Österdahl: ‘new’ qualifier announcement system not an improvement

The Executive Supervisor of the Eurovision Song Contest, Master Österdahl reflected about the proposed changes to the qualifier announcement system.  The qualifier announcement for the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 would have changed according to a proposal.

During the first Dress rehearsal, the competing acts had to stand on stage.  After that the presenters announced the names of the candidates who would have qualified for the Grand Final.  This would have been a big change in the rules.  Before the candidates waited with their teams in the Green room for the qualifiers announcement.

However, the proposal was finally dismissed just two hours before the preview show.  Österdahl has reflected in the aftermath of this failed proposal.  The executive producer explained that it is a part of Eurovision to try new things every year to keep the show relevant:

“I think it’s really important to keep the show contemporary and keep it relevant. We usually say that we want to tweak 10% [of the show] every year (…) The BBC are great producers. They’ve done so many great shows. They’ve got some great ideas and have made a lot of great improvements already (…) We felt when we tried this out that it was not an improvement, so the decision was not to do it.”

The change in the announcement system was not well received among fans and even some of the member delegations.  According to The Euro Trip, a member of one country’s delegation in the First Semi-Final said the new announcement system was “like the Hunger Games”.

100% Televote for the Grand Final?

Nevertheless, there is one big change for this year Eurovision.  For the first time since 2009, a 100% televote made the result of the Semi-Finals.  In addition to this we saw for the first time a “Rest Of the World” televote for the viewers outside the competing countries.

Moreover, Mr. Österdahl does not discard more changes in the voting system including a 100% televote for the Grand Final:

“We’ll see (…) I’d like to take it step by step. We always review the rules [and] the entire rule book of the Eurovision Song Contest on an annual basis (…) So if we try something one year, it doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s gonna be like that forever.”

Source: The Euro Trip

Do you like a return to the old qualifiers announcement system? Would you like to see a return to 100% Televote for the Grand Final?  Let us know in the comments!