have been Voyager on 105 points (45/60), Sheldon on 100 (50/50) and Jaguar on 100 (60/40)….

  8. Sheldon was magnificent. Apart from the voting line stuff-ups, I do query the judges voting based on a previous performance what I’ve read, and not on the same night as the public, as there were some very strange rankings by the judges of acts that were offkey on the night.

      1. Yes, but by then they have had a ton of experience with massive crowds, and it was clear that there were vocal problems in Saturday’s show that must not have been apparent the night before, or rankings would have been different.

  9. Congratulations to Sheldon but I am not a fan of this song. Just my opinion but I really thought the Fire song by Jaguar Jonze was the the best by far. Loved the performance by Voyager.

  10. I loved voyagers song the minute I heard it.

    It was telling that the audience booed when the judges gave them only 37.

    It was telling that they won the public vote.

    They were robbed.

    Not bothering with following the Aussie act to Eurovision. Couldn’t care less.

    Will follow the malta’s act. Love out of sight. It won’t win Eurovision but the words speak to me. She won the judges and audience vote.

    Aussie judges need to read the room.

    Voyager you were fantastic. I wish you well.

    1. A bit harsh don’t you think? The song he wrote was very close to his heart and was very emotional for him.

      Go Sheldon, you deserve this, you’ve worked hard, you’ll do Australia proud.

  14. There was a lot of chat on Twitter about the voting lines closing early. The on-screen graphics indicated they closed at 9.45pm AEDT – almost an hour before the live performances concluded. It should have been 9.45pm EST (Gold Coast time). Might be worth a follow-up David?

      1. Such comments were aggressively censored by SBS, but I saw some that mentioned Vodafone. I can confirm that I also use Vodafone and could not vote at or after 20:02. Seems plausible Jaguar Jonze, who played after closure, could have defeated Sheldon Riley if not for this.

  15. Did he really win? Both my wife and i voted 10 times each ((max allowed) immediately after last song, during voting time. Received 3 sms messages back thanking us for voting. Then received 7 messages thanking us for watching! Did the votes get counted? Submitted over 15 minutes before votes closed!!!!! Noted that when number on screen appeared it said voting closed at 2145 AEDT which is 9.45pm daylight time on east coast. They were not even halfway through acts at that time! And how did they come up with the points for public vote? No explanation given! Sheldon was terrific and deserved to win but just how true and correct was the entire voting process? Please get rid of Myf and Joel who were hopeless! cThey couldn’t even read out correct phone number for voting , weren’t funny, very crude, and weren’t able to pad out when needed. Totally unprofessional as hosts. Get Julia Zamiro and Sam Pang back or Hans the German! Lift your game SBS!!!

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