It’s Eurovision week and followers and acts are gearing up for the huge grand finale on Saturday, May 14. Alongside the 20 finalists who secured their locations throughout the semi-finals this week, the Big Five international locations can even be competing for the title of Eurovision winner 2022.
The Big Five are France, Germany, Italy, Spain and United Kingdom and they automatically qualify for the closing, which means they do not need to compete in the semi-finals. So why is that this?
Back in 1999, France, UK, Germany and Spain turned exempt from relegation and had been identified as the ‘Big Four’ – the purpose for the exemption was that they had been the highest-paying European Broadcast Union members which considerably fund the contest every year. They had been additionally then given exemption for competing in the semi-finals, which had been launched in 2004.
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The group turned the ‘Big Five’ in 2011 when Italy started competing once more. They had withdrawn in the Nineteen Nineties, their final look being 1997, with out explaining why.
This 12 months’s acts for the Big Five are Sam Ryder with Space Man for the UK, Mahmood & BLANCO with Brvidi for Italy, Alvan & Ahez with Fulenn for France, Chanel with SloMo for Spain and Malik Harris with Rockstars for Germany. The other international locations via to the grand closing, which is going down in Italy on Saturday, May 14 following Måneskin’s 2021 success, are Switzerland, Armenia, Iceland, Lithuania, Portugal, Norway, Greece, Moldova and the Netherlands.
Semi-final two will happen on Thursday, May 12 from 8pm. It might be aired on BBC Three. The taking part international locations are: Australia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Finland, Georgia, Israel, Malta, San Marino, Serbia, Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Ireland, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania and Sweden.
The grand closing will air on BBC One, Saturday, May 14 from 8pm.