Eurovision 2021

Italy was good, but it is no Ja Ja Ding Dong

Can the UK stop paying for this now?

I’m not saying “we didn’t win, so we’re not going to play anymore”, but why carry on being one of the Big Five and coughing up to come last all the time?

Let’s just play on a level playing field with (almost) everyone else. If we don’t make it through the semi-final, so be it.

I know the theory is that the BBC want us in the final or people won’t watch, but is that true? No one expects the UK to do any good yet we still watch.

Let’s just stop footing the bill to get an unfair advantage that doesn’t even pay off.

We pay for it because it's good value for the BBC. Eurovision got about 7.7 million viewers in 2019 for close to 4 hours of Saturday night TV, which is more than double its usual Saturday night viewing figures. But its entire contribution to Eurovision (about £300k) is about the cost of 40 minutes of an episode of Casualty. It's an iconic part of the UK TV year and it's super cheap compared to them making their own programmes.

There's a different discussion about whether participating in the semi-finals would end up with us having better results in the final, but I can't believe that's the case unless the BBC concentrates more on our entry. I think we had a good song this year, but the staging was awful and I'm not sure that James had the pipes to do the singing and performance. Asking the BBC to invest more in our entry when it's not guaranteed a Saturday night showing seems unlikely to work.

Iceland were robbed! If indeed the allegations about Italy drug taking turn out to be true, they need to be disqualified. Felt sorry for James Newman. His song wasn’t the worst in final and while not a winner, didn’t deserve 0 points! Tbh I think the UK could cart beyonce out and still wouldn’t win cos they don’t like us! Hopefully get to see Dadi Freyr on tour next year!

Cocaine absolutely would be performance enhancing, yes. It is also illegal, a controlled substance and Class A drug.

But...

I don't think for a second he did, based on the evidence at hand. In the short clip, he at no point uses his hands to cover his nostril, which is entirely necessary for snorting powders.

It looks very dodgy, but would be entirely impractical to inhale drugs that way.

They have also just made a strong denial and offered to be tested for drugs, the entire band.

Shame this has marred their win assuming he is indeed innocent.

The latest figures published are from 2012 so it will have gone up a bit since then, but it's not a huge amount by TV standards. The bulk of the cost of the show is paid for by the host broadcaster, the host city and commercial revenues - for guidance, I had tickets for Rotterdam, which was a 'fan package' ticket giving access to six shows, the jury semi-finals and final, plus the televised semi-finals and final. This was a cheaper ticket because it was the fan package. It cost €800.

Obviously the BBC spends more overall on the coverage by sending the delegation to the event, paying accommodation, travel, Graham's fee etc. It will be interesting if they decide they can do more of it from the UK next year as they did this year, for example with the semi-final commentary and Radio 2 commentary being done from London. But for the viewership and the publicity, it's a good deal for them.

I thought Switzerland was doing his best Billy MacKenzie, while looking like a young Tony Hadley and it made me very happy.

I’m sort of stunned that Italy won, but they were an X Factor act and that sort of glam/metal/rock is more popular throughout Europe than it is here. I think I’m just out of the loop.

The whole thing made me very emotional and it felt like a return to normalcy.

I wonder if we would have done any better if we’d sent the United KingDolls?

(Also thank you @n1david for very thoughtful posts about Eurovision Economics. I’d like to subscribe to your newsletter.)

I really enjoyed last night's Eurovision final - it was great to have so many upbeat songs, and the staging overall was pretty impressive, though I did find myself getting confused with the similar looking female costumes (silvery/glittery/skimpy) - it was like they were bought as a job lot!

I was trying to work out if the Russian lady had a mobility scooter hidden inside her enormous costume at the beginning of the song. That was definitely a song of two halves (bonkers costume and shouty verse, then a surprisingly tuneful chorus).

I thought it was odd to have Russia and Malta back to back, since they both had very similar messages. An odd choice by the producers there.

Germany looked like 'Legz Akimbo Theatre Company does Eurovision'! I found myself thinking that I'd love to have been a fly on the wall when that poor dancer was told (and shown the costume) that she was going to be dressed as a giant hand!

I liked Iceland, San Marino, Malta, Switzerland, Greece and Italy. Also thought France was OK, though she lots it a bit vocally near the end - too busy trying to act overwrought and forgot to concentrate on keeping the vocals on point.

Disappointed for James, but I think the UK need to send someone who is really able to perform a song, and handle being on a big stage. James struggled a bit vocally and was clearly limited in what he could do to sell the song. No choreography or real engagement with the audience. I'd also say that the secret to a strong and memorable song is a decent chorus that will stick in the audience's head long after the performance is over, and a singer who can really sing and own the stage. The past winners in the interval demonstrate that.

I was going to start off by saying that it was about time the UK stopped paying huge amounts of money to be one of the big 5 and spend licence payers fees on other things. I had presumed, probably like many others, that we contributed millions of pounds so it was a real surprise when I read Davidn1 comments about how little we actually pay and understand the reasoning why we still participate as it is a cheap nights TV. I am guessing that some of the smaller countries contribute about a fiver each.
People say that the UK does not take it seriously and we don't enter good songs which I partly agree with, however, our entry this year was certainly not the worst by a long way and yet we still got no votes at all. I cant think of the last time we were on the left hand side of the scoreboard. Surely we cant have the worst song year on year! I am no expert but some of the songs last night were dire and yet they still managed to get some points.
Its the age old issue of politics and the fact that no one likes us.
Just look at Greece and Cyprus giving each other 12 points and it wasn't as if the songs were in their own language.
Its all getting rather silly now in my opinion.
But, its still a great night even though it lasted 3 hours 55 mins this year and I look forward to watching it every year and getting angry every year. Even if the UK did not appear anymore I would still watch it for the spectacle.
I've loved Eurovision since I was a kid and old enough to remember Katie Boyle, Abba etc but not quite old enough to remember Pearl Carr and Teddy Johnson!
Never actually been to the contest but I did go to the 60th Anniversary concert at Hammersmith Odeon which was one of the best nights ever.
Anyway the arguments will go on and on and it doesn't matter whether we enter the best singer with the best song and the best staging we will still never again get to the left hand side of the scoreboard.

Have to say I had assumed we paid much more than has been quoted here!

Anyway, I’d still we rather qualified in the same way as most other countries.

2009 is only 12 years ago, and we came 5th then. Send someone Europe likes and we score points!

I don’t think it’s a case of other countries not liking us. I can’t remember a U.K. entry in the last 25 years that was any good. So if I wouldn’t vote for us, why would I expect anyone else to?