Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Grand Final

Host country: Israel (Kan)
Venue: Expo Tel Aviv (International Convention Center), Tel Aviv, Israel
Hosts: Bar Refaeli, Erez Tal
Green Room: Assi Azar, Lucy Ayoub
Date: Saturday 18 May 2019

N.B. Any use of "tonight" or "this evening" throughout this post means Saturday 18 May 2019. Any use of "Tuesday" means Tuesday 14 May 2019, whereas any reference to "Thursday" means Thursday 16 May 2019. All times in this post are in BST.

To make this report easier to read, I've split it into sections. Click the applicable link below to jump to the section you want to read:
The Opening
The Songs
Televoting and Interval Act
Jury Results
Televoting Results
Jury and Televoting Comparison
Reprise
And Finally

Important Note About Belarusian Jury Votes

Due to unforeseen circumstances, it was necessary for the EBU to calculate a substitute jury result (based on the results of other countries with similar voting records) for Belarus in the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Grand Final. During the voting presentation, the substitute jury points for Belarus were announced, on screen, in the same manner as the other 40 countries, and put on to the scoreboard. In the days after the Grand Final, an error in the calculation of the substitute Belarusian jury results was discovered, and thus the Belarusian jury points announced, live on screen, turned out to be incorrect. On Wednesday 22 May 2019 at 18:29 CEST (17:29 BST), the EBU issued this statement, formally confirming the error, and thus the EBU amended the 2019 Grand Final results, on the official Eurovision Song Contest website, to include the corrected Belarusian jury scores in place of the incorrect ones. Other websites displaying the ESC 2019 Grand Final results were also amended. In this written account of the event, I've included what viewers saw in the venue and on screen, as well as the official rectified scores. Inevitably this may make this report confusing to read, but in each section, I've made it clear what results I'm using.

The Opening

After the usual Eurovision ident accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude, the Grand Final began with a short opening film, in which last year's winning artist, Netta, was portrayed as flying and landing an aeroplane, which was supposedly carrying all 26 finalists. Obviously Netta wouldn't really have been allowed to fly or land an aeroplane, but it's clever how that film was made. This led seamlessly into Netta appearing on the arena stage, to announce the start of the flag procession. All 26 artists walked on stage, one by one, in the order they were to perform. The artists didn't actually carry flags; instead the flags were created using the coloured light triangles above the stage. There were two breaks in the procession. Firstly, between the appearance of the artists from Sweden and Slovenia, Dana International (who won for Israel in 1998) sang "Tel Aviv" followed by part of Israel's 1998 winning entry "Diva". Secondly, between the appearance of the artists from Estonia and Belarus, Ilanit sang part of "Ey Sham" (this was Israel's first ever entry in 1973). After the parade ended, Nadav Guedj sang "Golden Boy" (Israel's entry in 2015). Once he had finished, the hosts Assi Azar, Lucy Ayoub, Bar Refaeli and Erez Tal entered the stage to give their opening speeches.

The Songs

At 20:15 BST it was time for the first song. Each song was introduced by a postcard film featuring the relevant country's artist visiting a beautiful place in Israel. Every postcard film began with the country's name in the centre of the screen, and triangles in the country's flag colours spinning around it. They all ended with the country's name, song title artist, and other details at the bottom centre of the screen, with a representation of the country's flag using the coloured triangular lights above the stage. Furthermore, BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK had Graham Norton's commentary over the postcard films. I've mentioned some of Graham's comments at various points hereafter; if you saw the Contest outside the UK you won't have heard his comments.

Please note: once the jury and televoting points were all allocated to the scoreboard at the end, and after the subsequent correction of the Belarusian substitute jury points, Slovenia and France both ended up with a combined total of 105 points each, but Slovenia is said to have finished 15th and France 16th. I have quoted the following points and placings from the official Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Grand Final web page, which I believe and trust as the only official source.

In this section, all quoted jury and combined points and placings are based on the corrected Belarusian substitute jury points, as officially announced on Wednesday 22 May 2019.

Song 1: Malta - Michela "Chameleon" (14th place, 107 points)

#MLT Although this was one of my least liked songs among the preview videos, and on the ESC 2019 CD album, I liked it considerably better in the Second Semi-Final, and ended up voting for it that evening. This was a lively, catchy song to start the Grand Final. Michela sang well, and the dancers added to the impact of the song. The staging was excellent; I liked the way the plain background frequently changed colour. In addition, the aquarium background early on, and the leafy background during the second verse, added variety to the staging. Oddly, this song finished 10th with 87 points in the jury vote, but only 22nd with 20 points in the televote. Nonetheless, its combined result of 14th place and 107 points was about right for this song.

Song 2: Albania - Jonida Maliqi "Ktheju tokës" (17th place, 90 points)

#ALB I quite liked this from the moment I first saw the preview video and wanted this to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening (so much so, this was among the songs I voted for that evening). The Grand Final performance was just as impressive, it's an excellent authentic Balkan ballad, sung in Albanian. Jonida gave a good live performance; her outfit completed the look, and the staging was just right for this song. I liked the flame effects towards the end. This song had what must have been the most consistent scoring of the night; 17th with 43 points in the jury voting, 17th with 47 points in the televoting and 17th with 90 points overall. I think it could perhaps have justified placing slightly higher than that; it was good enough for top fifteen, but not top ten.

Song 3: Czech Republic - Lake Malawi "Friend of a Friend" (11th place, 157 points)

#CZE When I first saw the online video, I was unimpressed with "Friend of a Friend". This is one of the few songs I'd rather not have qualified from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. The song starts a bit slow, but it has a really catchy chorus. Going by the Grand Final performance alone, I liked the way the background changed colour, and the rectangles which moved about at times. Finally, it was great to see the word "Friend" in many languages on the big screen at the end. There was a massive difference of opinion between the juries and public here; this song finished 8th with 150 points in the jury voting, but only 24th with 7 points in the televoting. That surprised me to say the least; I thought this would receive very few (if any) points from the juries, and a massive score from the public. Anyway, the combined total of 11th place and 157 points was way too high; I'd have given this a bottom six placing.

Song 4: Germany - S!sters "Sister" (25th place, 24 points)

#DEU The first Big Five contender of the evening. When I watched Germany's national final Unser Lied für Israel online from the UK, on Friday 22 February 2019, I ranked this song just third out of seven. At the time, I thought this was one of the better songs that evening, but as other countries gradually announced their songs, this became one of my least liked ESC 2019 entries. Going by the Grand Final performance alone, I liked the way the ladies took turns to sing individually during the first verse, and how they sang together with good harmony during the choruses. The single and multiple images of the ladies' faces on the background screens added impact, as did the falling fireworks (whether real or created graphically) at the end. Nonetheless, I guessed this was destined for near bottom of the scoreboard. Unsurprisingly, this finished 21st with 24 points in the jury voting, last with zero points in the televoting and 25th with 24 points overall.

