1. The Eurovision Song Contest 2018 final begins at 8pm Saturday night on RTÉ 1 (television) and RTÉ 2 FM. Performances of the 26 competing songs are scheduled to last approximately two hours, followed by a voting window and the live presentation of results.
2. Ireland’s competitor, Ryan O’Shaughnessy, is a 25-year-old singer-songwriter from Skerries. From the age of eight for nearly 10 years he played Mark Halpin on Fair City, and focused on his musical career from the age of 17. He made it to the finals of Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice of Ireland and was featured in 2013 on the RTÉ songwriting competition The Hit.
3. Ryan O’Shaughnessy sings third to last in this year’s final – close to 10pm.
4. Ireland is tipped to finish ninth of 26th competitors in the final; if this happens, it will be Ireland’s first top ten finish since Jedward came eighth in 2011 with Lipstick.
5. The results are chosen by a combination of 50 per cent professional jury voting and 50 per cent public voting. The juries vote on Friday night’s dress rehearsal (also referred to as the jury final) and the public votes on Saturday night.
6. This year’s on-camera hosts are four women: TV presenter Filomena Cautela, TV host Sílvia Alberto, NCIS: Los Angeles star Daniela Ruah, and TV presenter/actress Catarina Furtado. Last year’s competition in Ukraine featured three male hosts and was the first time since 1956 that there was no female presenter, so the Portuguese women-first choice can be considered a response to this.
Hosts Filomena Cautela, Silvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah and Catarina Furtado. Photograph: Reuters/Pedro Nunes
7. While the European Broadcasting Union will not comment directly on the budget to produce the three 2018 Eurovision broadcasts (two semi-finals and the final), saying this is information of a “sensitive commercial nature,” the budget has been reported to be in the €20-€23 million range, shared between the host broadcaster RTP and the other participating broadcasters.
8. Eurovision’s definition of Europe has long been broader than most people expect. The right to compete comes with active membership in the European Broadcasting Union. Israel has competed in the contest since 1973 and has won three times; and Australia has competed since 2015, and finished second in 2016.
9. Headlining this year’s interval act will be 2017 winner Salvador Sobral, who has recently undergone heart surgery. He will perform his winning entry Amar Pelos Dois and a new single from an upcoming album. The interval act will also include the fado singers Ana Moura and Mariza in a rare combined performance.
10. Among the headlines around this year’s Eurovision is the non-qualification of Russia for the contest final. Russia has competed 21 times and only failed to qualify once before. This year’s Russian singer Yulia Samoylova was meant to compete last year but the country pulled out over a dispute with host country Ukraine.
11. One of the more talked about songs in this year’s contest is Toy from Israel’s Netta, who is noted for her exaggerated facial expressions and doing a sort of chicken dance while making clucking sounds. Once top of the bookmaker’s polls to win, it has been surpassed by Cyprus’s Eleni Foureira with Fuego (Fire).
Israel’s singer Netta – noted for her exaggerated facial expressions and chicken dance – performs the song ‘Toy’ during the first semifinal. Photograph: AFP Photo/Francisco Leong
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