this year I have post-ESC relief, not depression

As a Finn, I'm now happy that Käärijä came 2nd last year since that means Finland was saved from hosting this shitshow

I'm 99.99% sure that Rai revealing the televote results was NOT a mistake. it's hard to explain, but basically, the graphic that was used to reveal the SF2 televoting results was one that had NEVER been used in the past to reveal televoting results (and it wasn't ever used again, not even in the final). in fact, it was in the same style as the other generic "lower-third" banner type graphics used, for example, in the credits at the start of the show. it's very plausible to think that a very brave Rai employee must have put this graphic together in a couple of minutes and """""accidentally""""" displayed it at the end of the show. Rai obviously came out and said that the graphic displayed "incomplete data", but we still "gave" our 12 televoting points to Israel, so they still probably lead the televote results by a massive margin.

In Slovenian news today: "TV Slovenia wants from the EBU precise data on how the Slovenian audience voted, as well as additional explanations regarding the exclusion of the Netherlands, the ban on EU flags, the potential influence of the sponsor on the content of the event and the meaning of the "rest of the world" vote. RTV Slovenia also calls for reflection on ways to more effectively include the opinion of EBU members in the future. In addition, the Portuguese radio and television announced that due to the arbitrary behavior of the EBU, which uploaded to the official channels a recording of the performance of their representative Iolanda from the semi-final, instead of the final performance (because she had her nails painted in the Palestinian national colors in the final), and that with a delay of almost an hour, asked the organization for an extraordinary meeting. The representatives of the broadcasters of Norway, Spain, France and Croatia are also expected to support their request."

This wasn't a shit storm, this was a whole shit hurricane

Also the fact that the European Commission filed a report against the EBU for the banning of the European flag 🇪🇺 really escalates the situation Edit: sorry I changed my wording there hopefully most people knew what I meant 😅

This is the first year I felt mentally and even physically drained, starting from thursday evening. And I'm just a random viewer sitting at home. I can't imagine how it must have been being in Malmö. I don't think people can have another edition like this... I can't grasp how they made almost all worst decisions possible making everything backfire.

I think the finns can finally forgive us for not winning last year, because they really dodged a bullet… I do agree at least Petra kept the show together.

As a Dutch ESC fan, this year was just...so depressing. I'm honestly glad it's over

Martin Österdahl You're Good To Go

All your comments about petra mede are 100% accurate. No one could have steered this sinking ship like she did

I really hope RTP (Portugal) doesn’t let this shit go. We celebrated the 50th anniversary of a revolution that took us out of a fascist government (that lasted 40 years) and gave freedom of speech just 3 weeks prior the shit show ESC was. If everyone was already on edge over the humanitarian problems, when you add the bending of rules and reality to accommodate a certain discourse, this year of all years, I really hope they give EBU hell honestly. Edit: like some commenters said bellow, it’s was a dictatorship. Sorry for the miscommunication. Unless you’re Portuguese, you probably wouldn’t figure that out. But since my comment is about freedom of speech, humanitarian problems and distortion of information, my point stands the same.

I can't believe No Rules! was a prophetic song Even before seeing this video, all the comments I saw from the artists were filled with uneasiness. It really made me think - do I even want us to send anyone next year if this is the environment they have to deal with?

I need therapy after Eurovision

This year was a prime example of "they made their bed, and now they have to lie in it."

REMOVE 👏 "MOROCCAN" 👏 OIL 👏 AS 👏 A 👏 SPONSOR!👏👏

as a dutch ESC-fan, this eurovision season has been wild. the double standards, lack of communication, and facist-like tactics to suppresses dissenting voices were absolutely shocking to witness

Somebody could write an award-winning spy story on the events of the 10th and the 11th of May

As a Dutch fan, (IMO): Don't give us the auto-qualification. Instead, AVROTROS and the Dutch Delegation should not participate in the contest until 2026 at the minimum (as a protest for this year). This year has been so traumatic, I don't think anyone wants to be part of an event like this. The disqualification of Joost and the entire situation around it caused such a painful experience and a sour taste in the mouths of the Dutch viewers. No-one knew anything until the last moments of the event and we still don't have the full story!

