On Saturday morning in Europe, Australia hosted its third edition of ‘Australia Decides’ to choose their Eurovision representative for 2022. After a nail-biting results sequence, Sheldon Riley came out on top to clinch the win!
Show Recap
Eleven artists, including a lucky TikTok Wildcard entry, competed at the Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre on Saturday 26 February to showcase to Australia and the world why they deserve to be Australia’s artist at Eurovision in May. Like the previous two editions, the show was hosted by the always charismatic Joel Creasey and Myf Warhurst, who consistently engaged the crowd and fostered the Eurovision spirit.
The 11 acts performed in the following order:
- G-Nat!on – “Bite Me“
- Erica Padilla – “To the Bottom“
- Seann Miley Moore – “My Body“
- Charley – “I Suck At Being Lonely“
- Andrew Lambrou – “Electrify”
- Sheldon Riley – “Not the Same“
- Paulini – “We Are One”
- Jaguar Jonze – “Little Fires“
- Isaiah Firebrace and Evie Irie – “When I’m With You“
- Voyager – “Dreamer”
- Jude York – “I Won’t Need to Dream“
A tense results sequence
The result was decided by an equal weighting of a public and jury vote. The Australian public was able to vote for their favourite act via SMS, even prior to the final to ensure that everyone had ample time to give their say. The remaining 50% was decided by a jury of industry experts. A familiar face on this panel was Alexandra Rotan from KEiiNO, Norway’s Eurovision representative in 2019, Australia’s personal favourite and the overall televote winner.
The results of Australia Decides were revealed in a different model in comparison to previous years, and more akin to how results at the Eurovision Song Contest are revealed. Audience votes were ranked for the first time, meaning that the most amount of points an artist could get from the jury would be the same as the amount of points they got from the public.
Australia Decides Full Results Breakdown
As expected, this led to a tense voting sequence, and the winner was not clear until the final points were revealed. Ultimately, Voyager won the hearts of the Australian public, whilst Jaguar Jonze came on top in the jury vote. Sheldon placed 2nd in both the jury and televote, which was enough to secure him the win. Take a look at the full vote breakdown below!
| Rank | Artist | Song | Jury | Televote | Total |
| 1 | Sheldon Riley | “Not the Same” | 50 | 50 | 100 |
| 2 | Voyager | “Dreamer” | 37 | 60 | 97 |
| 3 | Jaguar Jonze | “Little Fires” | 51 | 40 | 91 |
| 4 | Charley | “I Suck at Being Lonely” | 33 | 30 | 63 |
| 5 | G-Nat!on | “Bite Me” | 11 | 45 | 56 |
| 6 | Paulini | “We Are One” | 32 | 20 | 52 |
| 7 | Andrew Lambrou | “Electrify” | 16 | 35 | 51 |
| 8 | Jude York | “I Don’t Need To Dream” | 32 | 15 | 47 |
| 9 | Isaiah Firebrace & Evie Irie | “When I’m With You” | 35 | 10 | 45 |
| 10 | Erica Padilla | “To the Bottom” | 20 | 25 | 45 |
| 11 | Seann Miley Moore | “My Body” | 18 | 5 | 23 |
Sheldon’s Winning Performance
Sheldon Riley will compete in the second semi-final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin, Italy. He is set to perform in the first half of the show on May 12th. Check out Sheldon’s winning performance below!
Australia at the Eurovision Song Contest
Australia has competed at the Eurovision Song Contest six times, ever since they made their debut in 2015 with Guy Sebastian and his song “Tonight Again”. Since then, they have managed to keep up an impressive qualification streak, only recording one non-qualification in 2021.
Did your favourite win? 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! Also, be sure to follow us on Spotify for the latest music from your favourite Eurovision acts, as well as YouTube to see our reactions to the news in the run up to the 2022 contest in Turin!
Voyager got 60 votes from audience and Sheldon got 50.
How can you say sheldon won the public vote? Voyager were the winners in the eyes and hearts of the Australian voting public.