As Samantha Mumba sang in her Eurosong 2025 entry “My Way,” the voice “deep down inside can’t be tamed.” And on Sunday the Eurosong runner-up let rip on the in-studio Eurosong panelists, writing them off as unprofessional and rude.
The spiky message came toward the end of a lengthy thank-you message to her team, musical collaborators and the producers at The Late Late Show. She interrupted the love-in to send a message to the panelists who criticised her act during the show. She wrote:
“Special mention to the “panel” (aside from Bambie who I stan) who not only didn’t have the credentials, experience or professionalism required and were unnecessarily rude and vile to all the finalists – my parting gift them is a bag of 🍆 [aubergine emoji] to slowly choke on. (Would have said this in person but they all left the green room before I had the opportunity to) unsurprisingly.”
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The panelists included Arthur Gourounlian, a judge on Dancing with the Stars; radio and TV personality Laura Fox; Irish presenter Donal Skehan; and Ireland’s Eurovision 2024 singer Bambie Thug (who did not incur the wrath of Ms. Mumba).
The panelists had echoed what many fans previously said: Samantha is an incredible performer, but her song “My Way” was a bit of a slow burn. Many said the crescendo came too late into the song. Bambie was the only panelist who conveyed how the song could improve significantly with a slight revamp for Eurovision.
It’s possible that their candour may have impacted the results. Samantha placed second with the Irish national jury and won the international jury. Yet she came next-to-last with the Irish public, who would have voted after hearing the comments.
An RTÉ spokesperson thanked the panel and pointed out that their comments seem to align with public vote:
“We are extremely grateful to the Late Late Show Eurosong panel for their professionalism, insight, integrity and good humour. Their role is to give their honest reaction to the performances on the night, offering their thoughts on the likely success of the song and act at the Eurovision Song Contest. Our panel did this in a thoughtful and considered way. It seems this was in line with the public vote that ultimately made the decision on the artist and song they wished to represent Ireland at this year’s contest. It’s never easy to offer a personal opinion, as not everyone will agree. Our panel did that with the utmost care and we wish to extend our thanks to them for the excellent job they did on Friday night.”
Do you like having panelists comment during the show and before voting? Or is it unfair? Sound off below!
In a word… Narcissist
Her song is ill written and a snoozefest. Good riddance girl.
Sounds like sour grapes, business she didn’t have a good song …
Calm down, Samantha. I just listened to your euro song. You’ve done way better songs in 2000.
She is so over. Goodbye luv
I don’t care much about the chosen Irish song but I must say after now watching her performance, it’s good that Smantha’s song didn’t win… nothing there made sense.
I just watched the panel’s response to her. Unless something has happened backstage that we don’t know about, there was nothing there that was in the slightest bit rude. They, correctly, hinted (and it was hinted very politely) that her song was a mess but they were otherwise falling over themselves to describe this minor pop star from when I was in primary school as an “icon” and a “major part of Irish history”. Her reaction has done her no favours. You’re not entitled to go to ESC because you released a few hits 25 years ago.
She went after the panel after the show frinsh and I think that her song would get lost in the semi
Loser
I didn’t like Samantha’s song but I love her reply! Completely real and nuanced!
Girl that ain’t what nuanced means
Yeah, didn’t mean to say that but I liked her response anyways despite her song being awful
What an uninspring personality she has got. Well. She probably knows what eggplant emojis are common for. And I hope choking on them is nothing bad to her. Maybe she could have chosen other words and symbols to describe her disappointment. This may ve read as homophobic…
There are worse things to choke on I suppose
Talk about being a sore loser. Not even a word of congratulations to Emmy from either Samantha or Bobbi (who also lashed out on Twitter)
did you even look at the post before you spoke?
Samantha ended it with:
“Lastly- huge thank you to @latelaterte who has the absolute best crew and team. It was a joy to see and work with you all again!! Most importantly the very best of luck to the sweetest @emmykgk00 please fly the flag and make us proud in Switzerland!!????”
Disgusting words from a sore loser who’s released three songs in the last 22 years and thinks she can just show up with any old rubbish and have people fall at her feet.
I normally don’t post here, but this time I decided to do it.
I saw the show, the comments from those experts were disgusting. Bambie was polite and respectful, but the others, as if they had been Eurovision top 10 hitmakers, full of their wisdom and vision of what would result in the Eurovision stage…
Behind those songs are writers, composers, musicians, artists, who deserve some respect even if one doesn’t appreciate much their song.
Very well said!