I'm dutch so I can tell you, public opinion is we will not be returning next year. Private broadcaster RTL ran a poll that ended up with 65% no, 28% "only if Joost represents us" and 7% yes

the booing for israel’s performance was actually loud enough to hear on tv if you had the volume up! me and my friend both heard it, but it wasn’t as loud as when martin was talking

I beg to differ. It was 95% a bin fire. Osterdahl getting boo'd was a highlight though.

so many people have spoken out against how toxic the backstage environment is, and not just this year; S10 has recently made a statement regarding how stressful esc was for her. what gets me worried about it is this is what we see from the adult version... but what about JUNIOR eurovision? these are kids we're talking about - it breaks my heart to think about how they could be mistreated. i just hope the ebu gets all their shit together, starting with firing martin österdahl 😊

You know its huge when EU literally called the EBU out and every second broadcaster has complained about EBU and this years Eurovision, not to mention that many countries might want to quit, especialy the Netherlands

As dust slowly settles on this edition's mess the realisation slowly sinks in. This messy season needs some kind of closure (and I don't think only about videos by creators) but as the days pass by there is less and less hope for any systemic changes in and around the contest ie. communication, politics, rules, crisis management (the lack of it) etc. Sooo - the next year(s) we may see less countries taking part and the same amount of problems (or even more).

This year was fucking traumatizing especially as a Dutch fan

It's just so jarring to see the Ebu destroy the contest we love.

When AVROTROS clarified what had happened, I figured that the EBU had tried to bury the backstage problems by scapegoating Joost. Kniwing just how bad it got, and that AVROTROS' complaints preceded the DQ only strengthens that theory.

People, who have never watched Eurovision, boasting on UK radio that they voted specifically for one country.

Gabe diserves a honorary medal for the work he did this season

I'm glad for your summary because I can't even explain it on one go anymore there's so much shit here. The hypocrisy of zero tolerance is just ridiculous.

I decided pretty early on I would boycott ESC this year but after all the random bits of news I've seen I just had to come investigate what exactly went down and... Wow. EBU just decided to self-destruct, huh? I'm really struggling to see how this could be salvaged any time soon, my condolences to Switzerland for inheriting this shitshow 😬

I wouldn't be surprised if the netherlands withdraws. Hope other countries follow suit if the ebu don't change their ways

Hear Hear! Don't stop speaking out before the EBU becomes another Fifa

This year was absolutely trashfire, I knock a wood and say that next year can’t do much worse. But my vindictive part of myself believes this was karma (Yes I’m Finnish and Yes it’s childish)

I also want to mention all the hate that Silvester got by everyone because of his statement. Every single post that was mentioned about him since mentioned how he " had only said this because he wanted a better result." And "he got a taste of his own medicine" but if he wanted a better result, then WHY DID HE SAY HE WISHED IT ENDED AT THE SEMIS??????? So many artists suffered this year. None of them deserved this.... I hope there are some DRASTIC changes to the contest so that it can live on....

Absolutly brillant video. EBU is rotten to the core. They can join the IBA, FIFA and the IOC. Money has destroyed them all...

Käärijä was another victim of secret filming and a clip of him dancing near Eden Golan was posted on her IG. Käärijä had to repeatedly ask for it to be removed, until it was finally taken off the page.

You have no idea how much it hurt to watch the final as a Dutch fan, all the jokes were not landing. Then that awful EBU song praising Martin Boo-his-face came on. I literally got a bad stomache ache from watching the finals, it hurts that much. For the first time in a long time the Netherlands basically 100% stood behind their entry. We ARE so proud of Joost and we were extremely excited to see him in the final. And they took it from him, us and all the fans too without any transparency. AT THIS TIME with the info we currently have, it still feels like it's something that could've been handled backstage with a apology from both sides. And I rather not talk about the Israel Palestine situation, but I'm gonna do it anyway. I think both sides have flaws, but I can 100% agree that Israel should've not been at Eurovision. And the way they behaved was absolutely disgusting.

as a neurodivergent person, if youre doing something that has been communicated to not do to me, you are asking me to snap at you.

cornald in the thumbnail i am cackling

After a week has past I must say, that beside all that shitstorm: songwise 2024 was maybe the best year ever. And the performances had been incredible good.

Not protecting creative people that are quite often neurodivergent and traumatized. Is a thing we should really look into. Cancelling people for single misstakes where there is no pattern in that behavior is simply a step too far.