Song 5: Russia - Sergey Lazarev "Scream" (3rd place, 370 points)

#RUS Sergey first represented Russia in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2016 with "You Are the Only One". This year he represented Russia again, this time with a different song style. I particularly wanted this to qualify from the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, in fact this was one of the countries I voted for that evening. This was certainly the best song in the Grand Final line-up so far; it had a very powerful chorus. The staging was excellent throughout; I liked the multiple images of Sergey, the flying through stars effect and the forks of lightning. Altogether, an excellent power ballad, very well sung live; I guessed this would finish top five. After finishing 9th with 126 points in the jury vote (which I feel was a bit low), followed by a more respectable 4th with 244 points in the public vote, this ended up with a well-deserved 3rd place and 370 points overall.
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A short break followed at this point. During this break, one of the hosts interviewed Jean Paul Gaultier in the Green Room.

Song 6: Denmark - Leonora "Love Is Forever" (12th place, 120 points)

#DNK When I watched Dansk Melodi Grand Prix 2019 online from the UK, on Saturday 23 February 2019, I was disappointed at Leonora's "Love Is Forever" winning, because I thought there were better songs that night which could have been chosen to represent Denmark. Although Leonora has a beautiful voice, and "Love Is Forever" is a nice ballad, I still feel the style of song sounds rather similar to Switzerland's "In Love for a While" which finished last with just 19 points in the ESC 2011 Grand Final. Anyway, Leonora gave a good live performance during the Grand Final. Although she performed most of the song in English, she included a verse and chorus in French, and even a couple of lines in Danish and German. I liked the background sky scene, complete with clouds, but I'm still mystified by the need for the giant chair on stage. I expected this to finish near bottom of the scoreboard, but nonetheless this ended up 12th with 69 points in the jury vote, 15th with 51 points in the televote and 12th with 120 points overall. I think it was a tad over-rated by both the juries and public; I'd have ranked this bottom six.

Song 7: San Marino - Serhat "Say Na Na Na" (19th place, 77 points)

#SMR Serhat first represented this microstate in 2016 with "I Didn't Know", which failed to qualify. This year he was back, with the song "Say Na Na Na". After a dull start, the chorus is fun and catchy, and easy for anyone to sing along to. As much as I liked this entry for its fun and catchy chorus, this was among my "Prefer not to qualify" songs in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. I'd have preferred Poland, Hungary or Belgium, all of which were superior quality, instead of this in the Grand Final. Anyway, it was nice to have this fun disco / party entry in the Grand Final. This finished 23rd with 12 points in the jury vote but was somewhat over-rated by the public at 10th place and 65 points. The combined result of 19th place and 77 points was about as much as this song deserved.

Song 8: North Macedonia - Tamara Todevska "Proud" (7th place, 305 points)

#MKD Since their first official entry in 1998, this country participated under the name F.Y.R. Macedonia until 2018. This is the country's first time of being referred to as North Macedonia. Although I quite liked this ballad in the preview video and on the ESC 2019 CD album, this ended up being one of my "Wouldn't mind qualifying" entries in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening. Anyway, I'm now glad it qualified. During the Grand Final, Tamara gave an excellent performance of this song. I expected this to be a middle-of-the-road contender. Surprisingly, this won the jury vote with 247 points, but just 12th with 58 points in the televote. A massive difference of opinion between the juries and the public. Anyway, this finished with a well-deserved combined result of 7th place and 305 points, which is North Macedonia's best placing to-date.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, two of the hosts spoke to artists in the Green Room.

Song 9: Sweden - John Lundvik "Too Late For Love" (5th place, 334 points)

#SWE Another foreign national final I watched online live from the UK was Melodifestivalen Final 2019 on Saturday 9 March 2019. I was surprised John Lundvik's "Too Late For Love" won, because at the time I thought there were other, better, songs more worthy of representing Sweden in Tel Aviv. Anyway, the song grew on me thereafter. During the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, this was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify, hence this was among the songs I voted for that evening. Going solely by the Grand Final performance alone, John sang very well, I liked the light column (which was illuminated during certain parts of the song) and the accompanying gospel singers (who appeared about two thirds of the way through). Altogether, this gospel ballad was one of the best songs in the Grand Final. This finished 2nd with 241 points in the jury vote, but only 9th with 93 points in the televote. Another massive difference of opinion between the juries and public in terms of points. The combined result of 5th place and 334 points was about right for this song; I don't think it was good enough to win.

Song 10: Slovenia - Zala Kralj & Gašper Šantl "Sebi" (15th place, 105 points)

#SVN I loved this song from the moment it won EMA Final 2019 (which I watched online live from the UK). During the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, this is one of the songs I most wanted to qualify (I would have voted for it that evening if I'd been able to) and was over the moon when it was called out. I liked the way that Zala sang towards Gašper throughout the song. Admittedly Zala's voice was soft during the performance, but perhaps "Sebi" is meant to be sung softly. Going by the Grand Final performance alone, this ballad was very well sung. The starry background added to the magic of the song. Altogether, a deeply immersive ballad. This finished 15th with 46 points in the jury vote, 11th with 59 points in the televote and 15th with 105 points overall. I feel this was under-rated; this masterpiece deserved a top ten placing.

Song 11: Cyprus - Tamta "Replay" (13th place, 109 points)

#CYP This was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening. Based solely on the Grand Final performance, Tamta gave an impressive performance of "Replay", accompanied by four dancers, plus flashing lights and flame effects. Although "Replay" was a lively, catchy song, I didn't think it was as good as "Fuego" was last year. This finished 11th with 77 points in the jury vote, but only 20th with 32 points in the televote. The combined result of 13th place and 109 points was about right for this song; it wasn't good enough for top ten.

Song 12: The Netherlands - Duncan Laurence "Arcade" (Winner, 498 points)

#NLD During the two months leading up to Eurovision Week, this song was strongly tipped to win outright! I certainly enjoyed the preview video, and hearing this on the CD album. Although I was a bit disappointed with the live performance in the Second Semi-Final on Thursday, this was still among the songs I most wanted to qualify, and hence voted for, that evening. I'm glad this qualified, I thought Duncan sang it better in the Grand Final. I particularly liked the blue lighting and background images on the screen, both of which added to the atmosphere. Finally, as a RCCGB member, I liked the line "Get me off this roller coaster". Altogether, an excellent, deeply emotional ballad, which stood out from the crowd; this was one of the best songs in the Grand Final. Despite finishing 3rd with 237 points in the jury vote, and 2nd with 261 points in the televote, this ended up as the overall winner with 498 points.

