Australia: ‘SBS will do everything to win the contest’

Now that Australia will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest again, they will do everything in their power to win the contest. That is the analysis of chief editor Steef van Gorkum from ESC Daily, who is seeing a lot of high ambitions from a lot of countries for next year.

In Vienna, Head of Delegation Paul Clarke (pictured above) already admitted that Australia were to send an even bigger name to the contest if they ever got the chance to take part again. “When he said that, I was already looking forward to five or ten years from now when they would return,” says Van Gorkum. “But now they are already back next year. If you have been waiting for thirty years to be able to enter a competition, the hunger is so big. When they have the chance to take part, they will do everything to win the contest.”

High ambitions in Russia, Sweden and the UK
It is not just Australia that wants to take the crown in Stockholm. Many other nations have expressed their ambitions. By selecting a big name, like Russia has already done with Sergey Lazarev.

“I have heard from friends in Russia that people wanted him to go for such a long time now. Rumours have been that he was or wasn’t friends with Dima Bilan who was or wasn’t still in charge there. One thing is for sure, he is a big name in the entire regio, he has been waiting for this chance for a long time and has a lot of stage experience.”

Sweden had a lot of big names in the line-up for Melodifestivalen 2016 and Christer Björkman already said, on behalf of broadcaster SVT, right after their victory in Vienna, that Sweden wants to attack the record amount of victories from Ireland. “I love that mentality,” adds Steef van Gorkum. “I love how the Swedes take it really seriously. And they have the right to speak out their ambitions. The United Kingdom is also saying they will go for the win, but they try to invent the wheel every year again. There is no long term strategy over there, so we will just have to wait and see.”

This conversation was part of our ESC Monthly Podcast for December 2015. You can check out the full episode by clicking here.

2 Comments

    • Delta Goodrem can’t match with Sergey Lazarev because she isn’t popular in Europe, unlike Sergey is.. better Australia send Kylie Minogue and will have a smashing victory 4 sure.

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