Six moments from the Eurovision final we are all still talking about
Repro Free: Bambie Thug performing at Eurovision Song Contest in the Malmo Arena, Malmo, Sweden. Picture Andres Poveda
While celebrating their success on stage in Malmö last night, the Eurovisionâs first non-binary winner Nemo slammed the glass trophy against the stage during a reprise of their song âThe Codeâ only for the base of the glass microphone to snap off.Â
Referencing it later during the winnerâs press conference, Nemo said they âbroke the code and I broke the trophyâ. They added, in reference to the controversies surrounding this yearâs contest: âThe trophy can be fixed, maybe Eurovision needs a little bit of fixing too.âÂ
Irelandâs finalist Bambie Thug, who came sixth in the contest, hit out at the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) in an expletive-filled statement to press following the show. Bambie, who is also non-binary and uses they/them pronouns, missed their dress rehearsal on Saturday afternoon as they called on the organisers to address commentary made on Israeli television during Irelandâs semi-final performance, saying it breached the rules of the Eurovision.Â
Bambie revealed after the show that they had placed several complaints with the EBU about Israeli broadcaster KAN through the week but had yet to get a response from the organisation.Â
âThe EBU is not what the Eurovision is. Fuck the EBU, I donât even care anymore. Fuck them,â Bambie said, raising their middle fingers.
Israelâs place in the competition was at the centre of much of the controversies in Malmö in light of the conflict in Palestine. Their contestant Eden Golan was booed during the final, but placed fifth overall in the competition.Â
The 29-year-oldâs performance of âHurricaneâ, which had to be rewritten for referencing the October 7 attacks of last year, was met with booing during the show, as was the Israeli jury as points were being announce from each country.
Another first for Eurovision this year was the disqualification of the Dutch entry ahead of the grand final. Joost Klein was due to perform âEuropapaâ, one of the favourites to win the competition, when news broke on Friday that he would not be in that dayâs dress rehearsal. In a statement, the EBU said it was âinvestigating an incidentâ involving the Klein, Swedish police said on Saturday that they were investigating a man âsuspected of unlawful threatsâ toward a Eurovision employee. It led to much frustration among fans of the show and âEuropapaâ was sung in the streets by fans en route to the final in Malmö Arena.
It was a close call for first place on Saturday night and another hotly-tipped performance looked set to swoop in to claim the trophy until the very last minute as the public vote was being added to the just figures, rearranging many of the top results.Â
Baby Lasagnaâs fan favourite âRim Tim Tagi Dimâ was tipped by bookies for the top result right up until the start of the show and a win would have meant the first time Croatia had success at the Eurovision. However, it was not to be and the competition returns to Switzerland next year for the third time.
There was much hype ahead of the contest in Sweden as ABBA fans were quick to note a significant anniversary coinciding with this yearâs contest: It is 50 years since ABBA took the world by storm with âWaterlooâ at the Eurovision and many wondered if the elusive Swedish superstars would reunite for the special occasion. Alas, Agnetha FĂ€ltskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad were not there on the night, at least in person. Instead they sent their avatars, famous from ABBA Voyage, to reminisce about the beginnings of their worldwide success story.
