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Speculate: Fishiness of 2021

Loindici

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Fishiness of 2021

Speculate what suspicious actions you think went behind the curtains of Eurovision 2021!​
 

midnightsun

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2017 on the other hand was not quite nice neither, but I get that Portugal and Bulgaria must have been very anxious not to ruin their chances. Their jury votes were utter BS.
Italy‘s as well if I remember correctly. They were also favourites. It was hilarious in a bad way.

I‘ve said enough the past years about the suspicious stuff of juries - one more reason to think about a change in the jury system.
They have to remain, no doubt, but not that way. Too many influences & bribery. Not a fair result guaranteed in a lot of cases.
 

VirginiaVision

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I think we're maybe being hyperbolic in speculating about Moldova's televote. While it wouldn't shock me if it turned out to be entirely legitimate, I think we're under-considering a couple factors that could explain how it did so well:
  • Varying criteria: not every televoter has the same thought process when they're choosing who to vote for. Some may value the song itself most; others may go for the entry that was the most "unique". With this in mind, we have to remember that plenty of voters didn't care if Natalia had the best vocals or if the staging was flashy enough. The comparatively minimal staging could have actually helped it to appeal to voters who don't like flashy performances.
  • Eastern European appeal: the song itself is very Eastern European. The familiarity factor means it might be more appealing to voters in Eastern/central countries. On the flipside, voters who aren't from that region might be drawn to it because it's not like anything they hear day-to-day, and thereby sticks out in their mind when it's time to pick up the phone.
 

NeoTen

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So.. apparently, the rumours on Twitter were true, at least one telephone company was out of service so some of the Dutch votes at least didn't get through, the EBU confirmed last night. They deny that happened in other countries though.
 

Loindici

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I think we're maybe being hyperbolic in speculating about Moldova's televote. While it wouldn't shock me if it turned out to be entirely legitimate, I think we're under-considering a couple factors that could explain how it did so well:
  • Varying criteria: not every televoter has the same thought process when they're choosing who to vote for. Some may value the song itself most; others may go for the entry that was the most "unique". With this in mind, we have to remember that plenty of voters didn't care if Natalia had the best vocals or if the staging was flashy enough. The comparatively minimal staging could have actually helped it to appeal to voters who don't like flashy performances.
  • Eastern European appeal: the song itself is very Eastern European. The familiarity factor means it might be more appealing to voters in Eastern/central countries. On the flipside, voters who aren't from that region might be drawn to it because it's not like anything they hear day-to-day, and thereby sticks out in their mind when it's time to pick up the phone.

I'm a bit skeptical about the 'Eastern European' appeal, since even Mother Russia's televote only granted them 3p and it's the nation in which Sugar is heavily promoted. Instead, 12p goes to Cyprus.

The Western countries that were voting fore it were Portugal, France, Italy, and Finland (if that counts), but since these countries are way too big to be rigged, I agree this is legitimate.
 

Loindici

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Oh, yeah, does anyone find it a bit offputting that Maltese delegation gets several 'special' treatments? Or maybe it's just me...
 

Kaz

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Tbh I think it's legitimate that Moldova received high televote points from :fr: :it: :pt:, these countries all have a history of voting for Romania (shared language family, diaspora etc.) and without Romania in the final, it makes sense that they would vote for Moldova instead. It happened in 2018 when Moldova qualified but Romania didn't - Moldova received 6, 10, 6 televote points from these countries respectively.
 

Loindici

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:md: was 25th (last) in the German televote and 24th in the German jury vote. At least we got one thing right. :LOL:

It's even funnier considering schlager is big in :de: and I thought it'll be popular over there!
 

rasmuslights

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Tbh I think it's legitimate that Moldova received high televote points from :fr: :it: :pt:, these countries all have a history of voting for Romania (shared language family, diaspora etc.) and without Romania in the final, it makes sense that they would vote for Moldova instead. It happened in 2018 when Moldova qualified but Romania didn't - Moldova received 6, 10, 6 televote points from these countries respectively.

yeah but 12 points? Maybe Italy... Portugal and France nah..
 

empo21

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There has definitely been shady work behind the scenes, but EBU won't investigate and even if they did, they wouldn't find anything simply because:

- influencing the televote via 'simcard queening' is easy, especially in semi-finals when viewship is lower.
- you can't deny the network Kirkorov has in the Eastern European music scene. He probably had friends in each of the juries that gave points to Moldova (he for sure had at least 1 friend in the :bg: jury, that's proven). And I don't think anyone of his friends would come out about any deal that have been made.

