Eurovision 2024 fans 'delighted' as Switzerland's Nemo declared winner
At the end of a nail biting week of musical performances, the Eurovision Song Contest 2024 finally declared its winner on Saturday evening when Switzerland's Nemo won with their song The Code.
The winning performance came after a tense week of surprising mishaps, in which controversy had dogged the 68th edition of the annual song contest for months in the run up to the live shows.
Much of the controversy stemmed from the decision to allow Israel to compete in the song contest, despite their ongoing war with Palestine in the Gaza Strip. In previous years, other countries engaged in active conflict had been temporarily banned from competing, such as Russia who have been unable to send an entrant to the contest for the past three years as a result of the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
However in a surprising decision, the European Broadcasting Union had still given consent for Eden Golan to take part, despite widespread protests throughout Malmö having required intervention from armed police to maintain public order.
In addition to the Israel controversy, this year also saw the first contestant ever to be banned from the contest, when the Netherlands’ entry Joost Klein was disqualified from competing following an altercation backstage with a member of the production team.
However, despite the unfortunate firsts for the show, the Eurovision Song Contest wasn’t without some positive highlights with 25 acts on hand to delight audiences with a whole host of musical styles and genres.
Ireland’s Bambie Thug broke the country’s losing streak and managed to qualify for the first time in 6 years, with their unique but catchy song Doomsday Blue. Dazzling fans with some seriously gothic makeup, Bambie swiftly earned high praise from social media users.
Finland’s Windows 95 Man also brought a touch of European eccentricity to the proceedings with the track ‘No Rules’, that saw the aforementioned lead dancing around the stage in a modesty pouch and several strategically placed objects to keep things family friendly.
Meanwhile the UK’s own entry Olly Alexander did us proud with his song Dizzy, and despite a few technical issues still delivered a memorable stage performance complete with daring wardrobe choices!
And of course, it wouldn’t be Eurovision without a memorable half-time show and this year, in honour of the return to Sweden, the show even featured a very special performance from the ABBA avatars in a throwback to the legendary 1973 winners who dominated the contest all the way back in 1974.
Immediately following Saturday's nail-biting results announcement in which Switzerland received a whopping 591 points, fans quickly raced to social media to share their thoughts on who they deemed a well deserved winner.
One fan wrote: “So happy for Nemo!! A great song and performance”
A second fan then added: "THIS SONG IS A BANGER YEAHHHH!”
Meanwhile a third fan commented: “They certainly did break the code! Congratulations Nemo - Switzerland!”
A fourth viewer then echoed: “Switzerland wasn't my top choice but it is very vocally impressive, catchy and a well deserved win in my book, even if my personal preference was France or Ireland. Congrats to Nemo!”
Leaving a fifth to add: “Harry Styles + Mika = Nemo talk about breaking the code !
Hot on Nemo’s heels however, were second place contestants Baby Lasagna with their song Rim Tim Tagi Dim and the third place gong going to France’s Slimane with their song Mon Amour.
