David

That Swiss song from 2004 has to be up there with the worst ever Eurovision songs - certainly amongst the worst of the noughties anyway!

Predict the top 10 of the final [60 points available - 5 points for each correct position, 3 points for being one position off, 1 point for being two positions off; extra 10 points if you predict all the members correctly regardless of order] 01 - Armenia 02 - Germany 03 - Greece 04 - Turkey 05 - Romania 06 - Azerbaijan 07 - Denmark 08 - Israel 09 - Belgium 10 - Ireland Bonus Question 1: Where will the 5 autoqualifiers finish? [50 points - 10 points for each correct position, 5 points for being one position off, 3 points for being two positions off, 1 point for being three positions off] France - 25th Germany - 2nd Norway - 13th Spain - 21st UK - 23rd Bonus Question 2: Place former USSR countries in the order of their finish in today's show from the most to the least successful. [2 points for getting each country right; 1 point for getting it right within 1 place; 0 - otherwise] Armenia Azerbaijan Russia Ukraine Georgia Moldova Belarus Bonus Question 3: How many countries will vote for the winner? [10 points for getting the exact number, 4 points for getting within 2 countries, 2 points for getting within 3 countries, 1 point for getting within 4 countries] 32 Bonus Question 4: How many points will Belgium score? [10 points for getting the exact amount, 5 points for guessing within 5 points of it, 3 points for guessing within 10 points of it, 1 point for guessing within 20 points of it] 101 Bonus Question 5: Predict the bottom five positions of the final [60 points available - 10 points for each correct position, 5 points for being one position off, 3 points for being two positions off, 1 point for being three positions off; extra 10 points if you predict all the members correctly regardless of order] 21 - Spain 22 - Belarus 23 - United Kingdom 24 - Portugal 25 - France :magic:

What an absolutely ridiculous statement to make. I mean seriously. :manson: If it's a song contest, then surely the natural thing to do is well...SEND A GOOD SONG then Pete? Complete and utter wanker. -_-

Oh no...the BBC don't even put millions of pounds into it. A figure I heard a few years ago was as little as £125k. -_- Though I'm not sure how accurate that is...

Norway's hosts are good...nothing too over the top, and not too boring or inexperienced like last year's.

Ooh another person going for an Armenian victory! I can't believe we're all predicting this now. :lol:

I hope David Cameron makes the BBC's executives lives a complete nightmare for the next five years after this revelation myself. :smoke:

Oh I'm glad it's the proper long version and not that dodgy one where her pronunciations are all over the place. :D This is the reason the song is so good...not the shortened ESC version!

My original prediction is so different to what it is now. :o What a difference a few weeks can make ehhhh. I would never have predicted Armenia for the win even one week ago, regardless of who else would be qualifying!

Channel 4 would be an awful decision...it'd get flogged to T4 and we'd end up having some unsigned band being sent that only British indie kids listen to. We'd obviously have to go via the semi finals too as they wouldn't be able to fund keeping us in the big four, so we probably wouldn't see the final for quite a while! ITV on the other hand... :magic:

Oh I thought it was on the one just gone? You could be right though!

Yeah...she offered her latest single 'The Flood' apparently. :arrr:

Yeah they've already cast their votes! :o

I know yeah...I really want it to go down to the final vote but I'm not sure it will! Are they still planning on doing that thing where if it's relatively close they'll reveal all the points one by one for the final three countries? :unsure:

I'm going to stand by my prediction of 23rd for now...but bottom three is a near certainty. :(

I see we have the same winner then Rich! Quite a few things I'd swap around but good to see we have relatively similar predictions. ^_^ Although...I won't be at all surprised at 11.15pm tomorrow night to see we've both gone completely wrong yet again! :lol:

Hmm definitely can't see Russia finishing that low, or Iceland that high! I'm going for the Armenian win now anyway.

United Kingdom...first dress rehearsal for the final... KpgCd5_XnrI Pretty abysmal...there's a dodgy bit in the middle where the music doesn't even seem to flow, Josh is evidently holding back for some reason, until the last note anyway and the backing singers are pretty appalling too. :(

It probably is the best he can do tbh. :( Is it any wonder the BBC ditch Katie Melua and an actual decent song which would probably cost a few thousand when "famous songwriter and producer" Pete Waterman will offer to do it for £100?! :manson:

You may have heard him saying he couldn't remember 'Drip Drop' last night after about ten minutes (I personally would've thought all singers and songwriters would have listened to what they were up against weeks before, but hey ho), well here he is at it again. Note how much was spent on our entry. -_- £100? Is he actually serious?!

Aww I feel so bad for them. :( And even if they had qualified and had only just scraped through in tenth place (and I knew this somehow), had they been drawn 25th for tomorrow's final, I'd still be backing them for the win!

Voted. :D

That Verka outfit is actually amazing Peter!!!