Song 13: Greece - Katerine Duska "Better Love" (21st place, 74 points)

#GRC For some time, this was tipped to win the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, but ended up finishing just 5th that night. Never mind, I particularly wanted this to qualify Tuesday evening. I'm glad it did, and it was well performed in the Grand Final. I loved the on-stage centrepiece, which towards the end, was turned around to show its floral side (petals on the background screen completed the floral effect at this moment). Altogether a powerful catchy song, but I'm mystified as to the significance of the swords held by some of the accompanying performers. After a reasonable 14th place with 50 points in the jury vote, this was somewhat under-rated by the public at 21st with 24 points in the televote. Consequently, this finished a disappointing 21st place with 74 points overall. I think 11th to 15th would have been more appropriate for this song.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, one of the hosts gave a short speech from the Green Room.

Song 14: Israel - Kobi Marimi "Home" (23rd place, 35 points)

#ISR Now for the second direct qualifier of the night, that being last year's winner, and this year's host country, Israel. A beautiful ballad, Kobi has a great voice, and he sang very well during the Grand Final. At the start of the second verse, Kobi was joined by a group of backing singers. This masterpiece is what you call a proper song, much better than Netta's "TOY" last year. Last place with zero points in the jury vote was an absolute insult. Even in the televote, this was under-rated at 19th place and 35 points. Overall, this ended up with a combined result of 23rd place and 35 points. This host entry deserved a much higher placing; 11th to 15th would have been more appropriate.

Song 15: Norway - KEiiNO "Spirit in the Sky" (6th place, 331 points)

#NOR I particularly liked this from the moment I first saw the preview video. During the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, this was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify, which is why this was among the songs I voted for that evening. I love the way it's got bits of joik in it. The Grand Final performance was excellent; well sung and the background images added to the impact. Altogether, this was one of the best performances of the Grand Final. Sadly, it was grossly under-rated by the juries at just 18th place and 40 points. Thankfully this won the public vote with 291 points, but even so, it ended up just 6th with 331 points. This song ought to have finished second or third overall.

Song 16: United Kingdom - Michael Rice "Bigger Than Us" (26th place, 11 points)

#GBR The third direct qualifier, and second Big Five contender of the night, that being the UK's entry. As a UK resident, it's always difficult for me to give an unbiased opinion of the UK's entry. Michael has a good voice, and I liked the background screen images during the second and final choruses, but overall this seemed somewhat tame compared to the earlier entries. I thought the two verses were a bit dull. Although the first two choruses sounded livelier, this only really got going when the backing singers entered the stage around two thirds of the way through. The best bits were the brief burst of fireworks, followed by the overhead view of the on-stage circle towards the end. This finished 24th with 8 points in the jury vote, 25th with just 3 points in the public vote and 26th (last) with 11 points overall. Quite frankly I'm not surprised this ended up where it did. Maybe it could have merited a few places higher, but this was clearly a bottom six contender.

A short break followed at this point. During this break, two of the hosts spoke to Tamara Todevska (North Macedonia), Serhat (San Marino) and Sergey Lazarev (Russia), all of whom had represented their countries in the Eurovision Song Contest previously.

Song 17: Iceland - Hatari "Hatrið mun sigra" (10th place, 232 points)

#ISL When I watched Söngvakeppnin 2019 Final online live from the UK, on 2 March 2019, I hated this song most of all, and didn't want it to win. Against my wishes, it did. During the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening I didn't want this to qualify, but it did (I guessed it would; in fact, I'd have been shocked if it hadn't qualified!). The choruses are thrash metal, which is not my cup of tea anyway. Despite my dislike for this song, I think the haunted style music in the verses goes well with the thrash metal choruses; a marriage made in heaven. The staging was impressive, including the flame effects. Undoubtedly this would have been a dedicated metal fan's favourite, but there must be thousands like me who didn't like this entry. This finished 16th with 46 points in the jury vote and 6th with 186 points in the televote, which was a massive difference of opinion. Overall, this finished 10th place with 232 points, which I feel is more than it deserved (I would have ranked it near bottom). I'm not surprised this finished where it did; I guessed it would finish top ten.

Song 18: Estonia - Victor Crone "Storm" (20th place, 76 points)

#EST Now for a much nicer song from Estonia. I particularly wanted this to qualify from the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, and am glad it did. This reminds me of Sweden's "Popular" in 2011, but I think it's a weaker song. Going by the Grand Final performance alone, Victor sang "Storm" well throughout, and the staging was impressive, especially the forks of lightning towards the end. This finished 20th with 28 points in the jury vote, 16th with 48 points in the televote, and 20th with 76 points overall. I think this deserved a better result; 12th to 15th in both halves of the voting and overall would have been more appropriate for this.

Song 19: Belarus - ZENA "Like It" (24th place, 31 points)

#BLR I watched the Belarusian national final live online from the UK, and therefore saw this win and qualify. During the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, this was one of my "Wouldn't mind qualifying" entries. The staging was impressive, including the background images and flame effects. I liked the on-stage dancers, particularly when they did their flip-overs. Undeniably a fun and catchy song, particularly the chorus, but from the outset this was clearly destined for bottom ten. Going by the Grand Final performance alone, 22nd place with 18 points in the jury vote, 23rd place with 13 points in the televote and 24th place with 31 points was an appropriate set of results for this song.

Song 20: Azerbaijan - Chingiz "Truth" (8th place, 302 points)

#AZE This was one of my "Wouldn't mind qualifying" contenders on Thursday evening; I didn't mind seeing this in the Grand Final but wouldn't have missed if it hadn't been there. Going by the Grand Final performance alone, Chingiz sang well, and I liked the background images, including the beating heart and the big face which appeared at certain times. Altogether, not a bad entry, but it certainly wasn't one of the best songs in the Grand Final. I think this was somewhat over-rated at 5th place with 202 points in the jury vote, 8th place with 100 points in the televote and 8th place with 302 points overall. As far as I'm concerned, "Truth" wasn't good enough for top ten; 11th to 16th from the juries, public and overall would have been more appropriate for this.

Song 21: France - Bilal Hassani "Roi" (16th place, 105 points)

#FRA The fourth direct qualifier, and third Big Five contender of the night was France. Bilal gave a good performance of "Roi", in a mixture of English and French. I liked the way she was joined by two dancers, and the captions on the background screens helped get the message across. Altogether, not a bad entry, but this was very much a middle-of-the-road contender, which was destined for a mid-table placing. This finished 13th with 67 points in the jury vote, 18th with 38 points in the televote and 16th with 105 points, which was about right for this song.

Song 22: Italy - Mahmood "Soldi" (2nd place, 472 points)

#ITA From one Big Five contender to another, it was now Italy's turn to perform. Mahmood gave an excellent performance of this song, which was quite catchy. I liked the flying banknotes which appeared on the background screen or stage floor at times, and the captions which appeared on the background screen at various moments in the song. However, I'm mystified as to the significance of the men in black T-shirts (with red circles on). Altogether, a memorable performance, by far the best Big Five entry of the night, and one of the better entries in the Grand Final. Nonetheless, I think this was over-rated by the juries and public; this finished 4th with 219 points in the jury vote, 3rd with 253 points in the televote and 2nd with 472 points overall. Personally, I think 6th to 10th in both halves of the voting and overall would have been more appropriate; this wasn't good enough for top five.

