It’s been revealed by RÚV that María Ólafsdóttir – Iceland’s representative in 2015 – was in fact only second overall after the first round of voting in the final.
As can be seen in the table below (courtesy of Wikipedia), it was in fact Friðrik Dór who won the first stage of Söngvakeppnin’s final, before Ólafsdóttir surged ahead in the superfinal.
The news once again raises concern over two-song superfinals which many suggest are too associated with anti-voting as people vote for the song they least oppose to.
Nevertheless, Ólafsdóttir won fair and square in the final by almost 15,000 televotes and will represent her country in Vienna!
What are your thoughts on 2-song superfinals and the televoting results? Let us know your thoughts below or join the discussion on our forum!
Ka'a Kerr
February 18, 2015 at 20:13
Sorry, but in my opinion, a 400 vote difference is not necessarily going to open up doors for a discussion for the fairness of a two-song superfinal. Note that the 3rd place televoter had 7000 less votes. Now had it not qualified thanks to the jury votes, i think the argument can be made. But 400 votes is not much (or maybe it is in Iceland), but the clear televoter favorites were these two and they were neck and neck to one another.
Ka'a Kerr
February 18, 2015 at 20:13
Hope that doesn’t come off too bitchy Sean!
Sean Tarbuck
February 18, 2015 at 20:20
Not at all, but the format is still controversial – look at Estonia last year!
Ka'a Kerr
February 18, 2015 at 21:34
Oh most definitely. I have a comparison of this to NCAA basketball, but it’s too long to say on here, so i’ll save it for Vienna.