Guy Sebastian soared at Eurovision 2015, placing fifth for Australia on its debut. And while SBS got it right with their act, they clearly had teething issues when it comes to following the jury rules. Shortly after Måns Zelmerlöw’s victory, juror Jake Stone appeared on Australia’s Today program and revealed that he is good friends with Katrina Noorbergen, one of the songwriters of “A Million Voices”.

“We have an Australian writer on that song, and she’s actually  friend of mine, Katrina Noorbergen,” he said. “She sang [backing vocals] as well, so we should be really proud.”

Stone is listed as Juror E in the full voting results, which you can view on Eurovision.tv.  He gave Russia top marks in both the semi-final and grand final.

This appears to breach the official Eurovision 2015 jury rules, which state:

No member of a national jury shall be connected in any way with any of the participating songs entered an/or artists performing in the contest in such a way that they cannot vote in complete independence and impartiality.

Jake Stone biography australia jury

 

Australia: Semi final 1 Jury voting

 

Jake Stone semi final jury voting australi

 

Australia: Grand final jury voting

final_Jake Stone final voting jury australia

 

 

Is this unfair? Should it be overlooked? Let us know what you think below.

You can follow all of our Australia Eurovision news here

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Ozjasz
Ozjasz
8 years ago

Same like Donatan from Poland.If Elina and stig represented Russia he would give them 1st p?ace.He gave polina first place because he is very close to russia

Andrew Grimm
8 years ago

Guy Sebastian told ‘Forget Australia, the world’s your oyster’ http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/music/guy-sebastian-told-forget-australia-the-worlds-your-oyster-20150526-gha2aq.html#ixzz3bdWBEKaC has info that SBS doesn’t think anything wrong has happened. From the article: However, the only comment made on the voting brouhaha was via an official statement from SBS. “Jake Stone and Katrina Noorbergen were acquaintances many years ago when both were playing in bands in the very small Sydney music scene. Jake had no prior knowledge of Katrina’s involvement with the Russian entry and only became aware her involvement after he had cast his votes for semi-final 1,” the statement said. “Any suggestion that he had not voted independently… Read more »

IGC
IGC
8 years ago

I would be very surprised if members of most juries didnt know other performing artists or the songwriters or producers – after all – they are in the music business. Policing a rule like that would be almost impossible.

Alex
Alex
8 years ago

@D: What other rules did Australia break?

Lol, good reporting on this one, wiwibloggs. But honestly, this isn’t as big of a deal to me as Armenia and other countries obviously intentionally voting the predicted winner Sweden low in the rankings back in 2014…

eurana
eurana
8 years ago

Australia gave 12 points to Sweden. Sweden gave 12 points to Australia. Period.

PP
PP
8 years ago

Send this article to EBU and Jon Ola Sand who want Australia every year at contest, and EBU reference group for Eurovision.

Fatima
Fatima
8 years ago

mawnck, aren’t you the one expressing your “butthurt” by bleating about televoters ? They can vote for what they like. Who cares if you don’t think Italy was a “Eurovision act”.

adriana_gabriela
adriana_gabriela
8 years ago

I have a bad felleng that many countrys will windraw this year from Eurovision and i cannot blaime them

Stefan Catalina
Stefan Catalina
8 years ago

It s also interesting that in the romanian jury: Ovi, who participated 2 times in ESC,
grew up in Norway and placed Norway 1st this year together with another one from the jury. Romania finally gave just 6 points to Norway.

PP
PP
8 years ago

Omar – Mexico

Maybe he ask other members in juries to vote for Russia and gave them top marks.

PP
PP
8 years ago

And head od EBU for Eurovision, and many in EBU wants Australia every year at contest.

PP
PP
8 years ago

Becuase of that I don t want to see Australia every year at contest, maybe as guest like Olympic games every 4 year, next time in 2019, 2023…..

Omar - Mexico
Omar - Mexico
8 years ago

I don’t think that is a problem, since most of the juries agreed with him.
It would be strange if everyone gives Russia top marks but this guy gives it to a country like Austria or Germany with no votes.