Should they be there, does their opinion matter, these are things you can argue, but their commentary was not “disgusting”. Be happy Alexander Rybak wasn’t there, or you would have heard some proper criticism. That guy doesn’t mince words.
They could just tell him that they followed his two-step guide. They rolled with it, believed in it, and sang it all day long. This was the result.
Niiice
Samanta Mumba would rate your reply as unacceptable. I just say: well played, sir!
Panels shouldn’t be required. Any act with a negative comment from a panel will always fair poorly. This has also been seen in other National Finals over the years. A Song For Europe/Breat British Song Contest/Making Your Mind Up UK finals always had some choice panelists and any negative commented act never scored well – even if they had a banger of a song.
One of the “panel” should be reminded his 2008 attempt was camp, cringe and off key
Still better than Dustin, I’m sure
Not that Dustin itself is such a high bar, though
This is honestly disgusting and unacceptable behavior from a “professional”.
I can remember when in the past the panels being criticised because they were afraid to say anything remotely negative and just made “nice” comments. Some of the acts on Friday night deserved criticism, just telling someone comments they want to hear doesn’t allow an artist to grow. When you’re putting your art out on show you have to be prepared to take the bad with the good. If you can’t, maybe you’re in the wrong business.
She isn’t wrong – Eurosong does not need a panel.
I just hope this doesn’t deter other ”big names” from applying to Eurosong in the future.
She was a big name like 20 years ago. Hozier would be a big name.
I agree. They turned it into X factor which was not needed. There are other ways to make the selection entertaining (staging for example!). Samantha should not have been critiqued by that lineup.
While I agree the panel is unnecessary and should be scrapped, the act like this as a 40 year old is just insane. She wasn’t a favourite going in so no matter what the panel said wouldn’t have swayed her result. I actually think her placement was very generous considering the song had no structure and also her staging was so detached from what Eurovision fans are looking for. Throwing in some Irish dancing just doesn’t cut it anymore. It actually proved to me that she hasn’t a clue about modern day Eurovision and how it’s changed from river dance.… Read more »
Saying she’s a Bambie “stan” – I mean should anyone over 40 be using the word “stan?”
And before anyone accuses me of ageism, I was born the same year as Samantha, and I would never use the word ‘stan.” I’d feel ridiculous.
You’re literally named “jercle”
What does that word mean? Forgive me, I am elderly.
I just looked it up on Urban Dictionary. I am scandalised.
I also just checked it out. Jercle is officially my new favourite word!
“Jer” and “Cle” are the first three letters of my first and middle names. Hence my username. Nothing more to it than that.
Get your minds out of the gutter.
It’s all Andrew’s fault, sir, he is a bad influence. 🙁
Jeremiah Cleopatra? Is that you??
Anyone can use it, language evolves. Lose the self-conciousness.
That said, I’m in my 30s… I can just about use it online, but would never actually say it aloud in a real–life conversation.
Who even has real life conversations any more?? (BTW I’m stanning you Jonas)
Likewise, Andrew. It’s a stancle
spill the taytos, girl…don’t hold back
First I have to say I don’t like these panels, let the viewers jugde for themselves. But I’m afraid Samantha Mumba with this statement look just as unprofessional as the panel!
Gotta tell you, you are NOT that important…or special for that matter. At all!
i do think the Panel was bad none of them bar Bambie are known outside Ireland they have Johnny Logan Nicky Byrne Brenden Murray on the Panel people who have done it
“Sunlight” and ‘Dying to Try” are among the worst songs Ireland has ever sent to Eurovision. Nicky and Brendan should be kept well away from Eurosong. Johnny, yes, he’s a legend, but does be “get” 21st century Eurovision? I don’t think so.
the worst songs they have sent i disagree with i think the worst they sent was 1971 that was off key at least brenden could sing his and i would have him in the panel because he has done the contest same with johnny and nicky not some radio presenter a ex eurosong contestant and some dance guy no one has heard of
2001 is truly woeful, even worse than Dustin.
I’m sorry, Ryan’s uncle.
2019 for me
2001 i thought was okay but it lacked as a song he had a great voice
He had an amazing voice and there were worse songs, for example Denmark
I loved Dying to try. And I am not the only one! It came 13th in its semi with a lot mor points than We ee young…
The panel: “Why are you booing me? I’m right!”
RTE should fly some of us Wiwi commenters for next year’s panel.
Hope U2 apply so we can trash them
Would love to!!!
