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  • Writer's pictureDale Roberts

Australian Eurovision jurors - what were their favourite entries?


Shannon Noll, Christine Anu, Richard Wilkins and Myf Warhurst

Since debuting in 2015, Australia has had five wonderful entrants grace the Eurovision stage.


In addition to those five artists, 25 other Australians have also had an important role at Eurovision - our jury members!


Each year a group of five jury members decide where half the points from Australia will go.


We've had some interesting and pretty famous jury members over the time, here's a detailed look at some of the more "household names" and where their votes did and didn't go:



Shannon Noll (2016)



Yes, that's right, "Nollsy" himself - the Australian Idol 2003 runner-up (to 2015 representative Guy Sebastian) joined the Eurovision jury in 2016.


In the semi-finals, five of his top 10 didn't qualify including his no.1 choice 'Icebreaker' by Agnete for Norway (the other four being 'Blue and Red' for Slovenia, 'Fairytale' for Albania, 'The Last of Our Kind' for Switzerland and 'Soldiers of Love' for Denmark - that's some wild taste there!).


In the Grand Final his 12 points went to 'What's the Pressure' from Laura Tesoro for Belgium, with UK's Joe and Jake in 2nd place, 'Made of Stars' from Hovi Star for Israel in 3rd and very surprisingly 'I Stand' from Czech Repulic in 4th. He was the only Australian juror to put the Czechs in the Top 10.


Don't fear though, some of Nollsy's rock roots came through with Cyprus in 6th with Minus One's 'Alter Ego'.


What didn't he like? Latvia's 'Heartbeat' from Justs was his last place.



Myf Warhurst (2016)



That's right, before she became Australia's commentator at Eurovision, Myf was a jury member in 2016.


Like Shannon Noll and many other Australian jurors, Myf's favourite entry in the Grand Final was 'What's the Pressure' from Belgium. 'Made of Stars' for Israel and Poli Genova's 'If Love Was a Crime' rounded out her Top 3.


Interestingly, she was the only Australian juror to put Sergey Lazarev's 'You Are the Only One' inside the Top 10 (8th).


And what got her last place? That went to Sweden with Frans and 'Sorry'. Ouch!



Richard Wilkins (2015 and 2018)



Channel 9's infamous Entertainment reporter and commentator Richard Wilkins has TWICE been a juror member for Australia.


In 2015 he gave his 12 points to Russia's 'A Million Voices' by Polina Gagarina ahead of Italy's 'Grande Amore' in 2nd and Sweden's eventual winner 'Heroes' in 3rd.


Surprise results saw him award 6th place to the Cypriot entry 'One Thing I Should Have Done' and 8th place to Ann Sophie's 'Black Smoke' for Germany.


Fast forward to 2018 and his Top 3 were quite a choice. 1st place to Lithuania's 'When We're Old', 2nd place to Spain's 'Tu cancion' and 3rd to Germany's 'You Let Me Walk Alone'.


On the other end of the scale, it was a double whammy for the Balkan women with Albania's Elhaida Dani and Slovenia's Lea Sirk finishing last with Richard in each of their respective years.



Christine Anu (2019)



The wonderful Australian singer of Torres Strait Islander descent is best known for her rendition of 'My Island Home' (including a performance at the Sydney Olympics Closing Ceremony) or for some of our younger readers, she was on 'The Masked Singer' this year.


She took part in the Australian 2019 jury and gave her douze point to France and Bilal Hassani's 'Roi'. Icelandic act Hatari took her runner-up spot with Sweden's 'Too Late for Love' rounding out her Top 3.


Interestingly she was one of only two Australian jurors who had Mahmood's 'Soldi' in the Top 10. This resulted in Italy getting 0 points from the Australian jury.


On the other end of the scale Serhat's 'Say Na Na Na' didn't do it for Christina and neither did Victor Crone for Estonia who finished as her 2nd last place.



Lucy Durack (2017)



Another 'The Masked Singer' entrant, Lucy is best known for musical theatre performances here in Australia.


As part of the 2017 jury it may come as no surprise that her 12 points went to the United Kingdom's Lucie Jones and her song 'I'll Never Give Up On You'.


Her 2nd place was Moldova's 'Hey Mama' from Sunstroke Project with Portugal's eventual winner 'Amar pelos dois' taking 3rd place. An eclectic trifecta!


She was one of only two Australian jurors to put Romania's 'Yodel It' in the Top 10 (4th place) while on the other end of the scale Spain's 'Do it For Your Lover' took her last place position.



Mark Humphries (2019)



The ABC comedian and presenter (and formerly of SBS's 'The Feed' and Channel 10's 'Pointless), Mark joined the Australian jury for the 2019 Contest.


In the Grand Final Mark gave his 12 points to Czech Republic's Lake Malawi and their song 'Friend of a Friend' with John Lundvik for Sweden as his 2nd place and Bilal Hassani for France in 3rd.


It was his 4th place to Norway's KEiiNO that was different though, he was only one of two Australian jurors to put the song in the Top 10 and the only one to rank it in the Top 5.


On the other end of the scale, Estonia's Victor Crone and his song 'Storm' finished as his last place.


Other 1st place positions by Australian jury members (including some very well known ones!) below:


2015

  • Amanda Pelman – 'A Million Voices'

  • Danielle Spencer – A Million Voices'

  • Ash London – 'Heroes'

  • Jake Stone – 'A Million Voices'

2016

  • Monica Trapaga – 'What's the Pressure'

  • Craig Porteils – 'What's the Pressure'

  • James Mathison – 'If Love Was a Crime'

2017

  • Steven Capaldo - 'I Will Never Give Up on You'

  • Natasha Cuppit - 'Beautiful Mess'

  • Jackie Loeb - 'Amar pelos dois'

  • Peter Hayward - 'Where I Am'

2018

  • Jordan Raskopoulos – 'Dance You Off'

  • Sukhdeep Singh Bhogal (L-FRESH the Lion) – 'La Forza'

  • Susanna Rowe (Zan Rowe) – 'Dance You Off'

  • Peta Jane Millgate (Milie Millgate) – 'Lie to Me'

2019

  • Mark Cummins – 'Too Late for Love'

  • Alice Chance – 'Roi'

  • Lewis Hobba – 'Hatrið mun sigra'



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