Be Excellent To Each Other

The number of times a country has finished 2nd in the Eurovision song Contest?

That's all I could fine on Wikipedua (in relation to the UK and 15 of anything), but I'm not sure why that would 'say it all, really' so thought it must be something else?

Maybe it's average number of grapes consumed by artiste at last year's competition?

yup it was the second places.. when i put it in my eurovision whatsapp group it took some time for people to figure it out


other riddle, which scandinavian country had the same title for their track as a benelux country in 1987, even though then they still had to sing in their mother tongue

That's Denmark with "Soldiers of Love".

Very disappointing year. Nowhere near enough crazy outfits, out there tunes, or key changes

I liked Azerbaijan and France. Russia are going to win though, reckon.

Agree that it's been a sedate show this year.

JT is good, though.

Malta deserves a shout out, too.

Goodness yes.

The song the hosts did was the best bit by far!

It was, it was brilliant.

Shit year. No freaks.

"as we say in Sweden, if there's room in the heart, there's room in the butt"

O.o

I liked her saying that.

The hosts and JT were the best.

The UK public liked Lithuania, then Poland.

Okay then.

Everyone liked Poland other than juries it seems.

@grim indeed.. the orginal weas brilliant



and i agree, the meta-song of the presenters should have won...

I wonder how many singles Justin Timberlake sold last night? I'm guessing... A lot!

If you thought the voting on Saturday night was confusing, you should see the official scoring tables on the Eurovision website. Incomprehensible!

http://www.eurovision.tv/page/results?e ... 3&voter=GB

People thought it was confusing?

Not here, it was a really exciting way of doing it, as you didn't know the winner right to the last second, rather than it being a runaway thing.

I thought it was confusing. I don't know where the numbers came from in the viewers voting round and I don't think it was explained very well.

They came from the viewers who were voting...

Well that's that then. Case closed. Looking forward to next year already! Thanks Mimi.

But, I like to see the runners up become increasingly despondent as their hopes and dreams extend from reach as each score come in like a modern day Tantalus

Glad I could help.

Next up: Mimi explains the single transferable vote.

Later: Mimi explains the qualifying structure for the Only Connect grand final.

Stay tuned.

Oh man, when is Only Connect back? I need it!

Each country had 1-10 and 12 points to allocate from the jury, and 1-10 and 12 points to allocate from the phone-in poll. So it didn't take nine hours they just added them all together to give the phone-in results.

Points 1-10 appeared on the screen with the tedious reading out of points by weirdly desperate people (like Richard Osman... Ok, not him, but some of the others...) restricted to communicating only the 12 point score verbally.

The hosts whizzed through the sum of voter points for each country at the end, in reverse order from least to most total viewer votes.

The presenter's scorn for them was gloriously obvious

And even then some of them milked it. Danny Wallace on Twitter said that it was like they were all in the same room with a dressing up box.

Petra was glorious.

And now a guy on rollerskates!

She was awful. She was an awful, awful presenter. The chap was great, she was just awkward.

She was ace. She wasn't a very good presenter, but she was still ace.

She was great at showing disdain for the fools trying to be clever when announcing the points.

"Hi, I am famous rapper from San Marino!"
"Just tell me your 12 points"

It's Graham Norton's job to snipe at the points guys.

"I'm sure the rap scene in San Marino is massive!"

Unlike last year when I struggled to find anywhere showing it in Berlin (!), I'm looking forward to watching it this Saturday. I don't do the semis, and never watch the British entry until the night itself. Also, my mum just described Eurovision on the phone to me as 'the continental sing-song' .

Speaking of last year's, I was by chance in the small town in Sweden where their entry came from (Ystad) during Eurovision week, and as such the locals had much to talk about as I paid through the nose for beers.

And here we go again.

This flag procession looks like that bit in 'Stars in their Eyes' just after they've told Matthew who they're going to be. The fireworks and flags are nice though.

Don't like the hosts' jackets. Too sparkly.

I quite like the one in the silver. If Grieg isn't around, he could do.

Ant & Dec have regenerated, obviously.

Israel: like the pulsating background. Shouldn't have bothered with the 'breaking me to pieces' graphic. Yeah, we get it. The backing dancers were clearly chosen to make the singer look better, but he doesn't need that support. Obviously, I'm only judging his musical talents.

Flames bonus activated.

Poland: had potential, but I felt it was done far too slowly and quietly. Needed more tempo, noise, and passion.

Dog constellation bonus activated.
Wind-in-hair bonus activated.

Belarus: catchier than the plague. Would have to have a heart of steel not to be bobbing along to that with a stupid grin on your face. But what the fuck was up with the guy's hair, let alone the staging?

Dry ice bonus activated.
HYDROFOIL MEGABONUS! Level up!

Austria: Jason Orange's Solo Career. Again, I feel it's too slow. I've been on narrowboats faster than this. He'd make a better boyfriend than Mr Israel however. I quite like him.

Dancing in the moon bonus engaged.

Armenia: Mesmeric backgrounds. Pretty good voice. Nice use of drums. Like the Bollywood inspiration, but not very catchy.

Flames bonus activated!
Ganesh dancing bonus activated.
Robosexbot dancing bonus activated!

The Netherlands: Love me some close harmonies. This is designed for a hot summer day driving down the M5 listening to Radio Two in your Mondeo. I think it'll do quite well (official Eurokern prediction)

Sparkly dresses bonus!
Unexpected Riff Mode activated!