The only fun part of this years Eurovision was the panic in Martin Österdahls eyes when he had to announce the Dutch jury points. And the obvious love the artists had for each other. For once the online ESC fans were united no matter which country they were from

long live Eurovision, fuck the EBU

you standing up against an organization like this is iconic actually and u deserve all the support ure getting!!! insanely good job, both of u!! ❤️

Martin Osterdahl has to resign. He is responsible for this shitshow - that was largely forseeable.

I've been watching Eurovision since I was a child and this contest has given me so much joy and hope. I'm not exaggerating when I say that some days, the only thing that kept me going was knowing that Eurovision would be in a few weeks and that I have something to look forward to and to keep going for. But this year... I can't explain it in any other way than my heart breaking in real time. It may sound a little naive, but it felt like the moment you realise that adults are anything but perfect and that you'll never be able to fully trust again (I know, never trust coorporations, lesson learned). I just don't think I'll ever be able to watch the contest with the same joy again, especially not if the EBU fails to clean up the mess that they have produced. I originally planned to go to next year's edition for the first time ever, but at this point I'm not even sure if I'm going to watch it

More excited for this video than I was for the grand final

My summary of this year’s Eurovision is: fuck the EBU, but viva Rai 2. When that televote result came out, I was in Euroclub, having dipped in and out of the press centre that week and witnessed (and heard anecdotally) some awful shit. That was when I realised that was enough for one ridiculous year. I took that early flight that you contemplated because I’ve learned to put my own mental sanity first as a neurodivergent person, and it was so difficult and sad to watch the safe space I’d been so proud to have been a part of since I was 7 years old turn into the epicentre of an international crisis. I’m not a conflict journalist, I do this for fun out of my own pocket. With any hope, there will be reprisals for this utter cockup. Maybe Netflix could commission a documentary. “Surviving Malmö: A Week in Eurotrash”. Or something to that degree. I have stories, I’m sure many people do, not to mention the artists and delegations who were affected. Does anyone have any production / journalist contacts?

23:07 Thank you for acknowledging Joost as a neurodivergent. Something one country is trying to mock at. Ableists!

Gabe, thank you for being vocal about this chaos. I hope you get well soon.

13:04 My theory at the time was the Italian delegation telling her to do this to distract, as the EBU weren’t particularly happy with RAI’s reveal of the televote results.

This year was a fever dream, uhm I mean fever nightmare

This year's theme, 'UNITED BY MUSIC,' seemed irrelevant, and with tensions running so HIGH, I was expecting to see punches flying around. I'm so sad for the whole thing. The Swedish police must have been overwhelmed by these unprecedented incidents, which ruined the usually good spirits you find in these events. Sometimes, I think that what brought the Eurovision to life is what might one day destroy it.

It’s especially sad cause I found the quality of 90% of the songs were just so good this year

I totally agree with Norwegian media, this year's contest was a shitshow and I didn't even watch it. Thanks for all the extra info from behind the scenes.

Great work putting all of the information in one neat video! Having to sift through posts, many of which were inaccurate, on the day of it all happening was hectic to say the least.

Thank you so much for your commentary here. I was there and agree with everything you have said.

Bro, this video is so good, so info-packed. Thanks for making it. I went to my first Eurovision in-person this year, and it was ridiculous how chaotic the atmosphere always seemed to be. At least I got to meet you for 5 minutes that first Sunday night in Euroglam! Thank you for being so lovely, Gabe. ~ Michael

You are undoubtedly the best person around for this job: summarising 10th of May, the doomsday blue that Bambie warned us about

Thank goodness you've put this together in such a succinct and articulate way! Thank you!

Thanks for the kind words and featuring some of my reporting, Gabe. Really appreciate it and the very thorough and factual video.

thanks for the great video!! i am so sorry you had to endure so much that you yourself had to file complaints and considered going home early

Wow, thank you for all of that information. I hope the organizers can take responsibility for all their mistakes.

Thank good a lot of countries sang in their native languages! This made it way more interesting!

Thank you for sharing! I'm sorry for everyone who had to go through this.

We need "I survived 10 May" merch.