It actually reflects a general point of view from the juries overall.

Chris
Chris
8 years ago

@ Era
For Italy? I will cite my message which I put below the other article: “People, please. Italy had great voices. True. But Greece also and so what? The song from Italy was powerful but a bit cheesy (and the screen with so obvious ancient references – very ‘original’!). The public may like it. The jury not necessarily.”
I will add that I am also a bit surprised that Italy was so low in some countries in the juries. So maybe my explanation is not enough.

Era
Era
8 years ago

@ Chris ok, you got their excuse for Albania, but what’s the jury excuse for Italy ?

abedull
abedull
8 years ago

AAHHH OMG!

MCdinero
MCdinero
8 years ago

I am sure that happens in every country and not only with australia

Lucia
Lucia
8 years ago

@mawnck you don’t know what you’re talking about. Italy’s song was objectively speaking the best, and the best peformed. As in, not only did they get the loudest cheer in the arena and won the televote by a landslide, they also were the only ones to receive a standing ovation from the green room (made up of people who are as expert in music as the juries and who also happened to be Il Volo’s rivals, so that says a lot). On the other hand Máns performance had a lot of issues, and the same happened on jury night (in… Read more »

Lana
Lana
8 years ago

Well,I suppose it’s all because of Russia..anyway,it is always for blame.

mawnck
mawnck
8 years ago

One of my favorite things about the ESC: The waves of butthurt that come roaring across the internet afterwards.

The result just shows that the juries understand something that the televoters don’t: That three guys standing still on a stage while huffing out a cheesy faux-opera number isn’t much of a Eurovision act. In terms of pure talent AND presentation, Latvia absolutely blew them off the stage.

See y’all in Sweden.

Erin
Erin
8 years ago

@Robyn – yes, I’m aware that every country’s broadcaster can use their own content. I just found it odd and not very incidental that there was a concerted effort to avoid showing Conchita, not just during her green room segments, but perhaps during her own performances. I can’t confirm that for myself since I didn’t follow the Russian broadcast in its entirety, but when I did tune in, it seemed like the Russian broadcaster was always playing its own domestic live content. That’s why I’m curious what actually went on, especially after cases when Azerbaijan would not show Armenia’s song… Read more »

ESCaddict
ESCaddict
8 years ago

Jake Stone’s votes should be removed. The other jurors should be asked directly their connection to Katrina Noorbergen. Four of the five gave Russia their top vote. The other one gave their top vote to Sweden. Good thing they won’t be back.

WTF
WTF
8 years ago

I fully agree with the suggestion to revert to the jury system used before 2013… The new one places too much emphasis on their votes…

Leo
Leo
8 years ago

SC 2015 Italy was robbed yesterday evening – The EBU has not overruled the decision of some EBU jury country members, especially with GERMANY as they placed Italy’s “Grande Amore” even in 26th position in order not to get votes by the combination with tele voting. Germany’s jury ranked Italy on 18 th spot combined with the tele votes 1 st spot to the total 8 spot, therfore Italy received only 3 points from them. This TV show (ESC) has to be decided in the future by the majority votes out of around 200 millions TV audience. On the other… Read more »

G
G
8 years ago

Scandals with Montenegro and FYROM and now Australia
If people try to tell me Italy wasn’t robbed I’ll explode, this can only be the tip of the iceberg.
Having juries is turning out to be worse than blocvoting.

Craig UK
Craig UK
8 years ago

I can deal with Armenia being 11th place if people voted for it and paid money for their favourite. What I cannot deal with is the likes of Italy, Spain, Serbia etc. having their chances hampered by juries so off the mark of what works and the public opinion. But then music is subjective….

Erin
Erin
8 years ago

Just because one jury member got carried away with the national euphoria that was sweeping Australia and proved to be a silly blabbermouth shouldn’t cost Australia much, except for a reprimand and a demand for a tougher jury scrutiny on the part of SBS. BUT HERE IS A POTENTIAL NEW SCANDAL: IS IT TRUE that Russia’s channel one deliberately CENSORED segments where CONCHITA was on?? I was flipping channels last night while the show was going on and noticed that Russia’s PERVIH KANAL was having a live studio audience with many panelists who were mainly focused on Polina and later… Read more »

Alison
Alison
8 years ago

It shouldn’t be overlooked but I don’t see what can be done about it now after the fact.