Song 23: Serbia - Nevena Božović "Kruna" (18th place, 89 points)

#SRB Serbia went for a ballad this year. I quite liked "Kruna" whilst watching its preview video and listening to the ESC 2019 CD. However, during the First Semi-Final on Tuesday, this was merely one of my "Wouldn't mind qualifying" entries. Nevena sang this ballad well during the Grand Final, and the on-stage graphics were impressive, but this was clearly a contender for bottom half of the scoreboard. This finished 19th with 35 points in the jury vote, 13th with 54 points in the public vote and 18th with 89 points overall, which was reasonable for this song.

Song 24: Switzerland - Luca Hänni "She Got Me" (4th place, 364 points)

#CHE I liked this song from the moment I first saw its preview video. During the Second Semi-Final on Thursday evening, this was one of the songs I most wanted to qualify, and I'm overjoyed it did. The song itself has a very catchy chorus. The Grand Final performance of "She Got Me" was excellent; Luca sang well, and he was accompanied by four dancers, who gave a well-choreographed dance routine. The red lighting and patterns on the background screen enhanced the performance further. That said, I'm mystified as to why red, rather than any other colour, was chosen for the lighting and dancers' costumes. Altogether, one of the best entries of the Grand Final. This finished 7th with 152 points in the jury voting, which I feel was a bit low. Fortunately, the public rated this song higher, 5th place and 212 points, thereby putting it a well-deserved 4th place and 364 points overall.

Song 25: Australia - Kate Miller-Heidke "Zero Gravity" (9th place, 284 points)

#AUS Whether you agree or disagree with Australia being allowed to participate in the Eurovision Song Contest at all, Australia was back this year. Although I didn't like this very much when it was first picked, I liked the live performance in the First Semi-Final on Tuesday evening, and wanted it to qualify. The three performers were on bendy stilts; it's amazing how Kate could sing whilst swaying around. Presumably that was to represent floating in Space. The song was enhanced by the galaxy of stars on the background screens, and the planet image beneath the performers. Altogether, an out of this world performance. Despite finishing 6th with 153 points in the jury vote, and 7th with 131 points in the televote, this ended up just 9th place with 284 points overall. This song ought to have finished 6th or 7th overall, but I don't think it was good enough for top five.

Song 26: Spain - Miki "La Venda" (22nd place, 54 points)

#ESP The final song in the line-up, and the last of the Big Five entries, was Spain. This year Spain went for a lively party / disco type song, "La Venda". This song featured a variety of background images. These included a plain background which changed colour during the first verse and a starry background during the second verse. However, the most notable background was during the first two choruses; the coloured powder effect, which resembled the coloured paint powder used for UV paint parties (e.g. ColourFest at Oakwood Theme Park, Pembrokeshire, Wales on selected evenings in August the last few years). Evidently, the colour powder effect must have been simulated graphically; it's amazing how that was possible. The on-stage dancers added to the impact of the song. However, I question the need for the two-level box structure. Altogether, a lively, catchy song to close the show. This finished 25th with just 1 point in the jury voting, which was hardly surprising. Despite faring considerably better in the public vote, 14th with 53 points (which was well-deserved), this entry ended up 22nd with 54 points overall (which I feel was too low). I think this ought to have finished 11th to 15th in both halves of the voting, and overall.

Back to the top

Televoting and Interval Act

As soon as Miki finished performing, Assi gave a short speech from the Green Room. He wished all the artists the best of luck. Shortly afterwards, Lucy, Erez and Bar appeared on stage to announce the start of the televoting. Unfortunately, their words were drowned out by Graham Norton who outlined the voting procedure for UK viewers. At 22:08, Lucy, Erez and Bar said "Europe, start voting now". The voting lines opened, and a recap of the songs followed with the phone numbers at the bottom of the screen. When the UK's song extract appeared, a caption at the bottom of the screen stated "UK VIEWERS CANNOT VOTE FOR THE UK ENTRY" and "Your vote won't count and you may still be charged." Were any UK viewers foolish enough to try dialling the voting stem with 16 at the end? Knowing that the lines would almost certainly be extremely busy during this recap, I deliberately delayed voting until later. When I eventually tried voting (quite well into the televoting session), I successfully voted for: Netherlands, Norway, Switzerland, Russia, Slovenia, Israel, Spain, Australia. Voting for eight songs might seem extravagant, but they were my top eight on My Eurovision Scoreboard during the Grand Final. Whilst the voting lines were open, there was a series of stage acts, and intermediate fillers, as outlined below.

Interval Act 1: Switch Song

Past Eurovision Song Contest winners and runners-up, performing other artists' past winning / second placed Eurovision songs, in their own style.

"Heroes" performed by Conchita Wurst

Conchita Wurst, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2014, performed "Heroes" (which was originally sung by Måns Zelmerlöw for Sweden in 2015). Background images included the chalk figure floating away, and a series of light patterns.

"Fuego" performed by Måns Zelmerlöw

Måns Zelmerlöw, who won the Eurovision Song Contest 2015, performed "Fuego" (which was originally sung by Eleni Foureira for Cyprus in 2018). Unsurprisingly this included on-stage flame effects.

"Dancing Lasha Tumbai" performed by Eleni Foureira

Eleni Foureira, who was the runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest 2018, performed "Dancing Lasha Tumbai" (which was originally sung by Verka Serduchka for Ukraine in 2007). In the opening line, she sang Hello everybody, my name is Eleni Foureira (instead of "Hello everybody, my name is Verka Serduchka" in the original version). She was joined on stage by four additional performers to dance with her, and raise her into the air for certain parts of the song. Disco balls appeared on the background screens, and there were on-stage flame effects for part of the song.

"Toy" performed by Verka Serduchka

Verka Serduchka, who was the runner-up in the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, performed "Toy" (which was originally sung by Netta Barzilai for Israel in 2018). For this performance, the cases of Maneki-nekos (as used for Israel's song last year) were recreated graphically on the background screens. Verka was joined by a backing group who performed the dance routine. Just before the second verse, Verka included the line "Ein, zwei, drei" which was part of "Dancing Lasha tumbai" (Ukraine 2007), but which wasn't in "Toy".

"Hallelujah" performed by Gali Atari

Finally, Gali Atari sang "Hallelujah" (which was the Israeli entry, and winner of, the Eurovision Song Contest 1979). Part way through, she was joined by Måns Zelmerlöw, followed by Conchita Wurst, Eleni Foureira and Verka Serduchka. For this song, the stage rings from the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 were recreated graphically on the background screens.

