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Eurovision - UK gets 0 points

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Class465pacer

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Italy has won the Eurovision Song Contest in Rotterdam with their song Zittie e Buoni.
Måneskin singer Damiano David shouted "Rock and roll never dies" as the four-piece group collected their glass microphone trophy.
It was another disappointing night for the UK, with James Newman's Embers scoring nil points.
It is the fifth time the UK has come last, and the second time it has received nil points.
The first time was in 2003 when Jemini sang Cry Baby.
Newman put on a brave face, smiling and cheering as the bad news was delivered.
Personally I thought James' song wasn’t very good but was still surprised we finished this low.
 
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duncanp

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Personally I thought James' song wasn’t very good but was still surprised we finished this low.

The voting in the Eurovision Song Contest is political, and has been for years.

I cannot help but think that Brexit has something to do with us getting "Nul Points" this year.

It is worth noting that the last time the UK won the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1997, was only a few days after Tony Blair won the general election, thus bringing about a more EU friendly government instead of those pesky Tories. (from the EU point of view)
 

dk1

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Getting nil points in Eurovision is something that many of us Brits, me included, revel in. Perfect!!
 

Ianno87

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Claims it's "political" specifically against the UK might be overblown when the likes of Germany barely did any better than us.

It's all just a bit of silly fun.
 

yorksrob

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The reality is that it's a weak song.

They've been hyping it on Radio 2 for weeks and it was clear it wasn't going to go anywhere. I've been told by friends who follow the contest that it was a good crop of songs competing this year as well.

Personally I think that the UK should voluntarily go into the qualifying rounds so that poor songs are weeded out before the main event.
 

Snow1964

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Claims it's "political" specifically against the UK might be overblown when the likes of Germany barely did any better than us.

It's all just a bit of silly fun.

5 countries automatically get into finals (plus host country) as put more money in and historic reasons

Of those 5, 3 got no public points (UK, Germany, Spain) and wouldn’t have got past semifinals if they had to compete in them.
The other 2 automatic finalists (France, Italy) did well this year

The 2 semifinals are because having all 39 countries in one show would be too long

UK used to have a domestic Song for Europe show with public vote, but since we dropped it and our entry is chosen by industry experts have tended to be near bottom.
 

dk1

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How 8-) was it when Amanda Holden came on obviously not really putting any effort into speaking other languages properly then laughing about it?
 

birchesgreen

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How 8-) was it when Amanda Holden came on obviously not really putting any effort into speaking other languages properly then laughing about it?
It was very rude and embarrassing but what else can you expect these days?

The UK's problem with Eurovision is that they seem trapped in a very narrow and now dated view of the kind of song they need to send. What is a "Eurovision" song nowadays, the top 5 were all different genres and styles. But the UK seems to think they can only send a bland easily forgettable pop song with little relative effort or imagination in the staging. Thus in a field of 26 songs you ain't getting anywhere.

But yeah its all political... :rolleyes:
 

Ianno87

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It was very rude and embarrassing but what else can you expect these days?

The UK's problem with Eurovision is that they seem trapped in a very narrow and now dated view of the kind of song they need to send. What is a "Eurovision" song nowadays, the top 5 were all different genres and styles. But the UK seems to think they can only send a bland easily forgettable pop song with little relative effort or imagination in the staging. Thus in a field of 26 songs you ain't getting anywhere.

But yeah its all political... :rolleyes:

Which is really irritating with the amount of great music the UK produces. Muse, Arctic Monkeys, etc etc.
 

HST274

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How 8-) was it when Amanda Holden came on obviously not really putting any effort into speaking other languages properly then laughing about it?
In terms of the UK being liked that probably dropped our rating out of 100 from 0/100 to -1/100
 

RT4038

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In terms of the UK being liked that probably dropped our rating out of 100 from 0/100 to -1/100
But as this happened after the votes had been cast already, it would have had no influence at all. Our reputation precedes us and Amanda Holden merely reinforced their views, I'm sure. No point in pretending to be something that we aren't.
 

Mvann

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But if you win the Eurovision Song Contest, don't you get to host it the following year and your broadcaster gets all the bills for hosting it?
 

dk1

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But if you win the Eurovision Song Contest, don't you get to host it the following year and your broadcaster gets all the bills for hosting it?
I think that’s caught Ireland out a few times in the past.
 

RT4038

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But if you win the Eurovision Song Contest, don't you get to host it the following year and your broadcaster gets all the bills for hosting it?
Now that is Machiavellian....
 

birchesgreen

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Which is really irritating with the amount of great music the UK produces. Muse, Arctic Monkeys, etc etc.
Can you imagine the UK sending a rock song? Or folk pop. It would require them thinking outside of the tiny little box they live in.
 

DarloRich

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Of course we did:

We had a poor song
Sung by a fat bloke
Staged like a 5th form play
And we just told all of Europe to do one

Ps also our bloke didnt seem to know his own words!
 

JonasB

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It is worth noting that the last time the UK won the Eurovision Song Contest, in 1997, was only a few days after Tony Blair won the general election, thus bringing about a more EU friendly government instead of those pesky Tories. (from the EU point of view)

The big difference is that in 1997, the UK had a great song. This year it was pretty bland among some very strong competition.

There is off course a political element to it, such as Greece and Cyprus always giving each other 12 points. And the attitude the UK government has had towards the rest of Europe doesn't really attract any votes in a competition that is about celebrating Europe.

But even if the UK had been governed by a pro-EU Libdem/SNP-coalition, they would not have won this year. It is strange that a country that has produced the Beatles, Queen, Adele, Elton John etc. can't send better songs to Eurovision.
 

pdq

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He was a technically poor singer (comparatively). Compared with the Swiss guy who sang a harmonically difficult song with a massive range, the UK entrant sang a pretty generic pop song badly. It was frequently out of tune and showed little technical sparkle.
 

dosxuk

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Lots of people saying it wasn't the worst song of the night, but that's not how the scoring works. To get points you have to convince countries that your song is in the top 10 of the night, and frankly ours was middle of the road at best.

Doing something quirky, or that conforms to regional stereotypes (picking up votes from the surrounding counties) is a good way of getting points on the board, but rarely enough to actually win. A good song, performed well and with good, memorable staging will be in a very good chance of winning. Ours, while not being a bad song, had none of that.
 

birchesgreen

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Lots of people saying it wasn't the worst song of the night, but that's not how the scoring works. To get points you have to convince countries that your song is in the top 10 of the night, and frankly ours was middle of the road at best.
Yes you could be everyone's 11th favourite song and get no points, lets face it though we were a long way off 11th.
 

adrock1976

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How is it that the likes of Australia, Azerbaijan, and Israel are participants in the Eurovision contest?

Last time I viewed an atlas, Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, Azerbaijan is in Central Asia, and Israel is in North West Asia (and should have been boycotted or expelled due to their government's disregard and flouting of international law).
 

DarloRich

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How is it that the likes of Australia, Azerbaijan, and Israel are participants in the Eurovision contest?

Last time I viewed an atlas, Australia is in the Southern Hemisphere, Azerbaijan is in Central Asia, and Israel is in North West Asia (and should have been boycotted or expelled due to their government's disregard and flouting of international law).

Because they are part of the european broadcasting union as google easily explained.

Funny you didnt feel Russia should be boycotted or expelled due to their government's disregard and flouting of international law. Odd that.
 
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