France take out OGAE Second Chance 2019

France has taken out their first (non-retrospective) OGAE Second Chance competition.

Seemone's heartfelt ballad 'Tous Les Deux' won by just two points ahead of Il Volo for Italy with Anna Bergendahl's 'Ashes to Ashes' finishing third for Sweden.

Australia's debut in the contest with Electric Fields and '2000 and Whatever' saw us finish in a very respectable 4th.

Australia received 12 points from 10 of the countries taking part: Denmark, UK, Armenia, Rest of the World, Poland, Israel, Czech Republic, Iceland, Ukraine and Lithuania.

Low or missing scores from other OGAE clubs unfortunately saw us lose out to the more consistent top three.

Big thanks to OGAE Italy who put on an elaborate show that you can watch on their site. During the points Suzy from Portugal and Edgars Kreilis also made an appearance.

Full 1st to 24th position and points below:

1. France: Seemone - Tous Les Deux - 294 points

2. Italy: Il Volo - Musica Che Resta - 292

3. Sweden: Anna Bergendahl - Ashes to Ashes - 272

4. Australia: Electric Fields - 2000 and Whatever - 242

5. Germany: Aly Ryan - Wear Your Love - 185

6. Denmark: Julie and Nina - League of Light - 159

7. Norway: Mørland - En Livredd Mann - 129

8. Czech Republic: Barbora Mochowa - True Colours - 108

9. Lithuania: Monika Marija - Light On - 88

10. Romania: Bella Santiago - Army of Love - 75

11. Spain: María Villar - Muérdeme - 71

12. Ukraine: Kazka - Apart - 65

13. United Kingdom: Kerrie-Anne - Sweet Lies - 62

14. Croatia: Lorena - Tower of Babylon - 40

15. Albania: Mirud - Nene - 36

16. Slovenia: Ula Lozar - Fridays - 35

17. Serbia: Ivana Vladović & Wonder Strings - Moje Bol - 28

18. Iceland: Friðrik Ómar - Hvað ef ég get ekki elskað? - 24

19. Moldova (Rest of the World): Maxim Zavidia - I Will Not Surrender - 24

20. Estonia: Lumervav ft Inga - Milline Päev - 14

21. Latvia: Edgars Kreilis - Cherry Absinthe - 12

22. Hungary: The Middletonz - Roses - 5

23. Finland: Darude ft Sebastian Rejman - Superman - 3

24. Portugal: Surma - Pugna - 0

OGAE France will now host the 2020 version of the contest.

The points given by the OGAE Australia club were:

12 - Germany

10 - Sweden

8 - France

7 - Denmark

6 - United Kingdom

5 - Romania

4 - Norway

3 - Latvia

2 - Czech Republic

1 - Italy

The OGAE Second Chance has been running since 1987 and is run by the international branch of Eurovision fan clubs known as Organisation Générale des Amateurs de l'Eurovision, English translation General Organisation of Eurovision Fans, or OGAE for short.

The contest sees each country’s club choose one song that didn’t win their national final to represent them in what is essentially a ‘Second Chance’ (hence the contest name).

Much like Eurovision, each nation’s club votes for their favourites and comes up with their collated 12, 10, 8 points down to 1. The scores are tallied and a winner is chosen.