Poll results: Finland and Cyprus are our readers’ favourites to win Eurovision 2018

We’re down to the wire and everything is up for grabs. And tonight — after several pyro showers and a bit of fuego — we will finally crown the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2018.

Ahead of tonight’s action, we gave our readers 24 hours to vote for their favourites. They marched with their fingers, pointing and clicking and ultimately casting 22,201 votes. The results are in and our readers have named their favourites. And they include a snow fairy, a fire starter and a man serving high fashion Halloween.

Finland’s Saara Aalto won the poll with 16% of all votes. The UK X Factor alum starts the performance spinning on a black platform with white carvings and we see her dancers — who wear military-inspired outfits — voguing in the foreground. Saara eventually unbuckles and proceeds to work every inch of the runway — voguing, swinging her arms in circles and dipping like it’s nobody’s business.

Towards the end of the act she climbs the stairs as a pyro shower unfurls. And then our girl pulls out a sparkling flare to announce just how much she’s moved from darkness to light. Empowered and emboldened, she turns backwards and falls into the arms of her army down below.

In recent weeks many had questioned whether Saara could make the final. She’s already proven those people wrong and now she’s ready to show them how high she can climb.

It’s getting hot in second place with the bookies’ favourite Eleni Foureira ready to slay for Cyprus. The “Fuego” singer is riding a wave of momentum and she’s now the favourite among most pundits.

Dolly Parton once said, “The higher the hair the closer to heaven.” And Cyprus’ Eleni Foureira definitely takes us to Paradise. Popping and locking, and frequently throwing her hair down and then into the air, she proves that sometimes the best prop at Eurovision is your own body.

The “Fuego” singer slips into a stunning catsuit with illusion cutouts that glitters beneath the stage lights as they cling to each of Eleni’s curves. Her four backing dancers cut a similar figure, creating an army of fabulous that entices and dazzles with every choreographed dip and turn. The moves, while very sensual and sultry, don’t stray into the vulgar. This is eye-catching, fiery and somehow beautiful — no fancy LED needed!

A song about fire should definitely have flames — and Eleni has them in spades. This features plenty of fire shooting into the air on the circular stage. Hip shake. Flame. Hair flip. Flame. One graphic element sees purple-ish smoke clouding the screen on either side of Eleni’s silhouette. She whips it away with her hair. Yes, kween!

The bottom three acts in our poll are Austria, Serbia and the United Kingdom. Between them they earned just 2.5% of the vote.