What a video! Its everything that needed to be said, can this go viral please? #justiceforjoost

i don't actually have anything to say that you didn't already talk about (and better than i can have) but this was a fantastic video and thank you for making it

I just hope Nemo is okay and can still enjoy and celebrate their win! It's so deserved, the artists were incredible this year and they deserve the most support ❤

I actually anticipated to defend the Israeli delegation but after what you have described, they behaved unacceptably. Why in the world were there no consequences for them? I truly hope this will be corrected by next time.

This is so frustrating to listen to… It’s just heartbreaking seeing the most beloved event being turned into such a shitshow, with the most important aspect of it - the artists and the press - being glossed over by the organizers. Sending so much love and support to all the people who have had to endure harassment, all of you deserve better ♥️

Very good summarisation. Thank you Gabe for all your hard work. 👍👍

Thank you so much for this video! It was really well explained and gave a really clear picture of all the events

I got Eurovision tickets as my 18th birthday present, it was my biggest dream to go since I was a child and I finnaly managed to go for the very first time- Dont know if I ruined it permanently for myself, but I dont exactly regret my sf1 afternoon and sf2 afternoon tickets either. Im a weird limbo of disgusted by the ebu but also so enamored by the effort put in by the artists- Seeing Estonia live right by the barrier while standing legit healed me- But other stuff during sf2 were definitely well.. There was booing, there was screaming, arguable I only heard the commotion as I was at the very front of the crowd, but as I read in the news shit went down behind me, but man was it uh.. wild..? There was definitely an air of nervousness during that day compared to sf1 and although its not super related- I will never forget walking out of the arena after sf2 alone and trying to meet my mom who was shopping in the emporia mall while I was inside- And hearing the mall evacuation alarm before I could even approach the building. I hate that my mind immediately jumped to the worst possiible case scenario that I might never see her again. People shouldn't feel like this during Eurovision, people should never have to feel like this anywhere.

This was the first Eurovision I attended in person after years of dreaming about it from living on the other side of the world, and honestly I feel so sad. While I think it was absolutely the right thing to do, I never thought the EBU would actually ban Israel. They are a collective of public broadcasters responsible to the interests of their governments, who rely on Israel as a foothold in the Middle East. So I thought maybe by coming, now that the opportunity finally arose, we could at least celebrate the core values of the contest and in doing so, project a glimmer of light in times of growing darkness, so to speak. Maybe this was naive to begin with. This was one of the best travel experiences of my life, and that came down to the amazing community around this contest, artists and fans alike. Yet this whole thing was cast over a backdrop of hypocrisy and quasi-authoritarian decisions from the EBU that I think made a complete mockery of the contest’s spirit, and looking back now that I’ve had time to process all the shitfuckery that went on that week, I can’t help but feel…dirty, for having given my money to help orchestrate this whole thing, and for celebrating and documenting it all for my friends to see on social media, pretending to champion peace and unity. It feels like I’ve made just as much as much a hypocrite of myself for partaking, and whenever I think about it I just get disgusted and angry. It brings me immense pain to say this, as someone who has loved this contest obsessively since I was a child; but if we don’t see immense changes over the next 12 months-which frankly, in the current climate, I don’t think are a given-I don’t know if I can continue supporting this next year. And that really, really sucks.

Finally, the video I have been dying to see. Followed the entire ordeal on twitter, it was complete madness

Thank you so much for giving so much detail and talking about your own experiences as well. It really puts it into perspective just how much went down and how f-ed up the EBU treated contestants, journalists, and everyone else present this year. I only hope that mistakes will not be repeated next year.

Great reporting! I’m still shocked at how bad the EBUs responses this week have been.

I went to Eurovision this year, and it was my third competition. It is telling that my experience was very similar to yours. I was at Euroclub on Tuesday night and there was a sense of unease. The fans from a certain country were in Bambies face standing with their flags in a confrontational way. Irish fans could not get to them. That was my first and last time going to Euroclub. As the week went on, the sense of unease grew from the Thursday, security everywhere. I was relieved to leave Malmo and stay in Copenhagen. This year I actually don't have PED. I'm also thinking I will give it a skip next year unless there is a huge change within the EBU. After the event I've heard so many stories of fans getting abuse, as Ireland is known as a pro 🍉 country. I didn't feel comfortable wearing Eurovision merch or my countries colours. The Irish media has also been full of hate. So much homophobic comments aimed at fans at the contest, and transphobic/religious slurs aimed at Bambie. Eurovision is supposed to be fun, where you mingle with other fans from different countries. It wasn't that this year unfortunately. Not forgetting Joost Klein, people not being able to bring in a non binary flag, etc. I'm actually emotionally exhausted. And may I add, that countries delegation/ journalists were harassing artists at pre parties. This should have been nipped in the bud long before the actual competition

Thank you for this, I did not know the extent of all the problems that occurred. This was very eye opening.