This was followed by a second recap of the competing songs, complete with the voting numbers. During this recap, UK viewers heard Graham Norton reading out viewers' messages. Just after this recap ended, Assi spoke to Madonna (who was to perform later) in the Green Room for a few minutes.

Interval Act 2: "Bo'ee - Come to Me" performed by Idan Raichel

The second interval act featured one of Israel's most celebrated musicians, Idan Raichel and his orchestra. He performed the song "Bo'ee - Come to Me" from the Idan Raichel Project. Background images included a desert scene and a stained glass window.

When Idan Raichel finished, Lior Suchard (mentalist) performed a trick on three of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 Grand Final performers.

Interval Act 3: "Nana Banana" performed by Netta Barzilai

Next, Netta Barzilai, who won for Israel last year, performed her latest song "Nana Banana". Having started singing whilst seated in a chair which resembled a banana, she got onto a long table. As she sang whilst kneeling atop the table, her assistants rotated the table. Further into the song, she was on the stage, accompanied by dancers. Altogether, not bad a song, but I don't think this would have won if she had performed this in last year's Contest.

Once Netta finished singing, there was a third recap of the songs. Graham Norton reminded viewers of the voting numbers, including the fact that UK viewers couldn't vote for the UK.

Interval Act 4: Madonna

At last, it was time for Madonna. She performed two songs, "Like a Prayer", followed by her brand-new single "Future". Madonna and the others made good use of the steps towards the back of the stage; evidently those steps had been put in place for this act.

Once Madonna finished singing, Lucy and Bar told viewers this was their last chance to vote, as the numbers were flashed on screen in sequence one final time. Following the final 10 second countdown, the lines closed at 23:06. A caption appeared on screen "Stop voting now". Graham Norton said "Michael Rice, his fate is sealed, good luck Michael". When the lines closed, there was a short film "Tel Aviv in three minutes", however it lasted just two minutes. Presumably this was a filler whilst the steps used in Madonna's act were taken away, and the lectern was put in place for the voting.

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Jury Results

At last, it was time to start the presentation of the voting results. The voting system first used in 2016 was used again this year. That meant the jury results from each country yielded one set of 1 to 12 points, and each country's televoting results generated a completely separate set of 1 to 12 points. Erez and Assi appeared and gave a short speech. Jon Ola Sand stated that the EBU had a valid result from the 41 professional juries, and they were ready to present the jury results. The points from the jury voting were about to be presented in the traditional way first. Graham Norton pointed out that the jury results were based on the Friday evening rehearsals, in front of a full audience, but the viewers' votes were based on the Saturday evening Grand Final. Assi announced the start of the jury voting.

All 41 countries, including the 15 non-qualifiers, voted in the Grand Final. The voting order was Portugal,
Azerbaijan, Malta, North Macedonia, San Marino, The Netherlands, Montenegro, Estonia, Poland, Norway, Spain, Austria, United Kingdom, Italy, Albania, Hungary, Moldova, Ireland, Belarus, Armenia, Romania, Cyprus, Australia, Russia, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, Croatia, Lithuania, Serbia, Iceland, Georgia, Greece, Latvia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Switzerland, Slovenia, Israel.

The points announced by each country's spokesperson, e.g. Portugal, were from that country's jury voting only. Just like in 2016 to 2018, the 1 to 10-point scores were displayed on screen when the spokesperson appeared, added to the scoreboard as a block and the spokesperson only announced the 12-point score.

Portugal, which announced its jury points first, gave 12 points to The Netherlands, who were strongly tipped to win. However, Azerbaijan gave nothing to The Netherlands, and 8 points to North Macedonia, putting North Macedonia in the lead briefly. Malta, which announced its jury points third, put Italy in the lead and The Netherlands in third place. Already any hopes of a runaway jury win for The Netherlands looked far less likely than expected. Once the United Kingdom had announced its jury points, North Macedonia was in the lead again, and The Netherlands was fifth. By the time the 15th country, Albania had announced its jury scores, The Netherlands was sixth with 65 points, against the leading North Macedonia with 91 points. Later The Netherlands gradually rose up the scoreboard, and ended up third.

Belarus was the 19th country to announce its jury points, which on this occasion, were a substitute set of points based on the results of other countries with similar voting records. This is what the scoreboard looked like just before Maria Vasilevich announced the Belarusian "jury" points.

North Macedonia	118	Serbia	25
Sweden	93	France	22
Azerbaijan	87	Greece	22
Italy	82	Norway	19
Australia	77	Slovenia	18
The Netherlands	77	Iceland	11
Russia	74	Belarus	10
Switzerland	73	Estonia	5
Czech Republic	69	United Kingdom	4
Denmark	46	Germany	2
Malta	42	San Marino	1
Cyprus	34	Israel	0
Albania	33	Spain	0

The Belarusian "jury" points, announced by Maria Vasilevich, were as follows: Australia 1 point, Iceland 2 points, Serbia 3 points, San Marino 4 points, United Kingdom 5 points, Spain 6 points, Norway 7 points, Germany 8 points, Estonia 10 points, Israel 12 points. At the time, I just believed these points to be correct, and didn't suspect anything could possibly be wrong with them. This was largely due to the way in which I read the 1 to 10 points as quickly as possible and waited eagerly for whoever received the 12 points. However, according to these articles on Eurovision World and wiwibloggs, it looked as though the Belarusian "jury" points may have been incorrect. On Wednesday 22 May 2019 at 18:29 CEST (17:29 BST), the EBU confirmed that the Belarusian "jury" points, as announced during the Grand Final, actually were incorrect. The corrected Belarusian "jury" points officially became: Russia 1 point, Sweden 2 points, Greece 3 points, Switzerland 4 points, Azerbaijan 5 points, The Netherlands 6 points, Italy 7 points, Cyprus 8 points, North Macedonia 10 points, Malta 12 points.

The upshot of this was, on the night, Kobi, from Israel, was shown as having received 12 jury points, when he wasn't supposed to have them in the first place, and that Michela, from Malta, missed out on being shown as having received 12 jury points (a pity as that was the only set of 12 jury points she received). Furthermore, the finalists' cumulative totals and placings, on the scoreboard, were incorrect from the moment Maria Vasilevich finished announcing the Belarusian "jury" points right up until all the televoting totals had been put on the scoreboard at the end. For the rest of this section I have quoted the running totals as they appeared on the scoreboard, on the night of the Grand Final.

A break occurred between Cyprus and Australia. At this point the top five (inclusive of the erroneous Belarusian "jury" scores) were 1st North Macedonia 135, 2nd Sweden 113, 3rd Azerbaijan 103, 4th Italy 98, 5th Russia 95. During this break, Lucy spoke to Tamara from North Macedonia, which was leading, followed by John Lundvik from Sweden, which was in second place.

