Jon Ola Sand has managed to cause yet another stir in the Eurovision world. During the 2015 Host City event organised by EBU, the Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest said there are currently 41 participants for the 2016 contest in Stockholm… Not a big deal normally, if it weren’t for the fact that only 40 participants are currently known.
We all know the list of 39 who definitely will be there. Returning for sure is Ukraine, the question mark still stands for Bulgaria, who may become #40. If Bosnia-Herzegovina, like they said earlier, are indeed in so much trouble that a participation is still more than unlikely, we could possibly cross them off as #41… So who else can it be then?
It’s not Turkey. Turkey have said they’re definitely out for 2016, so we can cross them off the list. Portugal then? Probably not. RTP have said there’s not enough money to go to Stockholm and that’s why they’re probably out. We here at escXtra can get to three possible names…
The most unlikely of the lot is Lebanon. Télé Liban said they weren’t quite sure yet, as we reported about a month ago. It does however seem unlikely that Lebanon would participate and take another risk of having to broadcast something Israeli, which, in 2005, was against their law. Probably not Lebanon then?
Croatia perhaps? HRT withdrew after the 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, following years of miserable results. Their break was supposed to be for a year, but we didn’t see them in Vienna either. There have been calls by many to get HRT back into Eurovision, but they’ve refused to give their final say up until now. A decision was to be expected later this month. Our thoughts here are that Croatia are not on that list yet, but that even EBU are still waiting for them. Could be #42 then?
The last country to think about is Australia. Yes, we know the rule EBU introduced nearly a year ago: SBS can only participate in 2016 if they win in 2015. Well, they didn’t. But what they did do is take the contest seriously, score well, promote the contest nicely and added a bit of atmosphere. No matter what your personal feelings about Australia in Stockholm may be, fact is that Australia take the entire contest quite seriously. Even just after the 2015 contest, Jon Ola Sand already said that SBS may become a solid participant. Enough reason to believe that they may already be that mysterious #41…?
As announced on Twitter, EBU expect the full line-up to be out quite soon. Who do you think #41 is? Will we even get to #42? Let us know below!
There\’s a more important question than the identity of the 41st country… Will they get the golden ticket into the final again? Or does that question just depend on how quick their contribution to Jon Ola Sand\’s \”priviate island fund\” clears this year?