United Kingdom ended last night’s Eurovision Song Contest at an unprecedented double zero score. Never before had we seen a country score both zero points the jury voting as well as the televoting. Time for us to break down the votes: Was James Newman close to a point somewhere in Europe?
Last in fourteen countries
Let’s start off with the bad news. The United Kingdom finished in last place with the televoting in no less than fourteen countries. 37% of all countries voting last night thought Embers was the worst song of the show, which is a big number if there are 26 entries on offer. Add to that that nine countries decided to put the United Kingdom in second to last and you need to draw the conclusion that 60%, over half the voting countries, thought James Newman was one of the two worst songs of the night. It is fair to guess that the other nil pointers scored better than the UK.
Only one country decided to put the United Kingdom relatively close to the points: Malta put Embers at #14 last night. All other countries put the song at #20 or lower. The average televoting result for the United Kingdom was 23.4 – staggeringly low if you look at the fact that 38 countries had the chance to vote for James Newman last night in a field of 26 songs.
Countries that put the United Kingdom bottom two in televoting:
| Last place: |
| Belgium |
| Bulgaria |
| France |
| Israel |
| Italy |
| Moldova |
| Portugal |
| Russia |
| Sweden |
| Switzerland |
| Austria |
| Czech Republic |
| Georgia |
| Poland |
| Second to last: |
| Romania |
| Slovenia |
| Germany |
| Greece |
| Cyprus |
| Finland |
| Norway |
| San Marino |
| Serbia |
Almost a point in Poland
Things looked slightly better for the Big Five member in the jury voting. In the jury voting, only three countries decided to put the United Kingdom last. However, even in the jury voting, 23 countries thought the United Kingdom entry should place at #20 or lower.
There are two minor highlights for the United Kingdom in the jury voting. They were relatively close to a point with the jury of Poland. In Warsaw, they decided to award Embers #11 in their voting – just one spot too low for a point. The other positive is Ira Losco in Malta. She was the only jury member of all 195 to put James Newman in her top three, at #3, behind Portugal and Finland. The average jury position for the UK was 20.2. It is slightly better than their televoting score, but not encouraging.
Countries that put the United Kingdom bottom two in the jury voting:
| Last place: |
| Croatia |
| Iceland |
| Israel |
| Second to last: |
| Estonia |
| Romania |
| Slovenia |
| Albania |
| Azerbaijan |
| France |
| Greece |
| Moldova |
| Portugal |
The full United Kingdom report card
Below, you can see how the United Kingdom scored across the board with James Newman and Embers. Let us know what you think of these results!
| United Kingdom | Jury result | Televote result |
| Albania | 24 | 20 |
| Australia | 20 | 21 |
| Austria | 20 | 26 |
| Azerbaijan | 24 | 22 |
| Belgium | 21 | 25 |
| Bulgaria | 14 | 25 |
| Croatia | 26 | 24 |
| Cyprus | 23 | 24 |
| Czech Republic | 13 | 26 |
| Denmark | 21 | 22 |
| Estonia | 25 | 22 |
| Finland | 20 | 24 |
| France | 24 | 25 |
| Georgia | 22 | 26 |
| Germany | 20 | 24 |
| Greece | 24 | 24 |
| Iceland | 25 | 20 |
| Ireland | 23 | 21 |
| Israel | 25 | 25 |
| Italy | 18 | 25 |
| Latvia | 15 | 23 |
| Lithuania | 20 | 20 |
| Malta | 15 | 14 |
| Moldova | 24 | 25 |
| North Macedonia | 16 | 20 |
| Norway | 14 | 24 |
| Poland | 11 | 26 |
| Portugal | 24 | 25 |
| Romania | 25 | 25 |
| Russia | 17 | 25 |
| San Marino | 22 | 24 |
| Serbia | 14 | 24 |
| Slovenia | 25 | 25 |
| Spain | 16 | 23 |
| Sweden | 17 | 25 |
| Switzerland | 22 | 25 |
| The Netherlands | 22 | 23 |
| Ukraine | 18 | 23 |
Today, we will also be diving into the televoting misery of Spain, Germany and the Netherlands. Stay tuned!
Germany missing in \”The full United Kingdom report card\”
Rubbish song got what it deserved. Was anyone really surprised or does anyone really care. Scot Josh Taylor is bringing all 4 belts back from the US as World Light Welter champion. An absolutely stunning achievement. Perspective people. I doubt whether The Beatles would have got a point last night from the self important talentless circus. Nul point!
In fact if the method of combining the five jurors rankings into one overall jury ranking hadn\’t been changed in 2018 (something I don\’t even recall ever knowing about before) then the Polish jury would (I think) have given the UK at least one point as the UK would have placed higher than Russia under the pre-2018 method.
We\’ve tried everything now let\’s call time on the Eurovision cheat contest once and for all
A very weak song / performance got the consequences, it was a Phoenix Nights kind of song, not very Eurovision. You don’t put a Sunday League team in the Premier League.
Sour grapes? considering the British have produced most of the best musicians and music in the World.
So political now, but we’ve got broad shoulders
About time the UK pulled out if this farcical contest ,it\’s all about humping your neighbour seems we have no one to hump anymore since we pulled out if the EU sore loosers will have to inject more money in to the EU spending pot now
I like the song, thought it was fun but unfortunately I can\’t say that james performed it very well.
Didn\’t think much of any of the entries. But my opinion of the UK entry was \’RUBBISH\’ not well presented at all.
Saying that though – it is always going to be difficult for the UK now, up against so many countries with east european cultures and style of music, they all seem to band together. Maybe it is time for us to step down and let the rest get on with it!
They were right. It was an awful song with a naff tune.
Brian it funny how a lot of the country\’s that put us at the bottom wont to come and live here
I\’d be very interested if someone could explain how the jury rankings are calculated – as I have seen a number of people making the same point as Daniel Webb:
\”In fact if the method of combining the five jurors rankings into one overall jury ranking hadn’t been changed in 2018 (something I don’t even recall ever knowing about before) then the Polish jury would (I think) have given the UK at least one point as the UK would have placed higher than Russia under the pre-2018 method.\”
The combined rankings of the Polish jury were:
Finland 49
UK 59
Belgium 67
Russia 70
but the points awarded were:
Finland 2
UK 0
Belgium 3
Russia 1
Feels to me that a shake up is required both in the UK with the BBC taking the contest more seriously, but also with the rules about songwriters, performers and language.
For me, the songwriters and performers should be citizens of the country and the song should be in the native language.
The Big 5 and the host nation should perform in the semi finals – regardless of pre-qualification (which should also be scrapped for the Big 5)