What qualifies a participant in Eurovision?

[Guest]

It looks like Sweden's Tattoo got #1 in this years' Eurovision. My beau and I were surprised to see Australia participating, considering I can hardly think of any country further away from Europe than Australia. At least Israel is pretty close to a European country (Cyprus), but Australia? He wondered out loud "What does it take to qualify? Just be a country that's mostly white?". Anyone here know the real answer? It looks like the Unicorn song only came in #3... 😜

 

[+ nycman]

4 hours ago, Unicorn said:

It looks like Sweden's Tattoo got #1 in this years' Eurovision. My beau and I were surprised to see Australia participating, considering I can hardly think of any country further away from Europe than Australia. At least Israel is pretty close to a European country (Cyprus), but Australia? He wondered out loud "What does it take to qualify? Just be a country that's mostly white?". Anyone here know the real answer? It looks like the Unicorn song only came in #3... 😜

 

Her voice sucks. 

Whenever you have to spend that much on a "light show"….you just know they have zero talent. 

[mike carey]

9 hours ago, Unicorn said:

My beau and I were surprised to see Australia participating, considering I can hardly think of any country further away from Europe than Australia.

No one here knows either. It's always had a sort of cult following here, and having an Australian act to cheer on adds to the occasion but that hardly justifies our participation. But still, we've been in it since 2015 iirc. Aotearoa is further from Europe and they aren't in it. The agreement with the European Broadcast Union expires this year, so there may be no 'Douze points Australie' next year.

The Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation is a member of the EBU, which runs Eurovision, so Israel qualifies on that basis. Israel's in UEFA so its membership of the EBU is not completely anomalous.

[samhexum]

10 hours ago, Unicorn said:

My beau and I were surprised to see Australia participating

 

1 hour ago, mike carey said:

No one here knows either. It's always had a sort of cult following here, and having an Australian act to cheer on adds to the occasion but that hardly justifies our participation. But still, we've been in it since 2015 iirc.

How dare you even question anything about the contest that launched the legend that is ABBA when they won it in 1974, also helping to launch the career of that year's 4th place finisher (some Aussie chick named Olivia Newton-Something-or-other)!

[Guest]

2 hours ago, samhexum said:

 

How dare you even question anything about the contest that launched the legend that is ABBA when they won it in 1974, also helping to launch the career of that year's 4th place finisher (some Aussie chick named Olivia Newton-Something-or-other)!

Dame Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, UK.

[mike carey]

47 minutes ago, Unicorn said:

Dame Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, UK.

And became an Australian citizen in 1981. She was created a Dame (DBE) in the British 2020 New Year's Honours list. (She had been granted the highest available Australian honour in 2019.)

[samhexum]

5 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Dame Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, UK.

 

5 hours ago, mike carey said:

And became an Australian citizen in 1981. She was created a Dame (DBE) in the British 2020 New Year's Honours list. (She had been granted the highest available Australian honour in 2019.)

Okay, I made a (rare) error.  She was still just a footnote to the history made by ABBA.

[samhexum]

11 hours ago, samhexum said:

How dare you even question anything about the contest that launched the legend that is ABBA when they won it in 1974, also helping to launch the career of that year's 4th place finisher (some Aussie chick named Olivia Newton-Something-or-other)!

 

8 hours ago, Unicorn said:

Dame Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, UK.

Excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me...  Dame Olivia Newton-Something-or-other

[Guest]

8 hours ago, mike carey said:

And became an Australian citizen in 1981. She was created a Dame (DBE) in the British 2020 New Year's Honours list. (She had been granted the highest available Australian honour in 2019.)

I can't imagine who wouldn't rather live in Australia than in soggy ol' England....

[+ BenjaminNicholas]

Eurovision is a guilty pleasure.  I never miss it.

Nice to see Peacock picking it up over the last few years.

[Guest]

On 5/16/2023 at 8:51 AM, mike carey said:

And became an Australian citizen in 1981. She was created a Dame (DBE) in the British 2020 New Year's Honours list. (She had been granted the highest available Australian honour in 2019.)

Here she is with her monarch in 1980, before she became a dual citizen. Note how the Aussie, Paul Hogan, disses his Queen:

[+ purplekow]

It looks to me as though Mr. Hogan has taken a pose to cover his obvious excitement at seeing the queen.  I believe one can catch a bit of a bulge there on the left.  Pretty scrawny legs but the bulge appears ample. 

[samhexum]

3 hours ago, purplekow said:

It looks to me as though Mr. Hogan has taken a pose to cover his obvious excitement at seeing the queen.  I believe one can catch a bit of a bulge there on the left.  Pretty scrawny legs but the bulge appears ample. 

His Aussie TV show ran here for awhile and I noticed that back then.

[+ RyanDean]

It’s Called Eurovision. So Why Is Australia Part of It? - The New York Times

WWW.NYTIMES.COM

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Australia has been one of the event’s biggest markets outside Europe. Since 2015, it has been a contestant...