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Portugal wins Eurovision Song Contest 2017

Portugal's Salvador Sobral captivated Europe ....in an event marred by a flasher with an Aussie flag.

Portugal has won the Eurovision Song Contest 2017.

Salvador Sobral held Europe captivated with an intimate performance of “Amar Pelos Dois” surrounded by twinkling mobile phones in the audience.

Sobral, who has a severe heart condition, was unable to perform at the Dress Rehearsal, replaced by his sister who wrote the song.

“We live in a world of disposable music,” he said.

“Bring music back, which is really what matters.”

Bulgaria was second and Moldova third. Bookies favourite Italy landed 6th.

Australia finished 9th with 173 points.

Isaiah was voted #4th in the international jury votes, in a split voting presentation again this year. But in the public televoting we bombed out with just 2 votes which will be devastating to our contingency. “What happened there?” asked commentator Joel Creasey.

“The Grand Final atmosphere in the arena tonight was amazing, and I took all that energy into my performance. I want to say a big congratulations to Salvador from Portugal, and all the incredible singers who gave it their all in the contest,” said Isaiah.

“Meeting and performing with the artists from other countries, and getting to know the Ukrainian people has been an experience I will never forget and I will always be honoured to have represented Australia.”

SBS Managing Director Michael Ebeid said: “Isaiah has been such a fantastic ambassador for Australia at Eurovision, and we are incredibly proud of his performance in the Grand Final. Making the Grand Final every year that Australia has been in the contest is no small feat, and is a fantastic acknowledgement of our creative talents and passion and enthusiasm for the contest.

“Australian audiences have had a romance with Eurovision for over 30 years and we have ever increasing affection for the contest, which shares the same values as SBS of celebrating diversity. We look forward to doing it again next year.”

Australian Head of Delegation Paul Clarke said: “Isaiah won a lot of hearts at Eurovision with his huge talent and his gracious spirit. It is a wonderful thing to be able to offer such a huge opportunity on the world stage to an artist so deserving, one who we know will go on to great things.”

But the night was marred by a bare bum mooning by a gatecrasher with an Aussie flag during an interval act performance. Embarrassment.

Kyiv otherwise staged a spectacular show with pyrotechnics, key changes, conveyer belts, milk churns, a dancing ‘gorilla’ and two sparkly hosts.

Australian commentators Myf Warhurst and Joel Creasey were in fine form, replacing Julia Zemiro & Sam Pang. Lee Lin Chin returned as Australia’s spokesperson. The Aussie jury voted 12 points to UK, but the televoting gave 12 to Moldova.

Israel also announced that after 4 decades the broadcaster was shutting down and would no longer be participating in Eurovision “until we meet again.”

See you next year in Lisbon!

Updated.

29 Responses

  1. From memory last year Dami also did well with the jury, and less well with the public. A case of well written and performed songs, but not entertaining enough?

  2. Great result for Isaiah, but embarrassment for Anja.
    News Corp music writer Kathy McCabe tweeted the flasher was not an Aussie but an Ukrainian serial pest named Vitalii Sediuk. How he got the Australian flag is unknown.

  3. Agreed more with the jury vote than the public. UK was great performance, the Sunshine Project was kitchy nonsense. I get maybe the world juries loving Portugal, but the fact it topped the popular vote and AU got 2 votes worldwide does my head in. Be prepared for lots of non catchy Franco-style numbers next year.

    1. ‘Sunstroke Project’.

      I like the song; it was a favourite when I saw it in the semi; for me, the fun and kitschy nonsense added to the attraction.

  4. As for the contest it was an ok Eurovision overall as felt the last 2 years had better songs and while I wasn’t a huge fan of Portugal’s song it was something different which is good every now and then.
    But damn coming 2nd last in the public voting was a shock, has Europe got sick of us in there? At least the juries still love us

  5. You must be new here because David always publishes the results right after the live broadcast and gives fair warning in the days leading up to it

    1. Probably could of avoided spoilers a bit better then that. David said he would be posting live results here all week.

      Anyway we came second in the jury vote in the semi final but I don’t think the public really got Isaiah I thought he would of got a few votes from Sweden but when they said 2 public votes I thought to myself sounds about right.

      But well done to him at least he gets some recognition that Australian media wouldn’t of gave him otherwise

        1. For years when ESC was only broadcast in primetime I held off publishing until about 11pm on Sundays, but as per site policy Broadcast = Not a Spoiler. Especially on a dedicated TV site. Otherwise I can never publish headlines and run photos accordingly, which are integral to SEO and site searching for years. You’d be aware I also ran Semi Finalists after morning broadcasts this week, as well as several reminders I would be publishing Live results AEST, including on the Daily Pick still visible on the home page. Out of curiosity what time are you suggesting I could run the headline + pic? 11pm tonight?

          1. ABC managed this on their front page:
            Headline: Winner of 62nd Eurovision announced.
            Photo: (Not the winner.)
            Text: The winner of the 62nd Eurovision is announced after a colourful competition featuring lots of glitter, costumes, and a dancing gorilla. Warning: spoilers ahead.

            The Age front page:
            Headline: Spoiler alert: Eurovision 2017 winner announced.
            Photo: (Not the winner.)
            Text: None.

            Perhaps it’s worth considering the front page more as click bait – in a positive way. It will encourage click-throughs for readers who want to know or discuss show results and plot twists.

            It continues to be the only blight on an otherwise fantastic website. The work put in here day after day is stellar.

          2. But you’re only looking at one event in isolation. I’m looking at the site as a whole. You need a clear line in the sand for when to use a spoiler and when not. What if I want to write a post about next week’s storyline of Fargo? Or something that happened in The Voice? Age also has one story with winner image, one without. Can’t have rules that flip flop and confuse everyone. Nor can I wait for every viewer to catch up to the rest of us. So a simple rule is clear cut and puts the onus on individual where they feel it is important to them. Ultimately this is a TV news site. When something airs, it’s news.

        2. Come on Tony, this isn’t a new thing and David has made his position abundantly clear on many occasions. You know what you need to do if you don’t want to know the result of some recently completed contest.

          1. Before Australia participated in Eurovision and SBS started broadcasting it live, I spent so many years trying to avoid spoilers on the day of the final. No internet, tv etc – only to have it spoiled by the radio news at the pool while I was at my kids swimming lessons! I’m so glad not to have to worry about that now as I can watch in the morning! But if you want to wait until the evening you really have to have a media ban – especially avoiding things like a tv blog.

    2. Its been broadcast on tv, therefore it is not a spoiler. David has noted many times on twitter and on this site that he will be publish the results after the live broadcast.

      Talking about live, the segment between the 26th performance and the winner from Junior Eurovision was not live. Was it wrong for SBS to use the live watermark during this segment?

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