Over a fortnight in the Eurovision “bubble”—the press room, which is mostly fan press until the second week—there are all sorts of folks trying to predict results. Who win will? Which pre-Contest favourite will do a Kate Ryan: crash and burn out of its semi-final? Which wee country will do a Rossinelli: finally qualify for […]
In part one we examined the relative importance of performance order with respect to Grand Final qualification. The concise finding from that analysis that performance order can improve an entry’s prospects quite a lot, but there are no genuinely hopeless slots. But what about winning a semi-final? Are there any genuinely sweet slots? How important […]
Portugal’s 2017 victory was a landmark: a first victory after 50 attempts, a non-English language victory for only the second time in the televote era, and the first aligned victory (in terms of jury and public rankings) since 2014. All of which makes for a comprehensive victory…unless all is not necessarily as it seems, if you dig a bit deeper. So dig we have. Or at least tried
