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Punters' predictions
Nasty shock, nice surprise
One stark difference that is immediately apparent is the failure of Ireland, despite a great deal of punter confidence that Dustin the Turkey could win the contest. Occupying the bookies’ 6th to 8th highest positions overall, the failure of Ireland is, for many, an unexpectedly premature end to one of this year’s most publicised entries.
At the other end of the scoreboard, few bookmakers seem to have spotted the potential that Poland and Israel realised in the semi-final vote. Languishing at best in the middle of the betting, and at worse towards the bottom of the pile, Isis Gee managed to pull off a first victory that was definitely not viewed as a certainty by betters across Europe. Israel, another long shot at odds from 50 to 100-1, sailed through to the final with Boaz at the helm.
Interestingly, newcomer Azerbaijan had not inspired gamblers to stake their cash in huge numbers before the semi-final, attracting longish odds of 40-1 to 66-1 in the final hour before transmission. The Belgrade air will be ringing with Azeri joy after victory emerged from that shaky public confidence.
Just as expected
Other successful entries were perhaps a fait accompli, with early forerunners Russia, Greece and Armenia storming through, as expected from the short odds they were given across the bookmakers’ sheets. Similarly, the countries sinking to the bottom of the betting pile were absent from the final list of ten: Andorra, the Netherlands, Belgium and Montenegro are just a few that will be disappointed not to have proved the punters wrong.
All in all, the bookmakers have done well in predicting the first ten – with only three conspicuous miscalculations of varying degrees, a glance at William Hill, Paddy Power, Coral and Nordic Bet would have given fans a good idea of tonight’s outcome. With the second semi-final looming, perhaps the contestants at the top of the tables can breathe a little easier – but then there are always more surprises…
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Go directly to the reactions
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the night was cool ! but what was armenia? sirusho showed us that she can't sing and has a bad voice ! i had shocked when i heard that ugly voice ! and the others were good except bosnia & herzegovina ! bosnia has always great songs but this year the song is for junior esc ! the best ones were azerbaijan,norway and israel to me .. whatever good luck to all participles !
GO KALOMIRA, GO GREECE!
MAKE US CRAZY IN THE FINAL!!!!!!!!!!!!
GREECE 12PTS!
@Paul M
wait and see on final eve
Sirusho is one of those inconstant young performers who may do an incredible show
I beleive in her and she we'll make!
I was thinking that Kalomira and Dima will beat her. But even if Kalomira performed well, she wasn't at her top either.
I have a feeling that this year the pressure on participants is tougher and also many of them have done long promo tours without sparing their energy and voice for the contest itself.
Let's wait for Saturday, I'm sure there will be some good surprises!
Looking at the odds today, the most striking change is in the fortunes of Armenia. Unlike all the other qualifiers last night whose odds have improved dramatically in some cases, Armenia's odds have lengthened significantly from 5/1 or 6/1 with most bookies to between 8/1 and 12/1, dropping from 2nd/3rd favourite to 5th/6th.
It looks like in the battle of the divas Sirusho may lose out to Charlotte, Jelena, Ani and Kalomira, if the bookies are to be believed.
I am glad my favorite song - Israel - made it thru... Most probably the choice of the jury, as it has "quality" written all over it. Great news that Finland made it to the final! They sang in the Finnish language which I find fascinating and proved, just as Israel, that it is not necessary to sing in bad English to make it to the final. Congratulations!
Bad news : Slovenia didn't make it (but Rebeka didn't sing that well...) and Bosnia was the gimmick act that made it thru... I liked Verka last year, and wouldn't have mind seeing Dustin in the final instead of Bosnia!
Dima's performance was really disappointing. He doesn't deserve to win, and doesn't deserve the second place either, as he was much better in 2006!
***BOO SPAIN ON SATURDAY***
***BOO SPAIN ON SATURDAY***
***BOO SPAIN ON SATURDAY***
***BOO SPAIN ON SATURDAY***
Edin - is there something you want to get off your chest?
I WANT TO CLAIM AN OBVIOUS IRREGULARITY DURING DRAW IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF SEMI-FINAL QUALIFIERS LAST NIGHT.
BEFORE THAT I WOULD LIKE YOU TO WATCH THAT PRESS CONFERENCE AND TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOMENT WHEN RUSSIAN DIMA BILAN IS TAKING HIS NUMBER IN THE RUNNING-ORDER FOR THE FINAL.
FIRST, HE STOOD UP.