Tinfoil hat on now: BNT is a bankrupt network and probably corrupt as well, I would not be surprised if they went as far as accepting bribe.
 

kruskica

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What I think was fishy is putting Malta 6th in running order. I'm pretty sure there was something behind the scenes that we didn't know, cause there is no other explanation why they put one of the favorites in such a bad position, and I don't even like the song.
My theory was that they were annoyed after Maltese delegation insisted on Destiny performing again in 1st semi final jury show, even if she hadn't had a technical issue. They probably let her perform again because they let Ukraine and Romania (who had a serious issue), but were so annoyed at Maltese delegation that they put her to perform 6th in the final. Or maybe the theories that Malta paid odds to place her 1st and bought the whole hype was true and ESC knew about that.
 

Ezio

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I think Malta was trolled. First they got special treatment, then they got 6th place in the running order. A big FU from the producers, it seems.

There is nothing to be done againt Kirkorov Mafia. He played it well this year, but I guess Sweden Mafia played it all along over the years. So if they come for him, he can expose the corrupt network, and in the end, he only achieved 13th place. So let's move on from all this small dick issues.
 

midnightsun

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What I think was fishy is putting Malta 6th in running order. I'm pretty sure there was something behind the scenes that we didn't know, cause there is no other explanation why they put one of the favorites in such a bad position, and I don't even like the song.
My theory was that they were annoyed after Maltese delegation insisted on Destiny performing again in 1st semi final jury show, even if she hadn't had a technical issue. They probably let her perform again because they let Ukraine and Romania (who had a serious issue), but were so annoyed at Maltese delegation that they put her to perform 6th in the final. Or maybe the theories that Malta paid odds to place her 1st and bought the whole hype was true and ESC knew about that.

I still don’t get what was so terrible about running order #6? What would have been a better position? After Switzerland and Iceland? After the songs with incredible performances with moving a lot and then stiff Destiny, glued to the point?
Oh well, Malta would have probably done much worse if they weren’t to perform before slow Portugal - and after Russia whose target audience (strong women) are the same so Russians who did not know Malta before could maybe leave a vote for her too.
 

kruskica

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I still don’t get what was so terrible about running order #6? What would have been a better position? After Switzerland and Iceland? After the songs with incredible performances with moving a lot and then stiff Destiny, glued to the point?
Oh well, Malta would have probably done much worse if they weren’t to perform before slow Portugal - and after Russia whose target audience (strong women) are the same so Russians who did not know Malta before could maybe leave a vote for her too.
Russia overshadowed Malta so much cause it's a more powerful feminism anthem. If they placed her 13th after Iceland and Switzerland I don't think these entries would overshadow her cause they have different target audiences. Also, it's an unwritten rule that favorites are always places among last ones, so why breaking that rule? Italy was 24th, France 20th, Switzerland 11th and Iceland 12th, but why is Malta 6th? Also, no matter which songs are around you, early running order is never good cause these songs get forgotten quickly.
 

Alaska49

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the moment i saw the running order for the final, i thought "wow, malta must have not done that well in the semi? or else they'd give them the spot they just gave russia, which is obviously the better one". then, i was right and russia did way better in the televote of the final, BUT malta didn't do bad in the semifinal at all. i have no idea why this decision was made. malta should have been seen as a contender, and placed in the running order as such.
 

rasmuslights

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the moment i saw the running order for the final, i thought "wow, malta must have not done that well in the semi? or else they'd give them the spot they just gave russia, which is obviously the better one". then, i was right and russia did way better in the televote of the final, BUT malta didn't do bad in the semifinal at all. i have no idea why this decision was made. malta should have been seen as a contender, and placed in the running order as such.

the people are doing the running order are not aware of the results of the semi!
 

Loindici

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True, but „sugar“ has nothing to do with what „Schlager“ is in Germany/Austria.

True, though. I'm thinking of 'Sugar' sounding close to schlager songs and think it might get a point or two for it. Maybe the idea was too far-fetched, after all.
 
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