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Semi Final 2 Results Written by on May 24, 2012 | 9 Comments

That’s the 2012 Eurovision Semi Finals over. Let’s have a look at the results and where we stand.

So, the ten qualifiers are:

Bosnia & Herzegovina, Estonia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Mata, Norway, Serbia, Sweden, Turkey, and Ukraine.

… and we’ve lost:

Belarus, Bulgaria, Croatia, Georgia, The Netherlands, Portugal, Slovakia, and Slovenia.

What’s nice to see is the split between the regions. Three Balkans, three former USSR, and two Scandics (plus Turkey and Malta). That shows that the splits in the pots has a positive effect on the result.

Coming up, the draw for the running order in the Grand Final!

(1) United Kingdom
(2) Hungary
(3) Albania
(4) Lithuania
(5) Bosnia & Herzegovina
(6) Russia
(7) Iceland
(8) Cyprus
(9) France
(10) Italy
(11) Estonia
(12) Norway
(13) Azerbaijan
(14)  Romania
(15) Denmark
(16) Greece
(17) Sweden
(18) Turkey
(19) Spain
(20) Germany
(21) Malta
(22) Macedonia
(23) Ireland
(24) Serbia
(25) Ukraine
(26) Moldova

The running order is a classic accelerator. We’ve got a very slow burn until Russia’s Babuskis wake up Europe, the mid temp numbers fill the middle of the table, and then Sweden heralds the start of the climb to the finish. A quick pause for breath with Germany, and then it’s foot on the floor till we hit song 26.

Does the running order tell us anything? Well it’s 3.30am here in Baku, so we’ll discuss that on the podcast tomorrow.

About The Author: Ewan Spence

British Academy (BAFTA) nominated broadcaster and writer Ewan Spence is the voice behind The Unofficial Eurovision Song Contest Podcast and one of the driving forces behind ESC Insight. Having had an online presence since 1994, he is a noted commentator around the intersection of the media, internet, technology, mobility and how it affects us all. Based in Edinburgh, Scotland, his work has appeared on the BBC, The Stage, STV, and The Times. You can follow Ewan on Twitter (@ewan) and Facebook (facebook.com/ewanspence).

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Have Your Say

9 responses to “Semi Final 2 Results”

  1. Hans says:

    Would have liked to see Portugal go thru but very happy that Estonia made it. But jeez, that girl from Holland was bad. One of the worst performances in many a moon

  2. Max says:

    Gutted for Slovenia and Belarus, order cost them! No way Bosnia-Herzegovina or Lithuania should be anywhere near the last 26. Turkey was quite poor as well.

  3. Ewan Spence says:

    Agreed, I think vthe running order played a huge role tonight, but that’s the nature of admit show with a phone vote

  4. Vikki says:

    Gutted Eva Boto didn’t get through, but I doubt we’ve seen the last of her.

  5. Ewan Spence says:

    Not when you’ve got me in the house looking for content for ESC Insight during the lean summer months!

  6. Zolan says:

    I found BiH more convincing than Slovenia in terms of staging and the song itself.
    Perhaps it distinguished itself by being simply a nice song, but I think it’s unreasonable to regard it as inferior.

    Lithuania, too, really earned their qualification. It’s hard to argue that any of the non-qualifiers (except perhaps Portugal) was as well performed or staged.

    In a choice between uneven performances, I’m glad for Malta to get it.

  7. togravus says:

    I agree with Zolan. Slovenia was pretty dull imo and I knew that they would be dead in the water the second Eva had finished her song. Plus (as I have said before) her ballad probably had 0 appeal to juries west and north of Nova Gorica. I still believe that ‘Molitva’ would never have won if we had had juries back in 2007. And please don’t get me wrong, ‘Molitva’ is my favourite winning song of the last 30 years.

  8. Chad says:

    Gutted BiH and Macedonia made it through. Both songs are dreary typical Balkan entries, nothing new to see here. Also don’t think Turkey deserved a place but what do I know? Was delighted that Sweden got through, and Slovenia’s Eva Boto had one of the best performances of the night so how she didn’t make it is beyond me…. thought the juries would have lapped that up, pity the televoters didn’t!!

  9. Henning says:

    Really?! Lithuania? And what was with all the bad vocal performances? It seemed that from Slovenia on every performer couldn’t hear themself? Never seen so many with hand at ear, all the time! But Lithuania? Really?!

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