As always, the countries had been grouped into six pots - on the basis of televoting preferences during the last ten years - and then neatly drawn into the first or the second half of each semi. And this was the outcome:
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| This picture has been borrowed from eurovision.tv |
The final running order will be sequenced by the Danish producers once all entries have been selected, and until we have heard the songs or seen the actual starting positions there is not much point trying to make any more advanced predictions out of this.
I am happy Finland is in the second semi final for the second year running, after being drawn in the first semi every single occasion in the years 2008-2012.
My heart is already bleeding for the five poor countries that will rejected in the second semi. If only five songs are thrown out and you are one of them - in a year when it would be relatively easy to qualify - means Europe tells you quite clearly that you are rubbish. Not very amusing to face your local press after that.
Given how much people read into numbers and starting positions, I see a way of putting the system to the test for real already in the first semi final. Had I been the producer, I would feel very tempted to start the semi like this:
01. Sweden
02. Azerbaijan
03. Armenia
Just to see what happens. Would these arguably bad starting positions stop these powerhouses from qualifying?
It is quite remarkable that this is the fourth year in a row that Finland has had neither Sweden nor Estonia to vote for them. Not sure the gods of Eurovision are Finnish.
ReplyDeleteOh, the gods are Eurovision are NOT Finnish. I am pretty sure about that and have most of our results to back the theory up with. :)
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