The Miss Universe 2015 pageant caused an international sensation when Miss Colombia was wrongly declared the winner, before Miss Philippines was rightfully presented with the crown. But the world of Eurovision has been full of awkward moments from the results sections of shows, with plenty of hosts suddenly having to improvise their way out of a sticky situation. Here are six of the best.
2007: UK – Terry Wogan announces wrong winner
“And the winner is…. Cyndi/Scooch!” The final of Making Your Mind Up was between Scooch’s innuendo-laden pop song “Flying the Flag”, and Cyndi’s emotional ballad “I’ll Leave My Heart”. Presenters Terry Wogan and Fearne Cotton announced the winner simultaneously, but each said a different name, and Terry’s microphone was louder. Fearne had it right, and was left to straighten out the awkward moment.
2010: The Netherlands – dramatic tie-break
Nationaal Songfestival 2010 involved five artists each performing their version of the song “Ik ben verliefd (Sha-la-lie)” by Pierre Kartner. Two of the jury members voted for Sieneke’s version, while the two other voted for Loekz. This left the public vote to act as a tie-breaker, but the public favoured a third artist, Vinzzent. In the end, Kartner was left to break the tie. He initially wanted to toss a coin, but this was not allowed, so he finally chose Sieneke.
2011: Sweden – Marie Serneholt announces wrong qualifier
Melodifestivalen normally runs like clockwork, but in 2011 things didn’t quite go as planned. Host Marie Serneholt was given the wrong name and announced semi-final one act Le Kid as still being in the competition instead of having been eliminated. But things turned out alright for Le Kid member Anton Hård af Segerstad, who as a co-writer of “Heroes” later helped Sweden win Eurovision.
2013: ESC – Lena gives 10 points to Norway
Standing in the Hamburg rain, Lena delivered Germany’s scores, confidently giving Norway 10 points. But host Petra Mede knew something was wrong, and soon so did Lena: those 10 points were meant to go to Denmark. Lena was flustered, but carried on like a trouper.
2015: Germany – Andreas Kümmert quits
It had all been going so smoothly. The Voice winner Andreas Kümmert and his song “Heart of Stone” had won Unser Song für Österreich with a landslide 78.7% of the public vote. Except, as Andreas shockingly announced, he didn’t want to go to Eurovision. Host Barbara Schöneberger had to think quickly, and runner-up Ann Sophie was declared the winner.
2015: JESC Italy – the wrong finalist is announced
- Watch Ti lascio una canzone at RAI. The results drama starts at 2:20 (140 minutes).
Things can even go wrong with Junior Eurovision. At Italy’s Ti lascio una canzone JESC national final, the two super finalists were announced — Chiara & Martina Scarpari, and Emanuele Bertelli. But there’d been a mistake. The sisters were actually up against Giovanni Sutera Sardo, leading to the sad moment when Emanuele learned he hadn’t made it after all. This wasn’t the last of the drama. The final between the Scarpari sisters and Giovanni had to be held again after technical issues meant the original vote was invalid.
Well, at least France managed their first top 5 finish since 1953.
UK got a little friendlier when Terry Wogan resigned from his Eurovision commenting gig. I am everytime so disgusted when I watch old votings with his commentaries. Thank God and the BBC for Graham Norton.
I don’t wanna be rude but the whole Miss Universe 2015 pageant debacle compared to this was not only far more awkward but also far more embarrassing .. We can handle with a laugh all these ESC awkward moment … try to tell a South American Hispanic so used to see their women win these crowns that he will get over that and you will not like his reply and remember he will only reply in Spanish. lol
@Hippo:
You do know Swedens 2008 spokeperson was a comedian who acted that way on purpose? 🙂
Lena was so innocent that time that the mishap was very forgivable.
I can think of a few.
One of the best was I think it was Sweden’s 2008 spokesman who completely fell to pieces pausing and looking really unsure of what he was saying: n-n-norway etc.
@fikri
Even if she didn’t, it was the fact that Norway had already received points that gave the boo-boo away.
The Lena moment was the best. She looked so sweet when she realized the mistake.
i’m curious with how petra knew that lena made a mistake. did she know the result beforehand?