France 2 have revealed that France will have a new spokesperson for the Grand Final this year. Actress Julia Molkhou will be replacing fan favourite Élodie Gossuin as the announcer of the French jury’s French points.
Last month, it was announced that André Manoukian, Sandy Heribert and Stéphane Bern will make up the commentary team for French viewers of Eurovision this year. Now, it has been revealed that the team will be completed by actress Julia Molkhou. Julia will be known to French viewers as a columnist on the show Bons baisers d’Europe, which is hosted by Stéphane Bern.
This, rather tragically, means that iconic chanteuse and meme queen Élodie Gossuin will not be making her fourth consecutive appearance at the Grand Final. This did not go unnoticed, as you will see from the outcry from fans under the tweet above. Revisit her finest moments from the last few years in the supercut below:
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
France was one of the seven countries that participated in the very first contest in 1956. In total it made 61 appearances at Eurovision, only missing the 1974 and 1982 editions of the show. It won the contest 5 times, in 1958, 1960, 1962, 1969 and 1977. During the 20th century it achieved top 5 results in 24 contests. Success has been more frail in the 21st century, ending near or at the bottom of the scoreboard every year between 2012 and 2015. Results have improved since 2016 when Amir placed 6th in the grand final, their best result since 2009. In Lisbon, the duo Madame Monsieur flew the French flag with “Mercy”. They placed 13th with 173 points.
This year, France will be represented by Bilal Hassani and his song “Roi”, which was co-written by Madame Monsieur! Bilal earned a decisive victory in the second edition of Destination Eurovision, coring more than double the points from runner-up Seemone. As France is one of the ‘Big 5’, Bilal automatically has a slot in the Grand Final on May 18, but his position in the running order remains unknown. In the meantime, you can watch our interview with Bilal ahead of his performance at the London Eurovision Party.
What do you make of this news? Are you as sad about Élodie as we are? Let us know! Be sure to stay updated by following @ESCXTRA on Twitter, @escxtra on Instagram and liking our Facebook page for the latest updates! We’ll also be posting plenty of content on our YouTube in the run up to Tel Aviv!
