Eighth before his performance in the semi-final on Thursday evening, Eden Golan made a spectacular jump among all the bookmakers. This rise could be explained by a blunder by Italian television.
In the midst of controversy over Israel’s presence at Eurovision due to the war in Gaza, the rise is as dazzling as it is unexpected. While she appeared before the semi-final in the last positions of the top 10 favorites according to the bookmakers, Eden Golan occupies second place in this ranking this Friday, May 10, according to Eurovisionworld and Oddschecker.
According to these two sites aggregating the odds of different online betting sites, Eden Golan is only ahead of Baby Lasagna, the Croatian candidate, who has been at the top of the ranking for several weeks. However, she passed Nemo, the singer defending the colors of Switzerland.
Thursday evening, thanks to her song “Hurricane”, Eden Golan managed to qualify for the final and join the group of 26 countries who will compete for victory on Saturday. But does the Israeli singer’s performance alone explain her comeback? In reality, it could have a lot to do with a mistake made by Rai, the Italian public television.
Israel seeking fifth victory
During the retransmission of the semi-final, the channel in fact disclosed the results of the votes of transalpine viewers with a scrolling banner on the screen, which is nevertheless prohibited by the regulations of the EBU (European Broadcasting Union). ), organizer of the event. After this blunder, Rai is exposed to a sanction from the EBU, indicates the Italian daily La Repubblica.
According to these figures, 39% of Italians who expressed their choice on Thursday voted for Eden Golan. Far ahead of the next two other countries, the Netherlands and Georgia, which only received around 7% of the vote.
“I am so grateful to everyone who voted for us and supported us,” said Eden Golan after the semi-final. “It’s truly an honor to be here, on stage, to perform and show our voice, to present ourselves with pride.”
If the young woman were to win on Saturday, it would be the Jewish state’s fifth victory at Eurovision, the last dating back to 2018.
