Through the crystal (not disco) ball: 2011 prediction special!!!
Welcome to the last pre-Eurovision post for EBJ, brought to you on the day we’ve all been waiting for: the day of the first of three instalments for Düsseldorf 2011! That’s semi final one, in less obscure terms. I personally have been counting down to this day since about May 30th 2010, and am understandably out of my head with excitement – despite the fact that my eyes won’t get to feast on today’s semi until Friday (more on that later).
I’ve had a seriously hard time making predictions this year, and to be honest could keep switching and swapping until Andorra returns to the contest…but that’d be pretty pointless, so I’ve made my decisions and that’s it. Possibly. I think? AAGH!
In no particular order except alphabetical:
In semi final 1, I predict Armenia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Poland, Russia and Turkey will qualify…
…leaving Albania, Croatia, Georgia, Malta, Lithuania, Portugal, San Marino, Serbia and Switzerland behind. I think Lithuania will come last. Serbia will just miss out.
In semi final 2, I predict Austria, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Denmark, Estonia, Ireland, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, and Sweden will qualify…
…leaving Belgium, Belarus, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Israel, Latvia, Netherlands, Slovakia and Ukraine behind. I think Israel will come last. Bulgaria will just miss out.
I don’t trust myself to make a ranked top-10 guess, but I’ll have a go at a random one: I can see the UK, Denmark, France, Sweden, Russia, Azerbaijan, Hungary, Germany, Estonia and Turkey filling up the most coveted positions in the final.
In my opinion, the LEAST coveted position in the final will go to Greece or Macedonia.
Is this the ruggedly handsome face of ESC's next champion???
As for the winner of the shiny trophy and a line in the history books, I predict Denmark, France, or the United Kingdom (if they can pull everything together) to win! Copenhagen,Paris or London 2012 anyone? Despite what I’ve just said, it really could be any one of a bunch of countries that pips the rest on Saturday night. The winning song just isn’t obvious, as it has been the last few years – particularly 2009! It looks like the voting will be seriously tense and more dramatic than a cliffhanger episode of a soapie. And that’s just the way I like it.
Well I’m going offline now for the ESC week, in an act of almost total internet lockdown, so the next time I blog, Eurovision will have 56 winners (or 59, if you want to be picky). I do this because here in Australia, we have a full-on Eurovision weekend with the semis shown on Friday and Saturday, and the final on Sunday. With my dodgy broadband connection making watching the live (2am my time) feed SO not worth it, I spend the majority of this week every year avoiding Facebook, Twitter, eurovision.tv, my emails and the news like the plague. Wish me luck in not finding out the winner before seeing the show as I did in 2010 – a terrible day that you can read about here: https://eurovisionbyjaz.wordpress.com/2010/05/30/no-anaesthetic-for-the-wound-of-a-double-edged-sword/
So on behalf of all of us fans who have to go into hibernation, I hope you enjoy Eurovision 2011 as much as I plan to. Wherever you are (in the arena, in your lounge room or dancing on your neighbour’s coffee table at an ESC party) and whoever you’re with (20 000 screaming, flag waving fans, yourself, or your neighbour who is irate at the shoe marks you left on their coffee table) have a wonderful time. And may the best song win!
Jaz
eurovisionbyjaz.com 
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