After the break, North Macedonia (which had been in the lead since the United Kingdom announced its jury points) maintained its lead until Finland had announced all of its jury points. When Switzerland's 1 to 10 jury points were added to the scoreboard, Sweden was momentarily in the lead, until Switzerland's 12 jury points for North Macedonia were put on the scoreboard, thereby moving North Macedonia back into the lead. The penultimate country, Slovenia, kept North Macedonia in the lead. The top three was now (or at least, appeared to be) 1st North Macedonia 237, 2nd Sweden 233, 3rd The Netherlands 219. Finally, Israel, which announced its jury points last, gave no points to North Macedonia, 6 points to Sweden and 12 points to The Netherlands. It appeared as though North Macedonia had been pipped at the post on jury voting.

As usual, there were a few exchanges of 12 jury points within certain country groups. Unsurprisingly Cyprus and Greece gave each other 12 jury points. Montenegro gave 12 jury points to Serbia, and Serbia gave 12 jury points to North Macedonia. Surprisingly those were the only 12-point votes between two ex-Yugoslav countries on jury voting. Slovenia received no jury points from the other ex-Yugoslav countries. Equally surprising was the jury voting among the Nordic countries. Denmark, Finland and Iceland all gave 12 jury points to Sweden. However, Denmark and Norway received only a few points from the other Nordic countries, and Iceland received no points at all from the other four Nordic countries. Belgium gave just 6 jury points to The Netherlands, not 12 as one might have expected. A more detailed analysis of bloc voting is available here.

Once the spokespersons from all 41 countries had announced their jury voting points, the scoreboard looked like this on screen:

1	Sweden	239	14	Iceland	48
2	North Macedonia	237	15	Norway	47
3	The Netherlands	231	16	Greece	47
4	Italy	212	17	Slovenia	46
5	Azerbaijan	197	18	Albania	43
6	Australia	154	19	Serbia	38
7	Czech Republic	150	20	Estonia	38
8	Switzerland	148	21	Germany	32
9	Russia	125	22	Belarus	18
10	Malta	75	23	San Marino	16
11	Denmark	69	24	United Kingdom	13
12	Cyprus	69	25	Israel	12
13	France	67	26	Spain	7

As can be seen, the difference between first place and third place, as presented at this moment on the night, was just eight points, which was a very close finish for the jury voting. At this point Lucy spoke to John Lundvik from Sweden which, so it seemed, was now in the lead. John was evidently excited as he and his backing singers started singing part of "Too Late For Love". Lucy wished John good luck in the popular vote.

This is what the scoreboard would have looked like if the corrected Belarusian aggregated jury points (as revealed by the EBU on 22 May 2019) had been announced live by Maria Vasilevich during the Grand Final:

1	North Macedonia	247	14	Greece	50
2	Sweden	241	15	Slovenia	46
3	The Netherlands	237	16	Iceland	46
4	Italy	219	17	Albania	43
5	Azerbaijan	202	18	Norway	40
6	Australia	153	19	Serbia	35
7	Switzerland	152	20	Estonia	28
8	Czech Republic	150	21	Germany	24
9	Russia	126	22	Belarus	18
10	Malta	87	23	San Marino	12
11	Cyprus	77	24	United Kingdom	8
12	Denmark	69	25	Spain	1
13	France	67	26	Israel	0

Here, the ten countries that looked as though they had received aggregated jury points from Belarus (as announced by Maria Vasilevich) have lost the points they were not supposed to receive in the first place, and the ten countries that were supposed to receive points from the Belarusian "jury" have gained the points they were originally meant to have. This has changed a number of finalists' positions on the scoreboard, e.g. Spain and Israel have swapped the bottom two positions. However, far more serious, is the switching of the top two positions. After the mistake came to light, and was officially rectified by the EBU, it turns out that John Lundvik from Sweden had his moment in the spotlight when he shouldn't have (as he had really only finished second in the jury vote), and Tamara Todevska, who had really won the jury vote, missed out on her moment in the spotlight when all 41 countries' jury scores were in. The difference between first place and third place is now 10 points, but that's still very close.

Anyway, announcement of the jury points took about 38 minutes.

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Televoting Results

Erez reappeared, accompanied by Bar, to present the results of the public vote. Erez asked Jon Ola Sand if the televoting had gone according to plan. He said it had, and the EBU had a valid televoting result, and the procedure would be very, very exciting. Erez and Bar explained how the televoting works. In each of the 41 countries, the public's phone / text / app votes were totalled up, and converted to 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 12 points to the top 10 voted-for songs. However instead of going around all the 41 countries and having the spokespersons announce each country's televoting points in the same manner as the jury points, all 41 countries' televoting points were added together behind the scenes to produce one total televoting score for each finalist. Erez and Bar announced the total amount of televoting points each finalist had received from each of the other 40 countries. However, in a change from 2016 to 2018 inclusive, they announced the televoting totals starting with the finalist that had the lowest jury place, which (so it seemed) was Spain, and worked their way up the scoreboard until they reached Sweden which (so it seemed) had won the jury vote. Graham Norton's comments, which BBC One / BBC One HD viewers in the UK heard, are shown in square brackets.

Erez: As we said, we begin with the country that is now in last place, it's Spain, and Spain gets 53 points from the public voting. [That's a big change]
Bar: We move on to Israel, and Israel received 35 points from the public.
Erez: Moving on to United Kingdom, and the public points to the United Kingdom are 3 points. [Ooh that's got to hurt, poor Michael Rice, that is awful]
Bar: We move on, to San Marino, San Marino received 65 points.
Erez: Let's move on now to Belarus, the public gave you 13 points.
Bar: We go to Germany, you received from the public votes, I'm sorry, zero points. [Well, although we are beneath Germany in the leader board, we did do better in that at least somebody voted for Michael; no-one voted for Germany]
Erez: We have to move on to Estonia now, Estonia, the public gave you 48 points.
Bar: Next up is Serbia, Serbia, you received 54 points from the public votes.
Erez: Let's move on to Albania, and Albania you received 47 points.
Bar: We move on to Slovenia, and Slovenia, you are with 59 points.
Erez: Moving on to Greece, Greece, get ready to receive 24 points. [Again, I thought that would have got more.]
Bar: Next up is Norway, Norway, are you ready, because you got 291 points. [There you go, that's how this thing works, the public come along and change everything. That is sensational. It's probably not enough for a win, but I love it, how the public can change things that much.] (This put Norway in the lead)
Erez: Let's move on to Iceland, Iceland, the pubic gave you, I said are you ready,186 points. [Wow!]
Bar: Our next country is France, and you received, from the public votes, 38 points.
Erez: Let's move on to Cyprus, Cyprus, the public gave you 32 points.
Bar: Next up is Denmark, and Denmark received 51 points. [Not bad]
Erez: Let's move on to Malta, Malta, the public gave you 20 points. [It does seem a harsh way of doing this with a close-up of that girl's face]
Bar: Next up is Russia, Russia, you received 244 points. (This put Russia in the lead)
Erez: And Russia, you're now in the lead, first place right now. Let's move on. [Now he topped the public vote the last time he performed]
Erez: Switzerland, get ready to get 212 points. [Wow, great result for them, but he's not a winner tonight, Celine remains the Swiss winner]
Bar: So close. Moving on to the Czech Republic, 7 points. [Ooh, poor boys, that's gutting]
Erez: Let's move to Australia, Australia, you're getting, from the public, 131 points [We thought she might win it, but no]
Bar: We move on to Azerbaijan, and the public gave you 100 points. [A surprise there. This voting is very, very strange this year]
Erez: Next is Italy, Italy are you ready? Italy 253 points … and they're now in the lead.

