A nail-biting vote took the result of the 2018 Eurovision Song Contest down to the wire, but Israel was named the winner. Netta Barzilai claimed a fourth Israeli victory with TOY at the Grand Final in Lisbon on Saturday 12 May.
The juries favoured Austria, represented by Cesár Sampson, and it wasn’t until the televote was announced that the Israeli win became clear. Israel finished on 529 points, Cyprus on 436 and Austria on 342. With just two votes to go, it was between Israel and Eleni Foureira from Cyprus. Israel eventually won by 93 points.
Reports from Lisbon suggested that the Cypriot and Israeli delegations were seated next to each other in the green room, perhaps anticipating a close finish, making it easy to flip cameras between the two and catch genuine shock on the face of the winner. That seating detail remains contemporary reportage rather than something officially confirmed here.
Netta and Foureira had already finished first and second respectively in the first semi-final. Cyprus came second in the Grand Final, while Austria finished third, not fourth as reported below. Germany was fourth. Austria’s fourth-place finish mentioned in the original report was its position in the first semi-final.
Netta received her award from last year’s winner, who didn’t hang around. A few days back Salvador Sobral described her song as “a horrible song” and commented that he didn’t think the contest had changed since his win. The new champion brushed him aside and gave a short speech:
“I’m so happy! Thank you so much for choosing different. Thank you so much for accepting differences between us. Thank you for celebrating diversity. Thank you! I love my country!”
Join us next week for more post-Eurovision analysis and a run down of the viewing numbers.
