Israel: 11 remain after two more eliminations in The Next Star For Eurovision 2020

Now that Lithuania’s national selection for Eurovision is no longer painfully long, Israel‘s national selection takes the cake. At 27 episodes, The Next Star for Eurovision has succeeded in being the longest Eurovision selection in existence. But there is much more to come, seeing as we’re only down to the final 11. In any case, here is a short summary of the past week’s elimination episodes.

Chair Challenge – 16 and 18 January

On Thursday, 16 January and Saturday, 18 January, the Chair Challenge took place. The Chair Challenge is a single-elimination concept in which all participants perform and sit in the chair if they scored the lowest result so far. After all the singers performed, the person sitting in the chair got eliminated. The results of this round were as follows.

Performances

• • First place: Raviv Kaner, “Feeling Good”, 90% (50 from public vote)

• • Second place: Lali Kolishkin, “Wings”, 89% (49 from public vote)

• • Third place: Eden Alene, “Ilu Yakholti”, 86% (46 from public vote)

• Loai Ali, “Livhor Nakhon”, 85% (45 from public vote)
• Ella Lee Lahav, “I Kissed a Girl”, 84% (44 from public vote)
• Eden Zohar Sivan, “Sax”, 84% (44 from public vote)
• Orr Amrami-Brockman, “Ad Makhar”, 83% (51 from public vote; public’s winner)
• Moran Aharoni, “Always Remember Us This Way”, 83% (43 from public vote)
• Dor’el Sa’adon, “The Reason”, 77% (45 from public vote)
• Omer Eliyahu, “MiMa At Mefakhedet”, 76% (44 from public vote)
• Gaya Shaki, “Halomot Shel Aherim”, 71% (31 from public vote)
• Ohad Shragai, “Ve’Im Preda”, 68% (36 from public vote)
• Eliminated: Avihu Pinhasov’s Rhythm Club, “Let’s Dance”, 43% (19 from public vote)

Summary

Ohad Shragai sat in the chair for almost the entire duration of the Chair Challenge, when Avihu Pinhasov overtook his low score of 68%, with just 43%. Pinhasov received the lowest score from both the jury and the public vote, so he was eliminated. Raviv Kaner, on the other hand, won the round with 90%, receiving the highest possible score from the jury and the second-highest score given by the public voters.

Final 12 duels – 19 and 20 January

On Sunday, 19 January, and Monday, 20 January, the final 12 were reduced to 11. In this round, 6 duels took place, and the judges chose the weakest of the six duel losers to go home.

The results of this round were as follows (duel winners are in bold).

Performances

• • Eden Zohar Sivan – “Ain’t No Other Man” 76% vs Gaya Shaki – “Dance Monkey” 91%

• • Raviv Kaner – “Galim” 74% vs Lali Kolishkin – “She Wolf (Falling to Pieces)” 88%

• • Orr Amrami-Brockman – “Human” 81% vs Omer Eliyahu – “Tokho Razuf Ahava” 48%
  • Ohad Shragai – “Dangerous Woman” 61% vs Moran Aharoni – “Stone Cold” 88%

• • Eden Alene – “Locked Out of Heaven” 91% vs Dor’el Sa’adon – “Titanium” 85%

• Loai Ali – “Iceland” 62% vs Ella Lee Lahav – “Toxic” 80%
• Eliminated: Omer Eliyahu

Summary

While last round’s runners-up Lali Kolishkin and Eden Alene slayed, Chair Challenge winner Raviv Kaner only scored the ninth-best result of this round. But the judges remembered what he was worth and saved him. So, Omer Eliyahu, who only reached a score of 48%, was eliminated.

The Next Star for Eurovision – what next?

The grand final of The Next Star, on 4 February, is less than two weeks away. Over the next week, the artists will do the Idan Raichel challenge, to honour the Israeli musician who performed as an interval act in Eurovision 2019.

11 artists remain, who is your favourite? Can anyone bring the Eurovision trophy to Israel? Share your thoughts in the comments below!