There were now only four possible winners: Italy (who were currently in the lead), or one of the three countries still awaiting their televote points (The Netherlands, North Macedonia, Sweden). Green Room shots of the artists representing North Macedonia (top left), Sweden (top right), Italy (bottom left) and The Netherlands (bottom right) were displayed in four windows on screen during the next announcement.

Erez: Now let's move on to The Netherlands, The Netherlands are getting, from the public, 261 points, and now The Netherlands are in first place. So, the winner can be either The Netherlands, or one of the two countries that haven't received their points, Sweden or North Macedonia.

Bar: Moving on, next country North Macedonia, the public decided to give you, North Macedonia, you received 58 points. [Oh, that's very similar to what happened to Austria last year.]

Either The Netherlands or Sweden, one of you is the winner of the Eurovision Song Contest 2019. Sweden, they have to get more than 253 points to pass The Netherlands. Will they get that? … How much points do they get from the public? 93 points [Poor old John Lundvik there, what a slap in the face for him! But that is it, the bookies got it right all along, Duncan Laurence is bringing the Eurovision Song Contest back to The Netherlands.]

Altogether, announcement of the televoting totals took about 11 minutes. Just before the scoreboard was shown for the final time, the UK's televoting results were displayed in a panel at the bottom of the screen, and Graham Norton read each of the ten scores out. Did other countries' broadcasters present their own televoting points in a similar manner?

When the scoreboard was shown for the last time (with Sweden's televoting total included), it looked like this:

1	The Netherlands	492	14	France	105
2	Italy	465	15	Cyprus	101
3	Russia	369	16	Malta	95
4	Switzerland	360	17	Serbia	92
5	Norway	338	18	Albania	90
6	Sweden	332	19	Estonia	86
7	Azerbaijan	297	20	San Marino	81
8	North Macedonia	295	21	Greece	71
9	Australia	285	22	Spain	60
10	Iceland	234	23	Israel	47
11	Czech Republic	157	24	Germany	32
12	Denmark	120	25	Belarus	31
13	Slovenia	105	26	United Kingdom	16

Here is the corrected final scoreboard, as officially revealed by the EBU on Wednesday 22 May 2019 at 18:29 CEST (17:29 BST), following the correction to the substitute jury points for Belarus. The final scoreboard would have looked like this if the correct set of substitute jury points had been announced live during the jury voting. The top four countries' positions are unchanged, although The Netherlands, Italy, Russia and Switzerland have all gained the Belarusian "jury" points they should have received during the Grand Final. Further down the scoreboard, there have been a number of position changes as another six countries gained Belarusian "jury" points they should have originally received, and ten countries have lost the Belarusian "jury" points they weren't supposed to have in the first place. Notice that the United Kingdom is still bottom of the scoreboard, albeit with 5 fewer points.

1	The Netherlands	498	14	Malta	107
2	Italy	472	15	Slovenia	105
3	Russia	370	16	France	105
4	Switzerland	364	17	Albania	90
5	Sweden	334	18	Serbia	89
6	Norway	331	19	San Marino	77
7	North Macedonia	305	20	Estonia	76
8	Azerbaijan	302	21	Greece	74
9	Australia	284	22	Spain	54
10	Iceland	232	23	Israel	35
11	Czech Republic	157	24	Belarus	31
12	Denmark	120	25	Germany	24
13	Cyprus	109	26	United Kingdom	11

On the night, The Netherlands won with a final score of what appeared to be 492 points. With a possible maximum of 12 jury points from each of the other 40 countries (including the 15 semi-finalists which failed to qualify), i.e. 480, plus 12 televoting points from each of the other 40 countries, i.e. 480, the maximum achievable score was 960 points. Thus, on the night, The Netherlands won with 51.25% of the maximum possible score, which is quite low. After the winning score for The Netherlands was subsequently corrected to 498 points, that was still only 51.88% of the maximum possible score. The record for the winner with the highest percentage of the maximum possible score since 1975 still rests with United Kingdom - Brotherhood of Man "Save Your Kisses For Me"; 80.4% in 1976.

An in-depth analysis of the jury voting and televoting is available here.

Jury and Televoting Comparison

A sortable table, with all the jury, televoting and final points and placings, is shown below (this contains the corrected jury scores and placings, and resulting combined scores and placings).

#	Finalist	Jury Points	Jury Place	Televote Points	Televote Place	Combined Points	Combined Place	Tele-Jury Pts Diff	Tele-Jury Place Diff
1	Malta	87	10	20	22	107	14	-67	-12
2	Albania	43	17	47	17	90	17	4	0
3	Czech Republic	150	8	7	24	157	11	-143	-16
4	Germany	24	21	0	26	24	25	-24	-5
5	Russia	126	9	244	4	370	3	118	5
6	Denmark	69	12	51	15	120	12	-18	-3
7	San Marino	12	23	65	10	77	19	53	13
8	North Macedonia	247	1	58	12	305	7	-189	-11
9	Sweden	241	2	93	9	334	5	-148	-7
10	Slovenia	46	15	59	11	105	15	13	4
11	Cyprus	77	11	32	20	109	13	-45	-9
12	The Netherlands	237	3	261	2	498	1	24	1
13	Greece	50	14	24	21	74	21	-26	-7
14	Israel	0	26	35	19	35	23	35	7
15	Norway	40	18	291	1	331	6	251	17
16	United Kingdom	8	24	3	25	11	26	-5	-1
17	Iceland	46	16	186	6	232	10	140	10
18	Estonia	28	20	48	16	76	20	20	4
19	Belarus	18	22	13	23	31	24	-5	-1
20	Azerbaijan	202	5	100	8	302	8	-102	-3
21	France	67	13	38	18	105	16	-29	-5
22	Italy	219	4	253	3	472	2	34	1
23	Serbia	35	19	54	13	89	18	19	6
24	Switzerland	152	7	212	5	364	4	60	2
25	Australia	153	6	131	7	284	9	-22	-1
26	Spain	1	25	53	14	54	22	52	11

N.B. Tele-Jury Pts Diff: the difference between the total number of televoting points and total number of jury points a country received. Calculated as follows: televoting points total - jury points total. Thus, if a country received fewer televoting points than jury points (e.g. Sweden) this is negative; if a country received more televoting points than jury points (e.g. Norway) this is positive.

