Serbia win, Scooch manage not to come bottom
Marija Šerifović of Serbia has won the Eurovision Song Contest with 288 votes.
She is the daughter of Serbian singer Verica Šerifović and a Bosniak immigrant father from Turkey.
Camp stars Scooch managed to score second from bottom with 19 points for the United Kingdom at the annual event in Helsinki.
As has become the norm of late, the Eastern European, Scandinavian and Balkan states voted for each other.
They primarily cast their votes based on distance between the capitals rather than the quality of the song.
Considering the idea of Eurovision is to hold Europe together, PinkNews.co.uk is always amused that the voting system is completely unfair and not proportional.
As each county totals up their telephone votes then awards 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10 and 12 points, it’s possible for the entry with the largest total votes across Europe to not even make it into the top three countries.
Contestants from 24 countries took part in the final of the 2007 Eurovision Song Contest, hosted by Finnish national public broadcaster YLE.
On Thursday night, acts from 10 countries qualified themselves for the final. Last year’s top-10 also qualified for this evening’s final.
Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom and France automatically qualified for the final, as their national public broadcasters contribute the most funds for the contest.
Scooch, otherwise known as Russ, Caroline, Natalie and David, provided camp fun to millions.
Scooch broke up six years ago but re-formed for the UK’s national final.
David said: “If you aim to win, you have to put more into it than just singing your song.”
The group were given advice by Cheryl Baker, a member of Bucks Fizz, who triumphed at Eurovision in 1981.
“She was very supportive,” added David. “We had our pictures taken with her, as we used to listen to their music when we were kids.”
Shining Ukrainian star Verka Serduchka speaking before the contest said: “At the welcome party last night, people were trying to get close to me and touch me.”
Asked what the diva would say to the other competitors if she won, Verka said:”I’m sorry. Just imagine if all of the countries won. Now that would be a great party!”
Country Points
1 Serbia 268
2 Ukraine 235
3 Russia 207
4 Turkey 163
5 Bulgaria 157
6 Belarus 145
7 Greece 139
8 Armenia 138
9 Hungary 128
10 Moldova 109
11 Bosnia 106
12 Georgia 97
13 Romania 84
14 Macedonia 73
15 Slovenia 66
16 Latvia 54
17 Finland 53
18 Sweden 51
19 Germany 49
20 Spain 43
21 Lithuania 28
22 France 19
23 UK 19
24 Ireland 5