ALL THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS WERE SITTING DOWN AND NONE OF THEM DID THE SAME IN ORDER TO TAKE A NUMBER FROM THE HEAT. HE OBVIOUSLY STOOD UP TO PROVIDE HIMSELF A BETTER LOOK TO THE HEAT AND THEN STARTED TO DO AS FOLLOWS: GIVING AS A PRESENT A PILLOW TO THE LADY WHO KEPT THE HEAT WITH THE NUMBERS IN IT, TAKING OFF HIS ACCREDITATION AND PUTTING IT ON HER NECK AND THESE TRICKS HAD BEEN DONE TO MOVE THE ATTENTION OF THE VIEWERS. AT THE SAME TIME, HE LOOKED AWAY TO THE HEAT SECRETLY.
AFTER THAT, HE TOOK THE PAPER WITH A NUMBER, LOOKING AT EVGENY PLUSHENKO WHO WAS SITTING ALL THE TIME AND THEN OPENED THE PAPER AND SHOWED THE NUMBER.
THAT'S EXACTLY HOW THE SITUATION WAS GOIN' ON.
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THERE WAS A PAPER OR PAPERS READY IN THE HEAT THAT HE COULD RECOGNIZE.
DEAR FRIENDS, ESC FANS, I WISH YOU TO WATCH THE WHOLE PRESS-CONFERENCE AND ESPECIALLY THE MOMENTS WHEN DIMA WAS IN THE CENTRE OF CAMERA ATTENTION AND THEN JUDGE FOR YOURSELF. I WOULD REALLY LIKE YOU TO REACT.
IT'S SUCH A DIRTY PLAY IN THIS YEAR'S EUROVISION SONG CONTEST!
PLEASE, IF ANYONE CAN DO SOMETHING ??!
THIS IS A CRIMINAL!
PLEASE, ESCTODAY PUT THE LINK OF THE PRESS-CONFERENCE!
I am so happy Poland and Israel proved the punters wrong!!!
The turkey is out - what a relief!
Thanks Adrian. Have fun in Belgrade. Who knows, maybe Belgrade 2009...
best performances of the night#1 GREECE #2 ROUMANIA#3ISRAEL#4 RUSSIA #5 ARMENIA
OVERALL THE SHOW TONIGHT WAS JUST FANTASTIC! Well organized, lovely hosts, the best stage and light effects we've seen so far. Absolutely spectacular! The quality of songs is not bad. I'm very pleasantly surprised. The locals are genuinely friendly, hospitable and good looking. I'm having so much fun in Serbia. I wouldn't mind if Serbian song won again. It's a very good one and it would definitely be great to come to Belgrade again next year. :-)
Azerbaijan, Greece and Israel were the best!
Are they trying to save energy in Serbia or something? The lighting tonight was not good at all. 
The best tonight were:
1-Israel
2-Norway
3-Belgium
4-Bosnia-Herzg.
5-Romania
I didn´t like the presenters and Russia was disaponting after the great Dilma performance in 2006!
Terible were Moldova, Andorra, Greece and Arzebeijan!
Estonia was..well I don´t know what to say about it...but it was at least funny!
Anyway my top favourits are in semi-final 2:
Iceland
Portugal
Sweden
Ukraine
...I think the winner will be dicided among these 4 at the final!
Bravo Kalomoira! Vote for Greece in final ! GO KALOMOIRA GO GREECE!! SECRET COMBINATION ! 
Hi everyone,
I just wanted to say that I am thoroughly impressed with the contest so far. It's been done very professionally and the stage is absolutely awesome. Really fabulous! WELL DONE SERBIA! Many of the songs are quite good and some of them are exceptional which is very unusual. My favourites tonight were Norway, Russia, Romania and Bosnia. Hopefully, the second Semi and the FInal will be as good. Last but not least WILL SOMEONE PLEASE HELP THIS GUY EDIN? HE IS SERIOUSLY DISTURBING AND OBVIOUSLY SUFFERS FROM PARANOID DELUSIONS. I'm very concerned that he may harm himself or others if Russia wins. :-)
esctoday. please, put the link of the whole press-conference!
@ edin
maybe its set up for a russia win , but the song isnt good enough . its ok but not special and he over acts hes like a drama queen
night elf
dont worry ur precious dima wont be disgraced coz this site is apparently not gonna be working during the whole competition so fans wont propably read edin's comments hehe! anyway perhaps i am curious coz i hate Diva Bilan! i agree with u about the stadium! hell it really was empty! why is that? werent the tickets sold out for every show or what?
I WOULD LIKE YOU TO WATCH THAT PRESS CONFERENCE AND TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOMENT WHEN RUSSIAN DIMA BILAN IS TAKING HIS NUMBER IN THE RUNNING-ORDER FOR THE FINAL.
