There have been some unforgettable moments at Eurovision through the years. Moments that gave you goosebumps, brought a tear to your eye, and reminded you that a Serbian prayer conquers everything, that a light blue pair of underwear always does the trick and that no matter what happens…Euphoria will hold you together forever till the end of time. But there have also been moments that made you jump out of your seat, bleed by the ears and stare at the screen thinking: “W….T….F ?????!” So pop some painkillers and take a look at the Top 10 “Say What?!” moments from Eurovision.

United Kingdom 2007: Scooch with “Flying the flag (for you)”

Oh my, oh my. From the nation that brought us Bucks Fizz, Katarina and the Waves, and Brotherhood of Man comes this. What were they thinking?! A singing flight crew, with portable security gates, gigantic wine bottles and the flag of love. Who within the BBC lost a bet? Those three minutes of them wandering around the stage and Flying the flag fooohor yooouuuu are three minutes of my life that I’ll never get back. And when the guy offered me the duty free perfume for giants, a little part of me died.

http://youtu.be/f9y8hqsYXTw

Slovakia 2009: Kamil and Nela with “Let’tmou” (Fly through the darkness)

I usually watch this on mute because Kamil is in fact easy on the eyes when he isn’t yelling. But that doesn’t change the fact that he did his part to turn Eurovision into a contest of who can scream louder and be the most out of tune. It started out alright, with the cello, and Nela standing oh so pretty on stage in her white dress. But then Sweet Lord! Now that I’m tone deaf, I’m convinced this song was artistic masturbation for the composer. This is simply a horrible entry and should never, ever be played without at least one dose of Valium…just to take away the rining in your ears.

Switzerland 2004: Piero and The Music Stars with “Celebrate”

A little predictable as a “Say What?!” moment, I’ll admit. But seriously….how many times can one group order you to clap your hands and celebrate, without you going: “NO! I HATE clapping and I HATE celebrating!” Piero and the (so called) Music Stars certainly made an effort, whilst wandering aimlessly on the stage, and desperately trying to get Europe to celebrate with them in what seems to be the dullest party that has ever been held. And don’t get me started on the one liner they called “lyrics”. I heard that poor Piero was working as a hairdresser when the call for stardom came. Well, I hope he’s a good hairdresser, cause he is not a singer…or a party animal. Probably a nice guy though…

Croatia 2007: Dragonfly feat. Dado Topic with “Vjerujem u ljubav” (I believe in love)

Say what Croatia? Everybody within 10,000 km of Finland were on standby with emergency defibrillators just in case Dado kicked the bucket whilst moaning. And the Stevie Nicks wannabe that hung on to him like a cheap suit? Who on earth convinced her that she could at any point sing? No, no, and no. This was bad all the way through. I lost all faith in love when this came on stage. And I’m the girl who still cries when Richard and Julia finally overcome the obstacles in their way in Pretty Woman! And she was a prostitute, people! Thanks Dado and Dragonfly!

http://youtu.be/3UR-I5VwEuQ

Azerbaijan 2008: Elnur and Samir with “Day after day”

OK, I have to admit that this entry is somewhat a guilty pleasure of mine. It makes me giggle because it’s so bad. That said…say what?! Angels, demons, falsetta and a screaming dentist? Right, it must have been a lousy first semi-final in Baku because this CAN’T be the best they had to offer! And they reached 8th place?! I’m sorry, did I miss out on some inside joke here? Maybe people got confused, when he poured the (hopefully) cheap red wine over the backup singer/dancer. Or maybe they were just scared s***less that Elnur and Samir would haunt their dreams for all eternity should they not cast their vote in the couple’s favor. And could anybody understand any of the lyrics? Fllleeehr brrrah skooh mmeeeehsssnchar day after day…….Hidden message about solving world hunger…probably…

Belarus 2010: 3+2 with “Butterflies”

That….was…..epic! And not in a good way. First of all, the guy whispered the first words, trying to look all mysterious and sexy. Fail. Then the rest joined in, sounding exactly as they appeared. Belarussians who didn’t speak a word of English. The entire time I thought: “Oh God, please not butterfly wings, please don’t spread butterfly wings…PLEASE!” And then “Oh crap, they have butterfly wings!” My hopes were crushed at 2:23. Not cool Belarus, not cool. I don’t know what went wrong. This was a fairly decent ballad, with fairly decent people. It should’ve been okay. But it wasn’t. It was a yawnfest with flying instructions.

Latvia 2008: Pirates of the Sea with “Wolves of the Sea”

Honestly Latvia…we all know that Pirates of the Caribbean was a huge hit with you, and Johnny Depp is a god. But that doesn’t mean that you should bring it to Eurovision. A group of bad singers, led by a creepy recycled opera singer wearing a bandana, and a creepy wannabe dancer with balloon breasts is a bad idea. No matter how you look at it. Fun fact…a Scottish metalband called Alestorm covered the song, and did it better! Goes to show that rock always beats nogoodtechnodancepop. Even if it contains a pirate captain with a binocular and a steering wheel on stage. True story, y’all!

Georgia 2012: Anri Jokhadze with “I’m a Joker”

It started out promising. All dark and whatnot, with Anri singing in Georgian, which is a beautiful language. And he is a really good singer! But then disaster struck and everything went downhill from there. They lost the piano player, the tape played the song way too up-tempo, and Anri got nervous and started singing in English as his poor backup singers got stuck in their walkers! Talk about bad luck. Wait, it was suppose to be like this? Say what?! Anri, this was a bad joke, nobody is laughing (except the Wiwi Jury). Don’t ever do this again! Come back when you have something better, for example a panda. Everybody loves pandas.

