In readiness for last night's Melodifestivalen final in Sweden, I invited various international friends, via text message and Facebook, to text their top three to me. Some people were in Globen. Others were watching at home. Eighteen sets of results were received, from eight different nationalities. I gave their top threes 12, 10 and 8 points, and we then converted the totals into the equivalent points of eighteen people, which were then added by our chief scrutineer (hi Kevin!) to our votes in the room. (Also eighteen people, coincidentally.)

At our party, Charlotte Perrelli's 'Hero' only came sixth. Yes, sixth! I put it down to her singing, which was far from impressive. And we were the people watching it on TV. It was the votes from our friends in Globen and elsewhere who put her first, making her second to BWO in our overall scores. I doubt if the people in Globen could hear the singing properly, so make what you will of the results. (Sanna was only fifth at our party anyway.)

(When I was at Eurovision-Your Decision, I thought LoveShy were singing perfectly. Then I watched it at home a few days later. Blimey! You just can't tell in a TV studio or large hall how something sounds on TV.)

Thank you to all who took part, some in twos and threes. Specifically, thanks to Finns Tero, Juha and Tiina, Swedes Jojo and Håkan, German Thorsten, Irishmen Adrian, Dermot and Keith, Scottish Andrew, Welsh Russell and various other Brits with a multitude of racial backgrounds including Nico's Cypriot flavour; Glen, Joseph, Phil, Mark, Andy, Dean, Joe, David and Andrew.

The total points given by our texters were as follows. You will see that the bottom four all scored one measly 8 points each. I used my casting vote to split these as it made almost no difference to the totals.

'INTERNATIONAL JURY' TEXT SCORES
Position/Points/Song/Artiste

1st 176 Hero - Charlotte Perrelli
2nd 140 Lay your love on me - BWO
3rd 82 Just a minute - Rongedal
4th 80 Empty room - Sanna Nielsen
5th 22 I love Europe - Christer Sjögren
6th 10 Upp o hoppa - Frida ft. Headline
7th 8 That is where I'll go - Sibel
8th 8 Hur svårt kan det va? - Linda Bengtzing
9th 8 Thank you - Amy Diamond
10th 8 I lågornas sken - Nordman


HOUSE PARTY SCORES:
Position/Points/Song

1st 182 Lay your love on me
2nd 132 I love Europe
=3rd 114 Hur svårt kan det va?
=3rd 114 Just a minute
5th 112 Empty room
6th 108 Hero
7th 99 I lågornas sken
8th 72 That is where I'll go
9th 64 Upp o hoppa
10th 47 Thank you


OVERALL: HOUSE PARTY & JURY COMBINED:
(Please note these are NOT the two sets of scores above added together, as the text votes were converted into Eurovision points.)

Position/Points/Song

1st 362 Lay your love on me
2nd 324 Hero
3rd 258 Just a minute
4th 240 I love Europe
5th 238 Empty room
6th 168 Hur svårt kan det va?
7th 154 Upp o hoppa
8th 144 That is where I'll go
9th 117 I lågornas sken
10th 83 Thank you

Labels: Eurovision 2008, Melodifestivalen

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