I don’t like having celebrity juries at all. But I fear that the main contest is going that way. Before the end of the Martin Österdahl era, we’ll have a panel of them on Eurovision night. Their scores will be combined with the juries and the public to determine the winner. We’ll complain, only to be told, patronisingly “the contest needs to evolve.”
Yeah the live jury is a terrible idea, but also you probably don’t get to call other people professional while telling them to choke on a d*ck?
Or *unprofessional I should say
Bad loser.
I do think the panel were a little harsh on her, but I don’t think this is the right reaction from Samantha. This was probably her last chance for a comeback and now it’s in ruins. She probably typed this in the heat of the moment, but she isn’t helping herself with such a classless response. Samantha has a reputation in Ireland for burning a lot of bridges, and she’s still at it. Bobbi Arlo also took to social media to play sour grapes, blaming “anti-queer” bias for her loss. When it was really just a poor vocal and a… Read more »
Anti queer bias omg most if the guys in the audience where gay, I knew a lot of them
And then we sent Bambie Last year?
Maybe she should focus on being an individual rather than pinning herself to a community in order to fish for votes.
Her style was even bambie-esque.
Bobbi has now put out another video, where she compares herself to Charlie xcx and says RTÉ just wants acts like Adele (yeah, Laika Party just screams “Adele.”) It’s sad she can’t accept she had a poor performance.
That’s incredibly embarrassing of her if she’s saying that.
Last year we hardly sent Adele.
She needs to grow up. Good job she didn’t get the ticket to Basel even though her song was my choice going into the competition.
She wouldn’t be able to cope if we didn’t qualify. She’d blame the anti-queer bias of the ESC community for her not making it LMAO!
Girl take responsibility and don’t bland others. The live performance was bad and messy.
That’s incredibly embarrassing of her if she’s saying that.
Last year we hardly sent Adele.
She wouldn’t be able to cope if we didn’t qualify. She’d blame the anti-queer bias of the ESC community for her not making it LMAO!
sje needs take responsibility and don’t blame others. The live performance was bad and messy.
I felt she was trying to ride on Bambi’s coat tails Her whole presentation was very poor and amateurish and as much as I like the studio version of Powerplay I don’t think it was for ESC. Throwing a strop because she didn’t win and blaming the “anti queer” lobby is nonsense. As a member of the gay community myself I think she and NIYL used made too much a point of their “queerness”. Did they think they deserved extra brownie points for this?
Or fudge brownies
Couldn’t agree more.
In 2025, at Eurovision of all places, it shouldn’t even be a selling point regarding what your identity is.
Just be you. We all don’t need to be part of a segregated club anymore.
It just sounds so desperate when they harp on about it like the ESC entry MUST be queer.
It is a song contest and emphasis should be about song, staging, vision etc regardless of who you are in your free time.
I mean, I agree that the panel’s comments can have an influence on the voting, and that it could make or break an entry that’s competing for a win. But what she fails to realize is that she was not a public favorite to begin with. It may look to her as though the panel discouraged people from voting for her her and that it cost her the win, and I understand why it makes her upset, but comments in the studio doesn’t make you drop from 1st to 5th when there’s only 6 contestants. She wouldn’t had beatau Emmy… Read more »
It was not that great of a song. Simple as. If people liked it they would vote for her regardless comments
Sour grapes.
Sue probably expected to win because of who she is.
Song was bad though and while the judges are not musical professionals they pretty much only said what the viewers at home where thinking. Plus that Irish dancing break in her song was cringe af.
Great voice but song and staging let her down. I would say try again but with an attitude like that, I wouldn’t hurry back
Yayy Sue Mumba!
She’s right. They burnt Raylta while she was one of the best vocalists with a good song. They influenced the vote with their unqualified opinions.
It’s not like she was the favourite to begin with. Her song was not all that and voters recognized it.
Honestly if she is that much of a sensitive soul then maybe ESC and music industry is not for her. You need to be thick skinned to get through it. Rhe point with panels is to be honest. They are not there to say ” everything was great”
I really don’t understand why RTE treat Eurosong like the X-Factor – if you want to have candidates with established career’s like Mumba, you really can’t treat them like a newcomer in this way.
Regardless of what you think of her performance, and/or song – you simply can’t treat potential representatives in this way. It’s inhumane.
Normally it should be an advantage to be an established artist if you’re up against a bunch of well-meaning amateurs. The fact that it was not, speaks volumes about the quality of her song and/or performance… not about the quality of the panel.
This isn’t about the ‘quality of the panel’ (or the song/performance) – just the fact that a ‘panel’ shouldn’t be used in the first place.