I had them down as getting five points off us...I know it could well be more, but with the inevitable Ireland-Turkey-Greece top three and songs like Denmark and Germany likely to appeal to UK viewers, I don't personally think they'll get any more. :( Same here, but like Rich said above, it really doesn't feel like a winner at all! Even 'Believe' felt more like a winner than this! :lol:

Oh god...these results have come out ridiculously low! They look rather like a dodgy "it'll never happen" ESC Simulator set of results! Anyway, here's what I got, after spending the best part of two hours (!!!) going through recent voting patterns, position in the running order, realistic chances of winning, rehearsals and whatever else relevant! Armenia 219Germany 211Greece 200Turkey 167Romania 150Azerbaijan 142Denmark 136Israel 127Belgium 101Ireland 98Russia 97Serbia 86Norway 80Ukraine 76Georgia 59Iceland 58Bosnia-Herzegovina 46Albania 43Moldova 37Cyprus 35Spain 24Belarus 22United Kingdom 19Portugal 16France 13 And now some points to consider... Any other year I would have Armenia as a guaranteed 4th/5th finisher ala Sirusho, Aysel, that 'Shake It Up Sekerim' guy, Sakis in 2004 etc., but this year with no clear leader, and the favourites - Azerbaijan - having an awful rehearsal/semi final and performing first, I can see the typical eastern Eurovision song getting the win. Just.Germany are the country I've put second and I can see them getting A LOT of sixes, sevens and eights. It's a great song, but I can't see people going out in their droves to vote for it, and I fear this may lead to the former USSR state 'bloc voting' returning.I never really gave Greece much thought and just presumed they'd end up low top ten again, but now that it's been placed between the United Kingdom and Ireland, I see it as quite a frontrunner. I can't see it actually winning, but definitely worrying a few of us along the way tomorrow night, and settling in third!Turkey are another country like Russia, and they will benefit from the Turkish diaspora around Europe heavily this year - once again I'm putting this down to the likeliness of the voting being so widespread. It's a good song, and I can see it finishing a tad higher than 'Deli' did in 2008.Romania and Denmark are two countries with decent songs, but are they enough to stand out? I could well have underestimated Romania, as indeed could the bookmakers, but I see it scrapping along with a lot of fours and fives with the occasional high score from countries like Spain and Moldova. Denmark would be my bet for the win if they didn't look so barren on stage and as if they'd rather be somewhere else. As it is, I'll go with seventh for them.I've never actually tipped Azerbaijan or Israel for the win, and always thought their odds, particularly Israel's, were too low, however after the semi final, I definitely don't think either will be troubling the top of the leaderboard. The fact Azerbaijan are opening the show gives me less faith in the song, and I'm predicting it will finish just outside the top five. Israel, like Romania, will plod along all night with average scores, but without having the benefit of kind neighbours and diaspora like the Moldavians and Spanish...Which leads me onto Russia. 97 points for that piece of drivel is 97 too many in my opinion, but like I said in the above comment, I can really see the USSR bloc returning in force this time, and Russia will of course be the country that gains most from this. Last year we saw their constant 12 pointer domination disappear, however this year I think we could see some of those return, along with a lot of eights and tens.I think Belgium and Ireland will make the top ten - just - at the expense of Russia. They should get a reasonably wide spread set of results, but their performing positions and the countries singing around them could hinder their chances of going top five. I've already talked about the Russian abomination, and don't intend to speak of Nalitch anymore!Serbia were a tricky one. On the one hand they have a catchy tune, but on the other...it is rather naff. They'll probably get a few "novelty" votes and score highly from the Balkan countries, but I can't see them quite going top ten.Norway's performing slot and the overkill of ballads will ensure we stay away from Oslo next year too...Ukraine, Georgia and Iceland will benefit mostly from neighbourly votes I think, and I can't see any of them troubling the upper reaches. If Georgia put in a decent performance again they could maybe do better, and if Iceland were closing the show again I think they'd manage it too.Bosnia-Herzegovina and Albania are your trademark inevitable flops in the final that are only going to score from the neighbouring countries, and I can't see either passing 50 points.Moldova are definitely the Finland of last year, however with some dire songs in the final, they should just about scrape the top 20.I think Cyprus and Belarus are both going to suffer and be labelled merely an inferior version of what is already in the final. Belgium come just before Cyprus, and is far superior, and there are about five ballads that are better than 'Butterflies'. Belarus will pick up a few ex-USSR votes, and Cyprus will get the inevitable 12 from Greece, but apart from that, I can't see either sending too many shockwaves across Europe.Spain's unique effort this year will merely be forgotten I fear, which is a shame as I do quite like the song. It will remain since 2004 that the Spanish went top ten though.And now onto the bottom three... I might actually be being a little optimistic about predicting Josh Dubovie and the United Kingdom at 23rd, as that French song could easily take off tomorrow night, and Portugal's ballad and good singing position could benefit them strongly, however that is what I've gone for, so I'll stick by it. Comment and let me know what you think! x x x