Tele-Jury Place Diff: the difference between the televoting place and jury place of a country. Calculated as follows: jury place - televoting place. Czech Republic was 8th in the jury voting and 24th in the televoting (16 places lower than jury voting, shown as -16). Norway was 18th in the jury voting and 1st in the televoting (17 places higher than jury voting, shown as 17). Due to movement of other countries on the scoreboard, the actual from and to placings, and number of places which a particular country e.g. Czech Republic moved on the scoreboard at the moment its televoting total was announced may have been different.

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Trophy Presentation

As the scoreboard was shown for the final time, Duncan Laurence proceeded from the Green Room to the stage to receive the winner's trophy, which was presented by last year's winner Netta. Once Duncan had his trophy, he took the opportunity to give a short speech. Bar, Erez, Assi and Lucy appeared together on stage for the last time to give their closing speeches.

Reprise

Finally, Duncan, performed the winning song "Arcade" again. This time he didn't have the piano on stage, instead he stood near the front of the stage whilst singing his song. Shots of the audience were shown about two thirds of the way through the song. After he finished, the closing music was played, and the closing credits scrolled upwards at the left-hand side of the screen. UK viewers also saw the BBC's own additional credits at the bottom of the screen. As the credits scrolled, Graham Norton said "Well that's it, he's our winner, we'll hopefully see you all next year in The Netherlands." Finally, the Eurovision ident accompanied by Charpentier's Te Deum prelude "Marche en rondeau" marked the end of the show.

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And Finally

Altogether another great Contest. Many thanks to IPBC (Kan) for producing such a spectacular Grand Final. As always it was good to have a mixture of song styles in the final. Most of the songs were OK or very good. There were just a few countries on my "Prefer not to qualify" list (Czech Republic, Iceland, San Marino), which went through against my wishes Tuesday evening. I would have preferred Poland, Hungary and Belgium in place of Czech Republic, Iceland and San Marino. Nonetheless I appreciate many people have different musical tastes to me. At the end of the day, I cannot possibly expect to have all the songs I personally like the most qualify for the final and have all the ones I dislike eliminated in the semi-finals.

Congratulations to the Netherlands for winning the Eurovision Song Contest 2019 with 492 points (as stated on the night), later corrected to 498 points. Both before and after the correction, that's the lowest absolute score since the two-part voting system was introduced in 2016, but never mind, it was enough to win this time. Duncan Laurence did amazingly well to win with the song "Arcade" in one of the closest years I've ever known. That means the Netherlands have now won five times since their debut entry in the Contest's inaugural year 1956. The Netherlands - Winners 1957, 1959, 1969, 1975, 2019. 44 years gap between its two most recent wins (1975 - 2019). It's worth adding that the Netherlands failed to qualify for the Grand Final for eight consecutive years from 2005 to 2012 inclusive. This just goes to show, never give up.

Commiserations to the United Kingdom, which finished with just 16 points on the night, later corrected to an even more disappointing 11 points. Of those, most of the points were from the juries and just 3 points (all from Ireland) were from the public vote. Both before and after the correction, the UK finished last out of 26 finalists. I'm not surprised though, I thought "Bigger Than Us" was one of the weakest songs in the Grand Final. To make matters worse, it was sandwiched between the much livelier entries of Norway and Iceland, making it what I call the "bungalow between two skyscrapers". Although it is disappointing for any country to finish last in the Grand Final, it should be borne in mind that, this year, 15 countries failed to reach the final. At the end of the day, the important thing is not to win, but to participate.

Once again, the voting sequence was exciting, because the jury points were so well distributed and there was no sign of a runaway winner this time. The order in which the public vote totals were announced this year was a vast improvement on the last three years. Sweden, which (on the night) finished top of the jury vote, was last to receive its public vote points. When that moment arrived, it was a real nail-biting moment, for what seemed a long time, whilst waiting to see whether Sweden would get enough to pass the Netherlands and win. That moment was on a knife edge, down to the wire, unlike the last two years when the winner became obvious the moment the points for the second-placed country in the televote were announced. Anyway, I'm glad the Netherlands won; I think their "Arcade" was a better song than Sweden's "Too Late For Love".

The biggest mishap of the night was the error in calculating the substitute jury points for Belarus, and hence the wrong set of points were announced by Maria Vasilevich, and added to the scoreboard, whilst the 41 countries' jury points were announced during the Grand Final. It's a pity it took until 18:29 CEST (17:29 BST) on Wednesday 22 May 2019 for the EBU to admit the mistake, and announce the correct set of "jury" points for Belarus. This aftermath correction was controversial, partly because ten countries gained points and ten countries lost points, and thus several countries' final positions changed on the scoreboard. I for one have mixed opinions on correcting the scores after the Grand Final ended, but think of it this way. If the corrected substitute Belarusian jury results (as published on 22 May 2019) had been calculated in the first place, Maria Vasilevich would have announced the correct set of "jury" points during the Grand Final, and thus the scoreboard would have ended up with the correct scores from 1st North Macedonia 247 points to 26th Israel 0 points once all 41 juries' scores were on the board. With this in mind, I'm happy to accept the rectified results. I feel sorry for John Lundvik because of the way he was placed in the spotlight at the end of the jury voting, and subsequently put through the cliff-hanger moment against Duncan Laurence at the end. Also, I feel even more sorry for the way Tamara Todevska (North Macedonia) wasn't put in the spotlight after being in the lead for so long, and seemingly "pipped at the post" for jury winner when Israel's jury points were announced, but she turned out to be the real jury winner after all. Consequently, she wasn't acknowledged as jury winner. Anyway, congratulations to North Macedonia for winning the jury vote, and finishing 7th overall. As for Sweden retrospectively ending up ahead of Norway and North Macedonia, despite having won neither half of the voting, well think of Sweden in the same league as Italy, Russia and Switzerland, who too won neither half of the voting.

That said, one could argue that a real Belarusian jury might have genuinely ended up with a set of points exactly as were announced on the night, e.g. 12 points for Israel. This incident makes one wonder if it's fair to calculate a substitute set of points in the manner that the EBU did for any country unable to provide a valid jury result or valid televote result.

Roll on the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest from the Netherlands. Can AVROTROS, NOS and NPO collectively do as well or better? Time will tell. Mark my words, next year's Contest will tell another story as far as the results are concerned, especially if the EBU retains the method of separate jury and televoting points from each country. Who knows, the UK might win next year!

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