So, who’s watching this? I’m watching it on the BBC by the way… I can’t imagine watching it without Graham Norton’s cutting commentary.
Both France and the UK are competing. Apparently Sweden is the bookies’ favourite.
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Norway - must be tough starting the show but it was instantly forgettable.
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Luxembourg - singing in French, I like the song better but she’s not a great singer sadly
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Estonia - first strange song of the night.
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Israel - controversial…! She sings well but won’t get the public view imo.
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Lithuania - absolutely awful… they all looked like they wanted to be somewhere, anywhere, else than on stage in Basel.
Time to grab another beer…
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Spain - I quite like it, but maybe the beer is helping… She might do well.
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Ukraine - I wonder if it’ll be popular for political reasons. It’s called Bird of Pray which, as an atheist, annoys me for some reason.
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UK - obviously the best!
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Austria - not what I was expecting!
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Iceland - Very catchy
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Latvia - next…
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Netherlands - not bad, better than Latvia, could do okay but won’t win.
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Finland - if she wins then it’s men who voted for her
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Italy - not as raunchy as Finland! Very much like David Bowie.
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Poland - did Graham just say she’s 77…?!?
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Germany - a brother and sister act. Duff duff duff duff… Could do well though.
Another beer needed…
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Greece - channeling Nana Mouskouri. Not my cup of tea.
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Armenia - bit different to all the others so far.
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Switzerland - nice song, but more like something from a movie than Eurovision.
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Malta - okay… Very much like Lady Gaga.
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Portugal -
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Denmark - think this could do well, very catchy!
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Sweden - supposedly the favourite but not my favourite.
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France -
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San Marino - what the actual fuck?!?
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Albania - null points.
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I don’t have a sufficient attention span for three hours of assorted chortling and voting any more. 
But I remember about 20 years ago we had my brother’s American in-laws over here and subjected them to it.
It blew their minds, especially in BBC form without any advert breaks. 
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We’re in the UK at the moment, so have it on TV in hotel - wife has drawn up a shortlist of …12!
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Well, that voting was tense 
The votes are split in two: the jury vote and the public vote.
The jury vote went very well for both the UK and France. Can’t remember exactly but I think UK was 10th and France 3rd at the end of that stage.
Sadly for the UK, they got nil points from the public vote. That was harsh… It wasn’t a great song but it deserved something. The UK ended up in 19th place with 88 points.
France fared better but didn’t score as much as some other countries… Including Albania and Greece, who I thought were pretty awful. Overall, France scored 230 points and finished 7th.
However, the real shocker was that Israel jumped from obscurity at the end of the jury vote to 1st place. I kept expecting countries to leapfrog them, but none of them did. Albania also somehow went from almost the very bottom to 2nd. Crazy stuff!
It got to the point where Israel were still winning but had received their public vote, and could only have been beaten by Austria 99 points behind (but not having received their public vote yet) or Switzerland - the host nation! - who’d also not had their public vote score either.
I should say that the crowd were quite vocal when Israel received points… You could hear the audience booing on the TV, which would then be quickly muted. That’s perhaps unfair, as the singer isn’t responsible for the Israeli government’s actions, but probably not unexpected. There are reports that activists unsuccessfully tried to storm the stage during Israel’s performance. It’s fair to say, Israel winning would be controversial and a major headache for the company who runs the event.
Amazingly, Switzerland - like the UK - got nil points in the public vote! That meant it was between Israel and Austria. If Austria didn’t score 100 points or more, Israel would win and next year’s show would be in Tel Aviv! Somehow, though, the young Austrian lad got enough votes to take the lead… But it was a nail biting moment. Personally I didn’t like the song, but I’m glad Israel didn’t win.
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Many thanks @Gareth for your detailed recap of last nights events.
So pleased we watched Netflix and still know all the details of Eurovision without enduring it.
Does Katie Boyle still present it?
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Thank you Gareth for watching and commenting. You’ve saved me from doing it !
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I felt embarressed for some of the acts, they were just too OTT like that Nemo bloke in his rocky horror show getup and weak vocals. Deffo political regarding Israel in my opinion from the public votes. UK song was not good, too many broken bits to it. The female singers felt a need to wear as little as possible whilst not exactly slim in several cases but its definately gone downhill at a great speed. You can see why well known groups/singers won’t enter for their countries due to the political voting, of which the best example was Cyprus voting for Greece and all the Baltic states voting for each other. UK never stood a chance but maybe the song and the performers were just not good enough either.
Taking one for the team, love it 
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Slimness is overrated.
It is, isn’t it? Asking for a friend.
I can’t help but wonder about the integrity of the public vote. Vote rigging is even easier now using bots. Seriously, what else should geeks and scammers be doing on a slow entertainment night?
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There is a certain irony that Israel lost because of a bloke from Austria.
I didn’t watch it, but it sounds like the public vote was rigged in some way. Possibly not hard for those with in-depth experience of computer penetration and surveillance.
When you say that the UK came 19th,how many were in the competition…19 or 20?
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They should have a live panel of judges in the arena actually voting, not leaving it open to the public,scammers, AI stuff etc. Bit like that Dancing competition or skating one. All above board and seen live!
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Yes, that has just occurred to me too, not because I am slow on the uptake, but because my crashing indifference meant I have only just heard about it on the radio. I hear Crystal Palace came quite high in the rankings too, just now.
Gosh a blast from the past ! I just found out that her real name is Caterina Irene Elena Maria Boyle, Lady Saunders (née Imperiali dei Principi di Francavilla; 29 May 1926 – 20 March 2018).
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There were 26 countries taking part last night.
Some countries, e.g. Australia and Ireland, were knocked out in the semifinals, so the total number of participating countries is even higher, but in the final last night there were 26.
Or perhaps show the acts without saying where they’re from until the voting has closed… Although I suppose that may be impossible to keep secret.
Not for me…and a couple of those spandex clothed apparitions were frankly horrendous.
How do you think it was rigged? I assume in favour of one particular country because I find it hard to believe that so many people tramelled their moral and ethical values for a song that wasnt outstanding.