Wogan rants at Eurovision whitewash
BRITAIN’S Eurovision Song Contest act Andy Abraham was voted joint WORST in last night’s contest.
Judges in Belgrade sent the former binman a YOU’RE RUBBISH message, giving his song Even If just 14 points, the same as Germany and Poland.
The former X Factor contestant only scored points from San Marino and Ireland.
This year gave Russia its first-ever win. Heart throb Dima Bilan of Russia romped to victory with a massive 272 points with a big ballad, produced by US r&b star Timbaland, called Believe.
Ukraine’s Ani Lorak came second, followed by Greece with an upbeat pop song Secret Combination by Kalomira.
Veteran commentator Sir Terry Wogan was so furious with the results that he threatened not to cover the event again.
He said it was "no longer a music contest" and that prospects for Western European participants were "poor".
Sir Terry said 43-year-old Abraham, who found fame on TV talent show the X Factor, deserved more votes from other countries than he received.
He said: "It's a disappointment, considering that Andy Abraham gave, I think, the performance of his life with a song that certainly deserved more marks than it got."
Referring to certain other songs in the competition, he added: "You have to say that this is no longer a music contest."
And he said: "I have to decide whether I want to do this again. Western European participants have to decide whether they want to to take part from here on in, because their prospects are poor."
He did not want to take anything away from Russia, though, which had won comfortably.
Abraham co-wrote a soulful song called Even If but bookmakers had feared for its fate, giving it long odds of 66-1 before the start.
Sir Terry said, though: "What a blinding performance he gave for the UK."
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Comment number: 116304984
Offensive? Report commentI think we should pull out the the eurovision, as we are one of the 4 countries who pay a huge amount of money to take part the BBC is simply waisitng our money! Andy gave an amazing performance and the 'fun' of how awful some songs are has gone out the window since the block bidding! lets save our money next year!
Comment number: 116306630
Offensive? Report commentI dont blame terry wogan for not wanting to commentate on this joke of a song contest, he is right, it isnt about the songs anymore. Andy's performance was brilliant the best entry we have had for years so it just proves that the voting is political.. and as terry said last night.... its just not funny anymore!
i agree with kirsty.. we should pull out and the BBC should stop wasting our money!. let the baltic countries get on with it themselves!
Comment number: 116306714
Offensive? Report commentAndy you did us proud but you had no chance before you even sang because of the pathetic block voting of this now pathetic spectacle.
UK must now withdraw as should Germany because all we are doing now is proping up Eastern European Countries in a so called Competition that is no longer fair to all.
If they all want to block vote then they should pay for the privelidge UK withdraw NOW.
Comment number: 116307874
Offensive? Report commentAndy was great!maybe we should split the United kingdom into its parts England ,northern Ireland Scotland ,Wales throw in the isle of man,and isle of Wight ,for good measure they are all bigger than San Marino and Monaco which get votes too !maybe then we could then, mount a points challenge to the baltic and east block states!!!!
Comment number: 116309916
Offensive? Report commentTypical ,as always we are one of the countries which pour huge amounts of money into the Eurovision, only to be ridiculed. Time now to pull out.
Comment number: 116310074
Offensive? Report commentAs a disc Jockey and lover of music[with a music collection of over 15 thousand albums] i and the three hundred or so guests attending the Eurovision party that i did, were disappointed with the way the united kingdon entry came last.It was not the worst song by far and Andy did a marvellous job.Spain getting more points than the United Kingdom was a disgrace as that tune was so poor.
The BBC should do two things.
First of all they should stop paying money into this competition and enter it from the semi finals like everyone else.That way if we get knocked out it will not matter.
Secondly the bbc should make a formal complaint to Eurovision and make them change the rules so that countries cannot vote for their neighbours,just like what they did in the semi finals.With the technology that we have these days it can be done.
Lets get one thing straight, Terry Wogan was right in his comments and this block voting is tearing up the Eurovision and making it a complete farce.
The Eurovision party that i did was an enormous success however it was clearly evident by the responses that a i and the team received that people were clearly angry that the UK did so badly not because of the song but due to a pathetic voting system.
Comment number: 116313834
Offensive? Report commentBloc voting ensures that western Europe are well and truly ****** on year after year. Leave it to the Easties and pull out now.
Comment number: 116315890
Offensive? Report commentwhat a waste of time effort and pride
when will the stuffed shirts in the bbc realise we are not wanted for any other reason than the money we plough in.