Bulgaria 2009: Krassimir Avromov with “Illusion”

Aaah Krassimir….the man who brought the counter tenor back to Eurovision, with the illusion it would work. I laughed my way through the entire performance. I couldn’t make up my mind about what was the funniest moment. The dramatic hand gestures, the dancers on the stilts, Krassimir’s relentless pursuit of becoming as a sex symbol, or the backup singer with the 80’s wig and a voice that could raise Beethoven from the dead, his first words being: “Liebe frau…..SSSSUUUSSSHH!” All put together, this was the most entertaining moment of the 2009 contest. Horrible..but funny.

Azerbaijan 2011: Ell and Nikki with “Running Scared”

For my part, this is probably the biggest “Say What!” moment in the history of Eurovision. Why did this win?! Who voted for this?! How did this happen?! (One explanation here). Was it the platonic love on stage? The running all over the stage? The badly choreographed back-up singers? The firerain? I mean, it can’t be the song, right? This still remains a big question mark to me. I don’t know anybody who voted for this mediocre love song. Cause that’s what it was. Mediocre at best. No goosebumps, no emotional tears during their performance, and no WAWAWOOM moment, like when Pastora Soler rocked the stage in Baku. Nothing, nothing, nothing. And they won. Say what???!!

http://youtu.be/fSnz-iF9Xps

You can read more of our lists by clicking here.

Kristin Kristjans contributed this report from Iceland. You can keep up with the latest Eurovision news and gossip by following the team from wiwibloggs.com on Twitter @wiwibloggs and by liking our Facebook page.
Photo: Eurovision.tv (EBU)

18 Comments
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Alex
Alex
10 years ago

You forgot DUSTIN THE TURKEY. And Dima Bilan’s ridiculously gimmicky winning performance!

Lexi
Lexi
10 years ago

Screw you Azerbaijan did a great job and they always in my opinion send in great entries.

Nirgal
10 years ago

Because it’s never a bad moment to drop some hate towards Baku. Yeah, great.

Sorry, but that kind of thing has gotten really boring for me.

By the way, I think the butterflies were perfect. So over the top they would make Verka Serduchka blush, but classy and beautiful at the same time. It would have been boring without the wings.

Also, I loved the pirates.

Vlad
Vlad
10 years ago

2008 – Azerbaijan: they should have chosen “If you’re never back” instead of that screamfest. That would’ve been a much better choice. I like that Azeris never save on promo material though.
2009 – Bulgaria: Poli Genova’s song was a way much better. I would’ve been okay with Grafa as well.
2011 – Azerbaijan: not my cup of tea.

J.C. Fraks
J.C. Fraks
10 years ago

A little bit off- topic but worth mentioning.., I believe, since wiwi accepted that full of stupidity comment of ‘oh! all european’ Dino. He/she said: ‘For example Eurovision is “die” when Armenia join the contest.. ‘ lol, those ultra ‘european’ azeris live just to practice their favorite activity- the projection. I mean the Psychological projection discribed by S. Freud. It is a defense mechanism in which a person unconsciously rejects his/her negative qualities and ascribes them onto others. Funny, but i didn’t know that ESC ‘die’ when Armenia joined it! Always thought that this suites more to Azerbaijan with its… Read more »

EurovisionFanatic
EurovisionFanatic
10 years ago

I agree with the Azeri 2011 entry. How did it win? Kati should’ve won. Budapest 2012. 🙂

AlvaRito
AlvaRito
10 years ago

Love Dragonfly!!!!

Vince
Vince
10 years ago

Where in the world is baila-chiki-chiki? I thought that was a WTF moment of big time proportions….

Mari
Mari
10 years ago

Thank you for sparing DJ Bobo and ‘Vampires are Alive’ but it really does belong on this list!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86jil0GNH8c

Aufrechtgehn
10 years ago

I have to say I adore most entries on this list, of course *because* they deliever such great entertaining WTF moments. I still think Scooch were being robbed and would have fared (deservedly) better, would it not have been for Verka, who sponged up every single “comedy entry” vote that year (and rightly so, she was waaaaay better). I just love everything about this entry, including the Finnish commentator announcing it as “Flying the Fag”! I also loved the moment when Piero Esteriore bumped his microphon in his face. Priceless! I absolutely adore Belaruses butterfly wings – yes, it was… Read more »

No diggity
10 years ago

Azerbaijan always sends SO good songs 🙂

Katy
Katy
10 years ago

Montenegro 2013 too.

Dino
Dino
10 years ago

I don’t think so about Azerbaijan 2011… show was great and winner was really interesting..why? Because everyone think the winner will be Sweden or Ireland..

how i can see in every ur post u talk bad about Azerbaijan… dont know why..but u support so much Armenia i dont know why that too .. For example Eurovision is “die” when Armenia join the contest.. everyone start to support one non European country, dont know why..their music is idiotic on ESC .. then can u explain me how Armenia finished in ESC 2007 on 8th place??

Angus Quinn
Angus Quinn
10 years ago

RUNNING SCARED HAS THE SINGLE GREATEST CHOREOGRAPHY IN EUROVISION HISTORY.

Arianna
10 years ago

Lol at this list 😀 Poor Piero, it looks like he came to the wrong party & didn’t realise the whole entire time 😛

Chris
10 years ago

i would have added Silvia Knight in there as well – the entire thing was a W T F

David Thielen
10 years ago

Hey, 3+2 with “Butterflies” was my favorite song that year! It was beautiful.

joey
joey
10 years ago

well, azerbaijan in 2008 BTW finished 8th, not 7th!!! the rest of the list i might say pretty much gives me WTF reaction