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Eurovision myths debunked

As this year’s Eurovision Song Contest final gets under way in Malmo, you can expect to hear the usual clichés about the competition being trotted out on TV, radio and your friends’ Facebook updates.
Of course some clichés are all too true, but many of the so-called facts you’ll hear trotted out are myths – as we plan to demonstrate.

Britain doesn’t stand a chance because the voting is too political
FALSE!
This is far and away the most prevalent cliché about Eurovision in recent years, with the public perception being that the Eastern European nations have somehow carved the contest up between them.
And while it’s true that neighbouring countries do have a tendency to vote for one another (including the UK and Ireland), no countries have enough neighbours to win because of it.

And even if Lithuania and Latvia or Bulgaria and Romania do vote for one another, it’s more likely to be because they share similar taste in music than because they’re trying to pull a fast one.

[The REAL reason everyone in the UK should back Bonnie to win]


Nobody takes it seriously anyway
FALSE!
Just because most people here regard Eurovision as a novelty camp-fest which presents a valuable opportunity to laugh at foreigners, we shouldn’t make the mistake of assuming that the rest of Europe thinks the same way. The contest is taken particularly seriously by Scandinavian and Baltic countries and by the former Soviet republics – who also tend to do rather well, funnily enough.

Artists in countries with smaller recording industries view Eurovision as a valuable window to a wider market – and so many nations send their most-respected artists to represent them. Perhaps Britain would do better if it could convince an A-list artist to have a crack at it. Anybody know what Adele is doing this time next year?



Ireland doesn’t want to win
PROBABLY TRUE!
Back in the mid-1990s Ireland owned Eurovision, winning the contest a record three times in a row between 1992 and 1994. And the seemingly inevitable luck of the Irish in the contest soon led to gossip that the substantial cost of staging the event each year was in danger of putting broadcaster RTE out of business – a rumour which even inspired an episode of Father Ted.

Nobody has admitted that they don’t want to win, but sending a turkey puppet in 2008 and Jedward in 2011 and 2012 hasn’t helped convince anyone that the Irish are terribly serious about victory.

[Pictures of the most NOTORIOUS Eurovision gimmicks]


Nobody likes Britain because of the Iraq war
PROBABLY FALSE!
It’s easy to pin the UK’s lack of success in Eurovision this century on the foreign policy that put it at odds with much of Europe in the wake of the September 11 attacks, but is it really true? Britain’s military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan doesn’t seem to have stopped acts such as Coldplay, One Direction and Adele conquering the world – but there is a public perception in the UK that an artist of that stature would be lowering themselves if they entered Eurovision.

So maybe all those foreign voters are actually just resentful that Britain keeps sending washed-up has-beens and unknowns?