The Netherlands wins Eurovision
The craziest song contest in the known universe reached a climax at the finals in Tel Aviv, Israel, with Duncan Laurence, the rep from The Netherlands, being voted into first place.
For the uninitiated, Eurovision’s apeshit crazy talent show history goes all the way back to the 1950s. This year, forty-one countries across Europe (and Australia and Israel for reasons that are murky–and except Ukraine, for weird political reasons) competed for the bragging rights and the opportunity to host the 2020 edition.
Those original 41 were whittled to 26. Acts advanced based on the voting of national juries made up of professional musicians. Viewers also got to text in their votes, which is the wildcard in the whole process. While the juries may favour one act, the public’s voting patterns can completely turn things upside down/
That’s exactly what happened this year. The juries liked Sweden and North Macedonia, but when the public weighed in, both dropped out of the running and The Netherlands snuck from third to first. This marks the fifth time since Eurovision started in 1956 that the Dutch have won.
Here are the final standings.
The Netherlands – 492
Italy – 465
Russia – 369
Switzerland – 360
Norway – 338
Sweden – 332
Azerbaijan – 297
North Macedonia – 295
Australia – 285
Iceland – 234
And here’s your winner.