Lucia
Lucia
8 years ago

It’s easier to buy or influence a handful of people than whole countries at a time, this is why the results were the way they were. Something tells me this is just the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully it all keeps coming to light.

Adele
Adele
8 years ago

Again. Worst year ever!

Jericho
Jericho
8 years ago

Lol. The juror obviously didn’t know the rules. Like why go on national TV and reveal you violated rules?!

R
R
8 years ago

Lmao he should’ve shut his mouth.

Chris
Chris
8 years ago

@ Robert
Hmm, maybe I should look at particular votes. I was just saying generally about Albania. Everybody before the contest was saying that she had a great voice. That is why I was so shocked, listening to her on Tuesday and yesterday. And nobody can explain me if she was ill or it was her real voice. A good song but a bad vocal.

Robert
Robert
8 years ago

@Chris do you really think Albania, which wasnt among my favourites by the way, was the worst song/artist of the final? And every single jury member felt that way. Not to mention Elhaida is well known in Italy. Clearly it was tactical vote in order to kill the televote. Look at Latvia….0 points for Russia beacause of the jury. How is that not political?

Chris
Chris
8 years ago

@ Robert
Albania had a good song, but her voice… The same situation was in the semi-final. Is it her real voice, or was she ill? The jury has to pay attention to the quality of the performance, including the voice. That is why she wasn’t higher.

D
D
8 years ago

Obviously this is against the rules, but the show’s over now and there’s nothing we can do about it. Hopefully 2015 will be the last year Australia competes (as promised) and we’ll never have a country break nearly every participation-related Eurovision rule in existence again.

Chris
Chris
8 years ago

If it is true then im really shocked that such a democratic country did something so bad. And as a guest!

Robert
Robert
8 years ago

Juries need to go…they manipulate the results way more than the public voting. Just look at Italy, Albania and Romania having big diaspora won the televote, and what does the jury do? Every single member of the jury puts Albania and Romania in the last two places. Really? Those were the worst two songs of the night for evey memeber of the jury? It’s actually quite xenophobic what some juries do, why would you want so much to wipe out the public vote?

william Kosovo
william Kosovo
8 years ago

In the time we make a Gift for Australia, the dare not to respect the rules of ESC. This take us to a CLEAR CLUE, that ESC is just about money, not for the true music.

europa
europa
8 years ago

the ebu clearly isn’t capable of handling these juries. how many members have connections to each other. seems like this is probably tip of the iceberg. a whole load were spotted back when the names were announced. and given that there were like 240 names on it, and hundreds of songwriters, it’s so hard to track them all back.

conor
conor
8 years ago

these jury results and members are so problematic lol

mARTin
mARTin
8 years ago

Well obviously the problem people have is that jury doesn’t agree with public vote. I agree it can be annoying sometimes, but do you really think that Armenia deserved to be 11th and Norway 17th this year (that’s what would have happened if it was televote only)? I think EBU should be more stringent on what defines a ‘music professional’ and we should go back to the old top 10 system instead of the current ranking one. This means that the jury can’t deliberately sabotage the public vote, while at the same time songs that deserve a high place but… Read more »

Daniel
Daniel
8 years ago

Just overlook it, it will probably only make about a one point difference.

Otna
Otna
8 years ago

Loooooooool gj Australia gj

M16
M16
8 years ago

Juries should be from Africa, America and Asia. People from countries that have literally nothing to do with any of the participants in any way, shape of form.

Or we can just abolish the entire jury thing.

Robert
Robert
8 years ago

And people still defend juries but hate on people paying to vote for their favourites

MTD
MTD
8 years ago

Juries, the hell with you!

Complete abandoning of them and nothing else!

EBU, react! And not in a diplomatic way!

mARTin
mARTin
8 years ago

This problem with juries isn’t just limited to ‘those Eastern European countries’.