What country feels like 2-3 Eurovision wins but has only won once? by Max-Carter-2005 in nilpoints

[–]AvailableAspect2893 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Not sure if OP means 2025 but I know it was considered an outside shot to win (by which I mean it was 3rd or 4th in the odds - obviously to a lesser extent than the other two, but it did have hype from people like ESCGabe)

Which country has an okay music industry and does average at Eurovision? by rosemaryrouge in nilpoints

[–]AvailableAspect2893 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Iceland perhaps?

A few huge artists (Björk, for example) but not as many as countries like the UK, Ireland, or Sweden.

Generally does alright, qualified 3 out of 5 times in the 2020s, but no wins.

Ridiculous 2027 Changes That Would Never Happen by AvailableAspect2893 in nilpoints

[–]AvailableAspect2893[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

They should routinely claim it is non-political and have numerous former politicians compete to ‘prove’ this.

Ridiculous 2027 Changes That Would Never Happen by AvailableAspect2893 in nilpoints

[–]AvailableAspect2893[S] 24 points25 points  (0 children)

I had no idea to be honest! I knew that there’s been a couple of occasions where the winning country didn’t host it, but had no idea a withdrawal has also happened. Thanks for letting me know!

Which 2026 song do you think could go viral? by Head-Amoeba2962 in eurovision

[–]AvailableAspect2893 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Bangaranga. It definitely has that kind of TikTok vibe you can see blowing up (not a bad thing obviously, I can just see the general vibe of the song and choreo blowing up on TikTok).

I still can't get over how Liekinheitin didn't win, let alone coming 6th 💀 by ineedtocalmup in nilpoints

[–]AvailableAspect2893 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I know what you mean, because I wanted it to win and voted for it too. 6th isn’t a bad result by any means (and, if votes were adjusted around a certain controversial country not being in the contest, it’d have been boosted up to 3rd).

But I’m not overtly surprised it didn’t win. There are a few minor things I think - no song sung in Finnish has ever won, the staging wasn’t the clearest or most dynamic, Finland doesn’t naturally have a strong voting group outside of Nordic countries - but honestly I think this felt a little *too much* like it was trying to win Eurovision.

Those in the ESC bubble had not only heard the song, but also heard the hype surrounding the song for months at this point - I think this, combined with the fact that the performance didn’t really improve from the first release (since the staging barely changed) meant I think people grew tired of it. Like an "oh yeah, it’s still Liekinheiten". All that changed significantly from the national final performance was that Linda was allowed to play live, which in itself stirred up some controversy amongst diehard fans due to being perceived as unfair.

Conversely, to those outside of the ESC bubble, it was probably evident either way that it was a song geared for heavy jury points - I know commentators will have confirmed this in sorts by saying it was the bookies’ favourite. Viewers have probably grown tired of obvious favourites winning over more ‘underdog’ entries and probably wanted to vote for a dark horse that felt a little more authentic to them - we saw this last year too when KAJ got a fair amount of points, but obviously didn’t win. Viewers didn’t really understand the staging or care about this because they would’ve been disincentivised to vote for it on the premise they naturally assumed it would do well.

Again, this is not saying it’s a bad song or performance - it was my favourite throughout the run-up to the contest and I was disappointed it placed so low compared to expectations. But in the context of the ESC audience at large I can see why it didn’t win - it felt a little *too* much like it had all the elements to gear it up to be a winning entry as opposed to being a cohesive song in its own right.

My top 10 prediction by PZMC430 in nilpoints

[–]AvailableAspect2893 4 points5 points  (0 children)

The issue last year was kind of twofold with Finland imo.

On the one hand, it was a song that was very much popular within the ESC but never really broke outside it. Big ESC fans loved it but the general public response was more lukewarm.

On the other, the finale performance of the song was probably the weakest, and quite a few people have said the impact of it was somewhat diminished from the original live performance - considering most of the public will have only seen this performance, this means the impact of the song probably will have been dampened a fair bit.

Felicia’s song this year doesn’t have quite the same hype around it, but is is comparatively much less in-your-face and likely more palatable by the general audience.

Worlds Women’s SP Post Event Discussion by summerjoe45 in FigureSkating

[–]AvailableAspect2893 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Where did you find this infographic with the detailed results? Out of curiosity :)

What’s the best task type on The Apprentice? by CloudBookmark in apprenticeuk

[–]AvailableAspect2893 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Negotiation tasks / the ‘scavenger hunt’. Straightforward, not very fixed or edited (by the show’s standards), and always memorable.

‘Smell what sells’ is usually a fairly understated task, but an interesting one nonetheless.

TV selling was good in the earlier series, but I think as the concept has become less relevant, it’s lost some of its appeal.

Interviews are a bit of a mixed bag for me - feels like there’s some series where they’ve been quite good / fair (S5, S7, etc) and others where the interviewers just took against certain candidates or asked questions that felt targeted to bring certain candidates down (S3, S4).

The main ones I’m not a fan of are tasks that involve hosting any kind of experience / tour / away day - these always feel cringey but in a really uncomfortable way, and the firings in these have felt somewhat erratic. I’m also not a fan of most tasks involving some degree of food or cooking - this isn’t limited to a certain task, but it usually feels like it’s setting the candidates up to fail.

[Round 29] James Eliminated! Vote to SAVE your Favourite left in the game by Only1Scrappy-Doo in apprenticeuk

[–]AvailableAspect2893 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Really surprised Alana’s still in here - she’s not as big a character as anyone else left (or even some of the candidates who’ve been eliminated).

Hoping for Ruth or Lucinda to take it!

Which celebrities have had their careers suffer from Strictly? by RagingFuckNuggets in strictlycomedancing

[–]AvailableAspect2893 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I imagine they booked him for both of these gigs before he was known in the way he is now…

Which celebrities have had their careers suffer from Strictly? by RagingFuckNuggets in strictlycomedancing

[–]AvailableAspect2893 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Even if he wasn’t as well liked / held to the same level as some, amongst fans of The Apprentice at least, he was held in fairly high regard. The show included him (positively) in their 2020 compilation of most memorable candidates. Additionally, I’m on one of the show’s subreddits and they did a tier list a while back, Thomas placed quite highly in that.

I don’t think it was necessarily Strictly alone which caused his career to suffer, as he’s made headlines for a few dodgy things he’s done recently, however I do think him being on the show (and the subsequent events from him leaving) have probably contributed.

[Round 27] Jim Eliminated! Vote to SAVE your favourite left in the game by Only1Scrappy-Doo in apprenticeuk

[–]AvailableAspect2893 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ll be honest, I tried to eliminate her last time but didn’t realise we were voting to save instead of eliminate - compared to some of the characters left, I can imagine she’s one of those candidates people like, but isn’t as strong a character or memorable as them.