Some sites are saying Ireland were "miles behind". The gap between 1st and 8th was only 102 points, which actually isn't that much at all.

Watching back I Can on iPlayer and seeing the huge reception of it in the arena, I'm still struggling to see why it missed the top ten yet is now smashing across Europe. That reaction/post contest success usually only goes to songs destined for a great result.

 

I can only assume that the juries killed it after their 'awful jury rehearsal', will be interesting to see the vote breakdown.

Delighted it got such great ratings and highest since 1999, it just shows when some serious work goes into eurovision it can pay off, a peak of over 12 million viewers is great and hopefully enough to make the bbc put some good work into picking next years entry. Blue may not have done aswell as expected but they got a decent score, i know Jedward been in would have attracted UK viwers aswell but overall its a great ratings result.

 

In Ireland i would say the ratings will be huge aswell, the final always gets high ratings here and with such high hopes for jedward i would say it will have easily peaked well over 1 million viwers here which is fantastic for ireland.

How does tonight indicate bloc voting? :wacko:

 

He obviously read the Mail's article stating that Jedward were thwarted by geo-political voting :mellow:...

Yeah, as Peter texted me last night, this year REALLY couldn't have gone any worse in terms of the slow improvement of Eurovision's perception in the UK. A mediocre result for Blue, a country most people haven't heard of winning (and as such they're inclined to blame it on 'politics'), Moldova's entry, and Jedward beating us. Thankfully there's a bit of 'REAL MUSIC' (:manson:) in the top five to stop it from being a complete disaster in the eyes of most.

That said, I do think last night's absolutely bizarre result probably came about as a result of the first year where the jury and the public disagreed massively in their votes. Thoughts? The running order would indicate that they were probably trying to set up a battle between Italy and another country (Ukraine? Sweden?) in the final few votes, but I do think Azerbaijan probably won the televote by a huge margin to ruin it all.

I was wondering (cynically and convaluted-ly) if the juries pegged France back in order to manufacture an exciting vote. i.e. not all putting France at #1 expecting them to win the televote and set up a close battle with Azerbaijan (or someone), perhaps putting Italy and Ukraine near the top expecting them to fail in the televote and having a battle between the jury favoured songs and the voting favoured songs. That said, we can't say that until the split is revealed - I just wonder if they wanted a closer result than the last 2 years :o.

But it's our own fault. We gave Moldova AND Ireland 2 out of the 3 "big" points. This country needs to start taking it seriously and start voting for the songs that are actually GOOD. Instead of voting for the $h!t that's "good for the lol's" or whatever. I agree with whoever it was that said we need to send a fairly unknown act with a song (more in the vein of 'I Can') that's actually good and actually sounds fresh.

+ I'm delighted Azerbaijan won,if only to make up for Safura and AySel and Arash not doing it :D It's #1 on my list of countries to visit, although I'm not sure if jet-setting to the caucausus in the middle of my A Levels would be a good idea...

But it's our own fault. We gave Moldova AND Ireland 2 out of the 3 "big" points. This country needs to start taking it seriously and start voting for the songs that are actually GOOD. Instead of voting for the $h!t that's "good for the lol's" or whatever. I agree with whoever it was that said we need to send a fairly unknown act with a song (more in the vein of 'I Can') that's actually good and actually sounds fresh.

 

Moldova and Ireland, particularly the latter, were popular all over Europe, so I don't think it's a case of not taking the contest seriously. Both were over-the-top songs that were annoyingly catchy and the public obviously liked them. I think people need to give the UK more credit. Their votes weren't that dissimilar to the other votes...

 

 

Yeah, as Peter texted me last night, this year REALLY couldn't have gone any worse in terms of the slow improvement of Eurovision's perception in the UK. A mediocre result for Blue, a country most people haven't heard of winning (and as such they're inclined to blame it on 'politics'), Moldova's entry, and Jedward beating us. Thankfully there's a bit of 'REAL MUSIC' (:manson:) in the top five to stop it from being a complete disaster in the eyes of most.

 

We beat the Moldovan entry (thank god). Of the reports that I've seen, funnily enough there aren't that many reports blaming it on politics, but are actually complimenting Blue on getting '10 times more points than Josh) - I can only assume that Italy coming 2nd is showing that politics aren't particularly involved here.

 

That said, I do think last night's absolutely bizarre result probably came about as a result of the first year where the jury and the public disagreed massively in their votes. Thoughts? The running order would indicate that they were probably trying to set up a battle between Italy and another country (Ukraine? Sweden?) in the final few votes, but I do think Azerbaijan probably won the televote by a huge margin to ruin it all.

 

Italy have got to have won the jury vote comfortably surely? Wouldn't surprise me if Sweden won the televote and Azerbaijan came 2nd/3rd in both and won when combined. I can't see how the UK wouldn't have been top ten on the televote, I'm sure that the 'awful rehearsal' must have been Blue's downfall because the audience went wild and the song's doing the best across Europe apart from Jedward.

I can't see how the UK wouldn't have been top ten on the televote, I'm sure that the 'awful rehearsal' must have been Blue's downfall because the audience went wild and the song's doing the best across Europe apart from Jedward.

 

I'm pretty sure Ireland and UK would've been Top 5 if it was televote alone. The juries mustn't have taken to Jedward like I expected them to, and Blue's jury rehearsal obviously wasn't as strong as the Final performance. I'm really looking forward to seeing the split results!

I think the politics votes and bloc vote cant be blamed, i think the UK for example although missed the top 10 did pick up points from alot of countries, fair enough some were low points but they stiull scored, i would say the same for ireland, i suppose for me last night showed if you can get a catchy song in there or a good song you can still do well, like that was Irelands best result in years so Jedward broke barriers in terms of ireland picking up votes.

 

It will be interesting to see what direction Ireland and UK take next year as in regards the standard of songs they will have for their own finals.

I wonder if Turkey <-> Azerbaijan will become the new Greece <-> Cyprus :o? 4th year in a row that Turkey have given their 12 to the Azeris and I expect they would have reciprocated if hey were in the final.

I wonder if Turkey <-> Azerbaijan will become the new Greece <-> Cyprus :o? 4th year in a row that Turkey have given their 12 to the Azeris and I expect they would have reciprocated if hey were in the final.

It's the exact same situation. Azeris and Turks consider themselves to be part of the same nation.

How anyone could even begin to talk about political voting when Italy and Sweden came 2nd and 3rd really confuses me.

Their languages are almost identical even!

Azerbaijan is a beautiful country and incredibly peaceful (unlike surrounding nations). Amazing culture, attitudes and some beautiful places to visit from what I've ascertained. Several traveler guides have ranked Baku as one of the top 5 cities to party in. For all these reasons it's the place I'm most keen to visit in the world and has been for some time now.

 

Also, they've spent so much money trying to win over the last few years and an obvious amount of passion. I imagine next year's show will be one of the most spectacular ever.

It's the exact same situation. Azeris and Turks consider themselves to be part of the same nation.

 

Pretty sure had Turkey been in the final then Azerbaijan wouldn't have picked up the Turkish diaspora vote. The result could've been a lot different!

Also, they've spent so much money trying to win over the last few years and an obvious amount of passion. I imagine next year's show will be one of the most spectacular ever.

Oh definitely. I was saying yesterday to a few friends that this is probably going to even manage to outdo Russia's hosting in 2009...