In a tweet sent out to wiwibloggs last night, Australia’s representative Guy Sebastian dimissed the reports that Germany would host in 2016 if his song “Tonight Again” wins the contest this year.
Responding to a tweet in which we are asking followers to vote in our poll on the subject, Guy sent out this reply:
@wiwibloggs Just FYI there is no truth to the rumour that it would be hosted in Germany if AUS wins. Not sure where that originated!
— Guy Sebastian (@GuySebastian) May 3, 2015
He then added,
@wiwibloggs Im not sure who makes the decision but we are just excited to be involved 🙂
— Guy Sebastian (@GuySebastian) May 3, 2015
While we are glad and thankful that Guy cleared things up for us, this means that the plot thickens. It appears that there is no definite plan on the EBU table in case Australia wins. And, judging by the bookmakers, which currently have Australia as the third favourite to win, this is quite a possibility.
Meanwhile in our poll, which is now closed, more than two thirds of our readers think that, in case Australia wins, the runner-up country should host the contest next year.
[polldaddy poll=8817812]
i don’t think the venue of the contest doesn’t really matter to the millions who watch the show at home.
Is Christer Björkman chairman of Melodifestivalen? Assuming he is not a top board member of the EBU, what is a Melodifestivalen fat cat doing dictating what the EBU is going to do?
@Britz26: If the 2nd-place finisher is from a country that has never hosted the ESC, they MUST let that country host it. Then again, I have no problem if it went to a random country that never hosted the contest and WANTS to host it. Of course, if Australia REALLY wants a piece of it, let them host the semifinals, and this year’s 2nd-place finisher gets the Grand Final. But they might have to schedule that final on a Sunday, because the Thursday qualifiers will have a very long flight from Sydney and/or Melbourne or whatever Australian cities they hold… Read more »
In case Australia wins, Australia should host the contest next year. lol 😀
@ct
Australia’s vote will consist only of a jury vote.
This Australian Eurovision website has spoken with the EBU about what will happen when Australia wins:
http://www.escdaily.com/editorial-what-if-australia-wins-in-vienna/
Germany could easily host the contest, it has the cash to splash (unlike others), if the runner up gets it we may see a big 7! An even longer final!
i wouldnt mind if germany hosted it, best option out of all the big 5 to put on a good show
Maybe they should ask for bids like they do with Junior Eurovision.
The runner-up then gets first refusal etc.
I’m sure the BBC would put a bid in if that was the case.
@Britz26 or Portugal
ESC2016LONDON
Who appointed him spokesperson??? The EBU should come out and officially declare what will happen in case of an australian victory. The voting public deserves to know what will happen in a case like this. My other big question is: the contest is hosted at 9 pm CET. That is 5 o’ clock in the morning Sydney time. Realistically, how many aussies are going to wake up at 5 in the morning and vote when all the previous years they were watching a recorded version of the contest at a later hour? How reliable will the results from the australian… Read more »
@ Well my dear *Otna*..
The fact that your country’s song sucks did not stop it for being considered hot favorite candidate to win in Vienna 4 the bookies..
I have it even 35th on my own top ranking..
If such weak song like *Tonight Again* wins that will mark just the worst winner song in history of our Vision at least in the new era alone..
I don’t think we have any chance of winning anyway because the song simply sucks so I don’t think we need to worry about this scenario!
To me I can see where the confusion has come from. In order for Australia to compete they needed a guarantor, another broadcaster who agreed that if Australia win and could find no one else then they would host it with them. This was NDR/Germany. However, should Australia win it us up to SBS to then approach other broadcasters in other countries to host with it’s up to them. They could choose Germany, UK, the runner up, or even a country like Ukraine or Croatia not taking part this year but with an active EBU member involved in ESC. The… Read more »
IMO, I don’t think Australia will host it if they win this year, cause it doesn’t make sense that they will go through all the efforts and trouble of hosting this expensive event next year, without even being allowed to compete again – Having said that, I would mind paying beautiful Australia a visit, should they win and host as I’m sure they will do it very well. In the event that the Eurovision won’t travel to Australia (should they win), I think that Germany is an excellent choice, given the amazing Eurovision in DUS on 2011. But if it… Read more »
Give it to a country who will never win, like Macedonia or Lithuania 🙂 That would be very nice!
Many in EBU want to Australa or Sweden win at Eurovision 2015.
Well thankfully Australia will not gonna win eventually in Vienna..
His song doesn’t do great on the Ogae voting so far with being just 6th far from the hot favorites Sweden-Italy-Estonia…In the Australian party Guy Sebastian’s song was voted even 8th..
It’d better to talk about it after Australia’s supposed victory. I cannot see Australia winning, Europeans do not feel comfortable voting for Australia
I can’t tell you the name of the EBU person, who signed this contract if in case Australia is going to win the contest this year & Germany will be become the next broadcaster. It is a very high EBU member & official wellknown person !
Please understand that, otherwise we can’t get any more breaking news at all :).
It is not Christer Bjorkman it is another one !
But it’s a 100 % guerantee, if this scenario happens.
So long
This is going to sound awful, but i would rather have the contest held somewhere that hasn’t ever hosted it or not at least just in a long time.
I like him and his song, but I think we need to take any of Guy’s pronouncements with a pinch of salt. Remember he was kidding us that his entry would be a ballad already on his album, when in fact it’s an new uptempo song which was clearly written (or at least tweaked) with the contest in mind.
The reason why the EBU officials made a contract with Germany is very simple. First of all Germany is one of the BIG 5, so they do not have to qualify for the contest. Secondly Germany has the most financial resources do broadcast an event like this & EBU did not want to have again the same scenario as this year with fixed Big 5 qualifiers + Host Country last years Winner Austria + another fixed Qualifier as another Host Broadcaster again with a total of 7 countries fixed qualified. And last but not least, no other EBU member from… Read more »
@Darren: They pay more money than almost anyone ( Yes even the other Big 5 ), that’s a good enough reason as to why they should host the contest.
Dont see what makes Germany so special, other than their ability to host a good contest. The runner up of the 2015 contest should host in one of their cities. Either that or the United Kingdom/Ireland due to their cultural and historical links with Australia…but definitely the runner up should be given first refusal to host next year. Guy actually cleared nothing up, he wouldnt even know, hes just representing Australia this year and wouldnt be told anything about who would host if they won.
Hi to all my friends of Wiwibloggs
Yes, you can be sure that in this case GERMANY (NDR TV & ARD TV) will be the broadcaster of next years ESC 2016.
EBU officials have already signed a contract in February 2015 !
You don’t have to make any polls.
I don’t understand why Guy Sebastien or someone like Christer Bjorkman would know, let alone state such things to the public
He cleared absoloutly nothing up. The second tweet literally contradicted the first. He doesn’t actually know who makes the shots and probably doesn’t know if those rumers are true or false.