Christer Björkman has given his views on The Big Five countries at Eurovision.
As you may know, since 2000 The Big Five countries at Eurovision can automatically go straight to the final due to the fact that they contribute the most to the contest financially, including Spain, Germany, The UK, France, Italy, aswell as the host country.
Speaking on the podcast Eurovision Legends, Christer was asked whether The Big 5 is good or bad in his opinion, with Christer saying:
“Well obviously it’s bad for them cause I believe that alot can be done during the contest week.
If you have a song that hasn’t really taken off and it does it with the act, people realise “Wow, this has something that I didn’t see on the audio”.
That gives the song such a good opportunity during the contest week. We’ve seen it happened so many times. One of the most remarkable ones is Eleni Foureira who went from 20th place in the charts to be the favourite during the contest week.
So much can happen and they (The Big 5) never get that opportunity, so for their sake I say that it’s altogether bad.
Christer continued:
Italy is doing well because they have a selection contest, Germany is doing remarkably bad. They have been either last or second last for four of the last five years and that must be difficult as winning. Statistically it must be almost impossible to manage that. The guy that’s in charge of the competition is still there and that’s even more amazing.
I can understand why you don’t risk taking that step (of leaving The Big 5) but if you look at the songs that travel, they start in the semi-final and they become stronger and stronger during the week. Conchita wasn’t even mentioned as one of the favourites before the semi-final and then she became a shooting star – that’s only because she revealed herself before. And you need to do that.”
Since 2000, The UK have finished in the bottom three eleven times, France eight times, Germany seven times and Spain four times.
Aswell as talking about The Big 5, Christer spoke about The UK at Eurovision, his role as producer at Melodifestivalen aswell as many other things.
You can hear Part 1 of the podcast by clicking here, aswell as Part 2 of the podcast by clicking here.
What are your thoughts on The Big 5? Should they remain or should they go? Let us know in the comments section below!