So Cornald Maas from the Dutch delegation had indeed the right words to them when he said "F*** the EBU"

A rightwing Finnish politician Rydman also encouraged people to vote for Israel. If you look at Spotify charts, Hurricane is nowhere near the top, and in fact it is below 200 in some daily charts for countries that gave Israel 12 points.

Gabe, you have helped us SO MUCH in waddling through that entire chaos. For that, you have my immense gratitude. This video was stressful, with step by step PTSD of the whole thing. Thank you. Hopefully, with the number of complaints rising (especially the recent one by RTVSLO) you will soon be able to make a much brighter recap of even more recent events.

Honestly, most Dutch fans I talked to and have seen online want the Netherlands to withdraw from Eurovision for at LEAST one year. More if the EBU doesn't change enough. NL have been participants in the contest from the very start and Eurovision is generally very popular here, but what happened to Joost has really left a deep wound that won't heal easily. I'm sure people from other countries would feel the same if it had happened to their entry. Especially when that entry was hugely popular, like Joost's. I didn't watch the final at all, btw. Couldn't. Only saw some clips of the public booing Osterdahl online. That felt good, but no real consolation, of course.

I feel like this is the video I've been looking for. This video clearly states the bad vibes that were around the eurovision song festival perfectly. It also was very clear about the Joost klein Controvercy, and other controversies that took place during the event. This all from an perspective of someone who was actually in the middle of it all. I really appreciate you making this video, and how clear and in depth this video actually was! As a dutchy a video like this is exactly what I was looking for about the whole situation! Thanks for making this video, and best of luck!! ❤

Summed up perfectly 👏 I really hope EBU watch this video a massive reality check is needed. Hopefully they make the necessary changes that a year like this never happens again.

Massive gratitude and appreciation to you for doing this video. I know it can’t have been easy for you. I was much more on the periphery of the bubble than you all week and still feel completely traumatised by what went down. ❤

It’s funny that the tasteless EBU press releases are still ongoing to this day. They are incredibly proud of all the streams this year, while the song that was the most streamed got disqualified. But of course, nothing is said about that.

Thank you Gabe for getting me through this whole troublesome time and creating such amazing videos that really lit up my mood !! Amazing work 💕

Thank you so much for this video. I was in the arena and I never felt so stressed in my life. I'm still not over how traumatizing this week was...

Great video Gabe. Lets pray things change massively for 2025! And we can go back to enjoying the best week if the year.

And to think that this could've all been avoided had a certain country sat on the sidelines this year...

The Israeli public broadcaster is not a free player if the president of Israel can pressure them like that. The president should not be able to intervene like that.

Nothing will change as long as Moroccanoil is the main sponsor of the event. It is an Israeli company cosmetics company based in Tel Aviv, nothing to do with Morocco.

I'm so here for this, looking forward to the 5-part iceberg dissecting this whole season😅 post-premiere: this video was everything I've hoped for, my heart goes out to all artists involved but especially OUR EUROPAPA🇳🇱🇳🇱🇳🇱

WOW!!!! I am stunned by this video. This was an incredible recap of all that happened in Malmö during the week of the Eurovision Song Contest. I am impressed by this video. Fantastic job. A lot of people believe the Netherlands was sacrificed and Joost Klein got screwed by the EBU.Much love from the Netherlands

So great to have that info by schedule of the important moments! Thanks 😜 agree completly!

Excellent job this year Gabe, I hope everything goes better so you can continue sharing your ideas and analysis with us about the constest. Thi swas my first eurovision, and well I am quite sad for everything that happened and how the good music was mostly a second thought during all this disaster. Really happy with Nemo's victory, they were my favorite since the beggining.