I can’t think of a single redeeming feature to its inclusion. Not a single one.
Other than that they were right about pretty much everything? Eat a Snickers and release that tension, the dead space dog song was better than Samantha Mumba and there’s nothing you can do about it.
I agree, someone of her calibre ought to have been internally selected. But isn’t this the way the contest is going. It’s a giant version of X-Fact-Idol, full of acts who pop up for these shows, never to be seen again.
And I don’t get why anyone would think X-Factor like panels are a good idea. They never were, they’ve always been distasteful and a hindrance
This concept of live comments by the juries is terrible tbh and influences the public vote. It’s only there to generate controversies like we are in a reality show.
To tell the truth though, regarding Samantha’s song, I agree with the comments by the jury.
In my honest opinion, I thought the songs RTE put forward in this years Eurosong was very very poor, before Friday night I thought Bobbi Arlow was going to walk it, but her vocals let her down, Samantha’s song was a good song but it needed a better introduction, it was ok once it got to the last minute but it was too late. The best song won, though I believe was t would have been ideal for Junior Eurovision. Another wasted opportunity for RTE this year, it just feels like they’ve given up & don’t want the win. Such… Read more »
How very “professiona” of her. You might dislike the juries and their comments, but there are other ways to express it. “Choke on a [aubergine emoji]” is the most immature one.
Well, making a separate article for every NF sore loser complaining in the social media would leave no space for other Eurovision news this season.
I always wonder why they seem to pick celebrities who have once said they liked Eurovision for these panels, but this panel wasn’t necessarily unfair. Maybe to Reylta, who they seemed to think was “too Irish” and supposedly Europeans don’t like that (I’m a European, and I do not concur). And yes Samantha, you can sing but your song was going nowhere. Juries don’t mind, but the televoters in the semi do.
Good for her I say. Ok she had a weak song, but that panel were vile. Especially Arthur Gourounlian. All the artists in the lineup deserve credit, each of them would have been worthy winners. It was mean spirited to be so overly critical immediately after their performances.
This headline makes her look bad and is a clear clickbait!
She is right and it’s valid points that should be taken as clear criticism that can help them in organising this selection in more of a professional way.
What is it with Irish acts and being sore losers? Thinking of Brooke Scullion and Lesley Roy as well who didn’t take defeat very graciously. Maybe it’s why they haven’t won for a few decades.
Well Brooke should have gone through 100%
Fully agree with Samantha. Those comments were foolish and completely unprofessional. EMMY is a sweetheart but, her song would struggle in JESC let alone at ESC. Way too juvenile and poorly made. There was a reason why Laika Party was rejected from MGP. Samantha, Bobby Arlo or Niyl should of won.
I don’t think there should be commentators on the performance. What’s the point? There are already juries who get their say, and they can consider points like potential revamps or vocal quality etc. The public vote is meant to be pure public reaction (acknowledging nothing is really pure anyway..) That being said, I don’t think Samantha Mumba’s song was compelling, even though it did build. From a song structure perspective, it didn’t have an easily discernible structure or hook. We’re biologically designed to enjoy those kinds of things, so even though artistically it would have been true to her, I… Read more »
The point is to fill up airtime, nothing more
Somebody’s a sore loser
She did wish Emmy the best of luck, to be fair
I love Samantha Mumba from her hey day. Great songs. That aside her entry for Eurovision was poor. Sorry
I wasn’t especially fan of her song but she is not wrong, this panel is totally useless (except Bambie) and seem to have preconceived ideas about Eurovision that I don’t share and seem to not have a big knowledge about Eurovision.
She can’t really blame anybody but herself for entering a lacklustre effort. She has such a rich back catalogue of music, yet this felt like such a self-indulgent effort where she thought she’d do well just off the back of her name. Also not sure what she expected after siding with Louis Walsh over the Boyzone documentary where that odious little man was exposed for his many nefarious, underhanded and dishonest doings during their reign at rhe height of their fame. The public backlash against him has been pretty resounding. Did she really think that coming out swinging in his… Read more »
I agree 100% why listen to nobodies . Samantha you are great star , why have juries and international juries . Nationally it should be the public who vote as we are the ones that pay !
The public gave her the lowest score of the three panels, you shmuck
I agree with Samantha. There is a song that has been worked on. Why is it that sometimes people don’t know when to shut up?
Okay… if Sam is this sensitive, maybe the contest is not for her.
If she reads the comments here, she probably wants us all to choke as well.
Sensitive or not, there’s no redeeming qualities in panelists