Second Eurovision semi-final sees five more countries eliminated
Look Mum No Computer performing the song Eins, Zwei, Drei, during the second semi-final for the Eurovision Song Contest (Ian West/PA)
Five more countries were eliminated from the Eurovision during Thursday's semi-final.
Azerbaijan, Luxembourg, Armenia, Switzerland and Latvia were the countries booted out of the competition following a public vote at the Wiener Stadthalle in Vienna, Austria.
UK entry Look Mum No Computer, whose real name is Sam Battle, performed his song while dancing energetically with people dressed as computers.
At one point, Battle attempted to get the crowd to sing with him, chanting: “When I say eins, you say drei.”
Battle has already qualified for Saturday’s grand final as part of the big four, along with Italy, Germany and France, who contribute the most financially to Eurovision, as well as Austria as this year’s host nation.
Also performing in the semi-final was Cyprus’s Antigoni, full name Antigoni Buxton, who competed in the eighth series of reality TV show in 2022.
She sang her song wearing a white outfit as hands reached up from the stage below while flames shot out from behind her.
Australian pop star Delta Goodrem sang her song which she is representing her home country with, accompanied by a harpist, before eventually playing a gold sparkly piano herself.
As the former star’s performance climaxed, she was elevated into the air from the top of the piano.
Host nation Austria also took part, with their singer Cosmo wearing a blue star on his face as he performed in front of dancers wearing silver animal heads.
Some of the more eccentric acts of the night included Romania’s Alexandra Capitanescu, who sang her pop metal song wearing an all-black outfit, attached to her dancers via luminous chains, and Switzerland’s Veronica Fusaro, who pretended to solo on her electric guitar and was attached to red wires while performing
It comes after Israel’s Eurovision entry Noam Bettan was booed by the crowd during his performance in Tuesday’s semi-final.
The 28-year-old made it through to Saturday’s final after receiving a mixed reception from the crowd before his performance began, with some members of the audience shouting, and later booing during the quiet moments of his song
A number of protests reportedly took place in the Austrian capital this week over Israel’s inclusion in the contest amid its actions in Gaza, with Ireland, Iceland, the Netherlands, Spain and Slovenia all boycotting the event.
During Saturday's final, RTÉ will show Eurovision-themed episode where priests Ted and Dougal perform as part of its boycott of the contest.
Earlier this week, human rights group Amnesty International criticised the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) for its failure to suspend Israel from the song contest, as it did with Russia following its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, calling it an act of “cowardice” and a “blatant double standard”.
Israel’s 2025 entrant Yuval Raphael received the largest number of votes from the public last May, ultimately finishing runner-up to Austrian winner JJ after the jury votes were taken into account.
Two protesters unsuccessfully attempted to storm the stage and throw paint during her performance last year.
Portugal, Georgia, Montenegro, Estonia and San Marino were the countries eliminated from the contest following a public vote in the first semi-final.
Veteran British pop star Boy George was eliminated, having joined San Marino’s entrant Senhit to perform the song which he co-wrote.
The competing countries in the grand final will be Albania, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Lithuania, Malta, Moldova, Norway, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Sweden, Ukraine and the UK.