Its embarrasing to watch the guests give the voters scores when terry 99.9% of the time beats them to it.
put it on bbc3 and forget about it.
Comment number: 116317008
Offensive? Report commentI'm here in Belgrade for the song contest and the atmosphere has been great !As for the voting it's the diaspora and ex pats that bothers to vote.If all the Brits in Spain voted for the Uk of course Spain would give 12 points or the ex pats in France and so on !That's why Germany gives Turkey big votes because of the loads of Turks there or recently Ireland giving Poland big votes!I agree the system should be changed but am not sure what a fair system would be !
Comment number: 116319874
Offensive? Report commentBig up terry for his 2p worth!
Andy was brilliant!
The voting is rigged from start to finish!
The so called 'Europeans' should be ashamed that they have turned this old aged tradition into a complete farce!
The BBC should think twice about next year, i would be thoroughly disappointed if the voting system doesnt change after this polava!
A special thanks to Terry for his ever amusing commentary. Andy you did it for you, be proud and you did it for the competition - and you did the UK proud - it's just a shame that the rest of the 'Eurovision' couldn't see passed their politcal agendas!
Comment number: 116323730
Offensive? Report commentWhat a farce and a million miles from the old eurovision song contests. This is all about neighbours covering their backs agaianst the rest, wether its Scandanavians or Eastern EuropeanS.
Lets pull our funding down to the same levels as all the others and just go in via the semi finals route.
This show diluted whatever support the country gives as it no longer has a credibility as a valid song contest.
Comment number: 116328040
Offensive? Report commentMarios, do you not understand Spain's entry was a complete joke on purpose?
They realised that no matter what song you take, they'd never win. The guy is a well known comedian and put his entry in as a laugh. Spanish public knew that they wouldn't win, so they decided to send the most ridiculous song ever. The worrying thing is that there were other countries who were much worse and thought they were good (a couple even finished in the top 12!!). For many years it's been about politics and not how good your song is. England didn't deserve to be bottom, but it's high time the eurovision is stopped or divided into eastern block or western block... otherwise nobody is in with a chance.... weren't the top three this year the same as last year?
Comment number: 116330986
Offensive? Report commentFirstly i would like to say , well done to Terry Wogan and Andy Abrahams, The both did us proud in a contest that was designed to be fun, but now is political sham
The spanish song had to be the worst eurovison entry ever.
I think we should pull out and boycott taking part in this contest untill are point has been made
I have always watched eurovison , ever since i was a little girl and it was fun, But im sad to say if Terry Wogan goes and desideds not to commentate for us here in the uk,then i can honestley say i will never watch eurovison again.
Comment number: 116343734
Offensive? Report commentwell done for Andy Abrahams for a great performance, but skill is not required anymore. It all depends on Geography and who is your neighbour. Terry Wogan is right, it is a farse and we should pull out and leave it to the Eastern Europeans. Let them listen to their own trash.
Comment number: 116355488
Offensive? Report commentI was really annoyed Britain was made a fool of again as this time we didn't deserve it.
Andy was amazing he had star quality that the other contestants lacked the song was the best song I have heard in years at the Eurovision.
Terry is right to be furious if I was him i would quit after last nights fiasco i'm no longer going to watch it.
It makes me spitting mad as I can't help but feel like we are being punished by the rest of Europe because of the Iraqi war.
The BBC should pull out now, as there is no point we will never ever win. Even if we were to put leona lewis or Madonna on stage we still wouldn't blooming win.
Until we are no longer Piriah's to the rest of Europe its just wasting licence payers money we can no longer afford.
I for one would rather watch a repeat of eastenders on a saturday night than this Euro trash!! It's less depressing.
Comment number: 116356150
Offensive? Report commentThe Eurovision Song Contest has become an absolute farce. The shameless political voting has ruined what used to be an enjoyable must see TV event. Andy is a great singer and gave a fantastic performance. He definitely added much needed class and did the UK proud.
Comment number: 117244014
Offensive? Report commentobviously i think the voting was a farce. i think they shud hav a new system as i only watch the "contest" 4 the music. i think the public should vote a dj to represent them on a panel of judges and then the judges decide the winner, also the judges hav 2 b completely impartial.
Comment number: 129418612
Offensive? Report commentI personally have started to become disillusioned at the whole Eurovision thing because the whole is so unfair. The only reason the uk remains in it is because of the "big 4 therefore we cannot be elimated" , It's not a music competition it's a farce of politics.
On the otherside of the coin , Some of the songs are quite good. I even downloaded one of them.