FIRST, HE STOOD UP.
ALL THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS WERE SITTING DOWN AND NONE OF THEM DID THE SAME IN ORDER TO TAKE A NUMBER FROM THE HEAT. HE OBVIOUSLY STOOD UP TO PROVIDE HIMSELF A BETTER LOOK TO THE HEAT AND THEN STARTED TO DO AS FOLLOWS: GIVING AS A PRESENT A PILLOW TO THE LADY WHO KEPT THE HEAT WITH THE NUMBERS IN IT, TAKING OFF HIS ACCREDITATION AND PUTTING IT ON HER NECK AND THESE TRICKS HAD BEEN DONE TO MOVE THE ATTENTION OF THE VIEWERS. AT THE SAME TIME, HE LOOKED AWAY TO THE HEAT SECRETLY.
AFTER THAT, HE TOOK THE PAPER WITH A NUMBER, LOOKING AT EVGENY PLUSHENKO WHO WAS SITTING ALL THE TIME AND THEN OPENED THE PAPER AND SHOWED THE NUMBER.
THAT'S EXACTLY HOW THE SITUATION WAS GOIN' ON.
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THERE WAS A PAPER OR PAPERS READY IN THE HEAT THAT HE COULD RECOGNIZE.
Poland is the wildcard! for sure
Yes, I'd really like to see how the draw was undertaken. I didn't like the fact that it wasn't broadcast, live, so that we could see what was happening. This always seemed really dodgy.
Does anyone have a link to online footage of the draw?
@ esctoday
OMG you still didn't remove Edin from this site... Edin get a life, you are saying that Russia will set up victory since last year, and all that because you know they have chance winning.
Now about tonights show, I think it was amazing !!! But the only thing that bother me was that there wasn't enough croud in the Arena... I don't know how it was showed on TV, but I think Arena was 60% empty..
But on the other hand I culd chose where I want to sit, and I got GOOD seats, so it was GREAT!!!
I hope there will be more ppl for 2nd semi, but everyone are so friendly, Eurovision is great...
Unite unite Europe !!!
Project Zero, wish I could help you, I watched it on RTS satellite channel, on TV.
I WANT TO CLAIM AN OBVIOUS IRREGULARITY DURING DRAW IN THE PRESS CONFERENCE OF SEMI-FINAL QUALIFIERS LAST NIGHT.
BEFORE THAT I WOULD LIKE YOU TO WATCH THAT PRESS CONFERENCE AND TO PAY ATTENTION TO THE MOMENT WHEN RUSSIAN DIMA BILAN IS TAKING HIS NUMBER IN THE RUNNING-ORDER FOR THE FINAL.
FIRST, HE STOOD UP.
ALL THE OTHER PARTICIPANTS WERE SITTING DOWN AND NONE OF THEM DID THE SAME IN ORDER TO TAKE A NUMBER FROM THE HEAT. HE OBVIOUSLY STOOD UP TO PROVIDE HIMSELF A BETTER LOOK TO THE HEAT AND THEN STARTED TO DO AS FOLLOWS: GIVING AS A PRESENT A PILLOW TO THE LADY WHO KEPT THE HEAT WITH THE NUMBERS IN IT, TAKING OFF HIS ACCREDITATION AND PUTTING IT ON HER NECK AND THESE TRICKS HAD BEEN DONE TO MOVE THE ATTENTION OF THE VIEWERS. AT THE SAME TIME, HE LOOKED AWAY TO THE HEAT SECRETLY.
AFTER THAT, HE TOOK THE PAPER WITH A NUMBER, LOOKING AT EVGENY PLUSHENKO WHO WAS SITTING ALL THE TIME AND THEN OPENED THE PAPER AND SHOWED THE NUMBER.
THAT'S EXACTLY HOW THE SITUATION WAS GOIN' ON.
IT IS OBVIOUS THAT THERE WAS A PAPER OR PAPERS READY IN THE HEAT THAT HE COULD RECOGNIZE.
DEAR FRIENDS, ESC FANS, I WISH YOU TO WATCH THE WHOLE PRESS-CONFERENCE AND ESPECIALLY THE MOMENTS WHEN DIMA WAS IN THE CENTRE OF CAMERA ATTENTION AND THEN JUDGE FOR YOURSELF. I WOULD REALLY LIKE YOU TO REACT.
THEY PLAY SO DIRTY IN BELGRADE ( I MEAN RUSSIA) AND IT WILL BE A BIG SHAME FOR THE WHOLE COMPETITION IF THEY WIN.
PLEASE, IF ANYONE CAN DO SOMETHING ??!
THIS IS A CRIMINAL!
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