This week in national selections, Hungary kicked off with the first round of their popular A Dal format and another six competitors progressed to the semi finals in Lithuania. Meanwhile, Greece assembled a Eurovision dream team and Spain unveiled their six hopefuls for 2017.
Closer to home, the BBC quietly announced a significant change to the Eurovision: You Decide format…
Power to the people? It seems the BBC aren’t so sure, with news emerging this week that the winner of this year’s Eurovision: You Decide national selection will be partially determined by a professional jury.
The announcement was quietly leaked out in an update to the programme description on the BBC website – possibly to avoid drawing too much attention to the fact that the show’s title would now only make sense if they put a question mark at the end. However, eagle-eyed fans were quick to take note.
The UK hasn’t employed a professional jury in a televised national final since 1987, when nine regional juries selected ‘Only the Light‘ by Rikki, which went on to finish 13th at that year’s contest, in what was considered at the time to be a dismal performance by UK standards.
The exact makeup of the UK jury for 2017 has not been revealed, although they are described on the BBC website as ‘Music Professionals’. Nor is it confirmed what weighting will be given to their scores, though it can probably be assumed that a 50/50 split between jury scores and televotes will be employed.
Eurovision: You Decide will air live at 19:30 GMT on BBC 2 on Friday 27th January. Tickets are still available for the show, which must come as a surprise to organisers who presumably assumed that charging £35 for a show with no announced performers and only one confirmed guest so far would descend into a feeding frenzy to rival Glastonbury.
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