ROMEO
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May 2019
7 min read

Eurovision Finals

The Second Eurovision Semi-Final kicked off in Tel Aviv last night and we once again were heavily engaged on our own Twitter channel, throughout the show. Below, we list the next 10 countries going through to the Grand Finale on Saturday, and our Social Media Officer, Joseph Kearney, spills some more juicy tea on the highlights from the second Semi-Final.

Semi-Final 2

The 10 finalists going through to the Grand Final of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday are:

🇲🇰 North Macedonia
🇳🇱 The Netherlands
🇦🇱 Albania
🇸🇪 Sweden
🇷🇺 Russia
🇦🇿 Azerbaijan
🇩🇰 Denmark
🇳🇴 Norway
🇨🇭 Switzerland
🇲🇹 Malta

You can still vote on ROMEO for your favorite remaining songs, from now until the Grand Finale.

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One presenter in four

The second Eurovision Semi-Final way less gay and far less exciting than Tuesday night’s first semi-final. Three of the four presenters fluffed lines, tripped over poorly constructed jokes, and made the evening feel more like a dress rehearsal than an enormous pan-European event.

Our favorite out-and-proud- presenter Assi Azar was holding the show together and actually knew what he was doing, but the other guys were very much in his shadow. Hopefully the Eurovision presenting team, will pull together for Saturday night and seamlessly present the largest song contest on Earth. No pressure guys, but step your collective pussies up.

Eurovision Winners and Losers

Switzerland is in the final with the gorgeous Luca Hänni with his song She Got Me,, that he got us and the crucial votes needed. Romania is out, which is a real loss as their gorgeous backing dancers will not get to show off their beautiful leather harnesses, frilly lace and deconstructed suits to the world on Saturday night. But the true winner of winners was the super sexy Chingiz of Azerbaijan who not only give a stellar performance of his song, Truth, but also topped the polls at the ROMEO Eurovision Hotties contest winning with 20% of the total votes.

The Big Five and Israel

Twenty countries have been selected to go through to the final but the five sponsor countries, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and The UK get an automatic spot in the final and of course the host country, Israel, is also in the final.

On Thursday night The UK, Germany and Italy had a quick taste of fame to show off their songs and talk about their excitement for the final. The interviews were not too awkward and the German Sisters group Katerine and Nevena were filled with love and good Eurovision energy. The UK singer Michael Rice showed off his tattoos and Italy’s gorgeous Mahmood, was shown covered in mud at the Dead Sea. Assi Azar was his usually friendly self, but we suspect there was a touch of flirting in his engagement with the handsome Mahmood.

The Grande Finale

That’s our quick round up of a fairly lacklustre semi-final. Be sure to join us on Saturday night for the big event. Int he meantime why not vote on the ROMEO live poll and help you favorite song get to the top? More details on the First semi-finals and our Eurovision party below.

Semi-Final 1

The 10 finalists going through to the Grand Finale of the Eurovision Song Contest on Saturday are:

🇬🇷 Greece
🇧🇾 Belarus
🇷🇸 Serbia
🇨🇾 Cyprus
🇪🇪 Estonia
🇨🇿 Czech Republic
🇦🇺 Australia
🇮🇸 Iceland
🇸🇲 San Marino
🇸🇮 Slovenia

You can still vote on ROMEO for your favorite remaining songs, from now until the Grand Finale.

Vote Now

Some Hot Gossip

The first Eurovision Semi-Final was everything you’d expect it to be – and just a little bit more. The presenters were cheesy, awkward, and more or less in love with their own bizarre jokes. To try and make it through to the final, the competing countries used stage magic, flaming plumes, frilly outfits, and good old Eurovision ‘We Love Europe’ music. We were treated to some exquisite and magical moments that were quite unexpected: a kisscam, a coming-out story and a dazzling diva dressed in a blood red flowing gown.


Dana International

The former Eurovision winner for Israel, and one of the most famous Trans women in the world, took to the stage in a flaming red gown. She was a smoldering Mediterranean goddess and she covered Just The Way You Are, (original by Bruno Mars), while a cute Eurovision shaped heart was superimposed over a ‘kisscam’ lens. The kisscam went through the audience picking out couples who then kissed.

At least three gay couples were featured kissing, straight couples also kissed, and a senior couple stole our hearts with the final kiss of the night. What a beautiful and inclusive moment. Here’s hoping the kisscam catches even more of couples on Thursday.

Assi Azar

One of Dana’s biggest fans, Assi Azar, is one of the four presenters at Eurovision. He revealed a touching anecdote of what it meant for him as a young gay Israeli, to see Dana win with the hit single Diva, back in 1998. Her success at Eurovision gave Assi the courage to become his true authentic self. And here he is 20 years later, telling the entire Eurovision audience that he is an out-and-proud gay man. That is Eurovision magic right there, folks.

Eurovision Live GRAND FINALE

On Saturday evening, May 18th, it’s time for the Grand Finale. ROMEO is live-streaming our very own Eurovision Party from our headquarters in Amsterdam. You can to watch the event on our website while voting. You can vote now, until the end of the event. Our livestream is set to start just before 21:00 (CEST).

Count Down to Peter

The voting page is counting down to our very own livestream, and we will be joined by the gorgeous, brilliant, and super cute Peter van Vught, as our MC for the evening.

Social Media

Be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter to get an all-around experience of our Eurovision coverage. We will be tweeting live from Tbilisi in Georgia, and we’ll be streaming on Facebook and Instagram Story from ROMEO HQ in Amsterdam. Join the conversation by using the hashtags: #ROMEOEurovision #ROMEOLiveVoting #ROMEOLiveStream

Happy Voting!
Team ROMEO

 

Elimination

As countries are eliminated at each semi-final, they will be removed from our voting system.

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