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Österdahl: ‘new’ qualifier announcement system not an improvement

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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!

Eurovision 2023: The first photo from the new way of announcing the results in the semi-finals!

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In our previous article, we informed you about the new way of announcing the results in the semi-finals. A little while ago and during the first dress rehearsal, these news were confirmed. All semi-finalists will now appear on stage during the announcement of the results, with those disqualified walking off the stage at the end.

To heighten viewer suspense and give the Eurovision Song Contest a more televised character, this year’s organizers appear to be canging the way the finalists are announced in a similar style to the X Factor talent show.

All the artists as you can see are standing in a row on the stage with the presenters, Hannah and Julia, announcing the first five finalists in the stage. Alesha Dixon then briefly chats with the finalists on the small pageant stage. The same process in then repeated for the remaining five finalists. In addition, in the last finalist there is a spit screen between the last six acts that one of them will claim the qualification for the Grand Final.

After the announcement of the ten finalists, those who didn’t manage to get to the final will leave the stage and the semi final closes with the ten finalists on stage and the usual recap of the countries going through to the Grand Final.

The organizers are trying to keep the interest and suspense of the TV viewers high, having been commented quite negatively in previous years for the tepid and very fast way of announcing the results.

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Eurovision 2023: An X-Factor style for the qualifiers’ announcement in Eurovision 2023?

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With a big change regarding Eurovision 2023 expected for a while, GJ Kooijman, the host of the Dutch Eurovision podcast, posted on his Twitter account a draft which indicates the plans of the organizers about the announcement of the qualifiers in the 2 Semi finals.

The qualifiers’ announcement method will allegedly change in order to make it more tense and keep the audience interest high.

https://twitter.com/gjkooijman/status/1654018115275988994?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1654018115275988994%7Ctwgr%5E705d5fc974673b91b8ad0e1293e1dd3e48afde95%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Feurovisionfun.com%2F2023%2F05%2Feurovision-2023-CF83CEB5-CF83CF84CF85CEBB-x-factor-CEB7-CEB1CEBDCEB1CEBACEBFCEAFCEBDCF89CF83CEB7-CF84CF89CEBD-CEB1CF80CEBFCF84CEB5CEBBCEB5CF83%2F

From what we see, all the contestants will be lined up on stage and the presenters, namely Hannah and Julia, will announce the first 5 qualifiers. Then, Alesha Dixon will chat with them in the small stage. The same procedure will be repeated for the 5 remaining finalists.

After announcing all the 10 finalists, the contestants not qualified for the Grand Final will leave the stage and the show will finish with the 10 finalists on stage and the recap from their performances.

With this change, the hosts want to keep the excitement, after being accused for many years that the qualifiers’ announcement has lost its suspense being conducted really fast.

The above-mentioned information is not 100% accurate and confirmed by the hosts. We will have to wait until the dress rehearsals on Monday in order to find out!

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