Eurovision fans accuse contest of being 'rigged' to make Sweden win

‘Seems a bit too coincidental to me’: Eurovision fans accuse contest of being ‘rigged’ to allow Sweden to win to coincide with 50th anniversary of ABBA’s victory

Eurovision fans have accused the song contest of rigging the result to allow Sweden to win.

Viewers claim that organisers orchestrated Loreen’s victory so that Sweden would host next year coinciding with the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s win.

Each of the 26 acts fought to get their hands on the coveted glass microphone trophy, but it was Sweden who stormed to victory, with their act Loreen making history as the first woman to win the competition twice.

But not all were in agreement that Sweden deserved first place and speculated that the competition had been fixed.

One person said: ‘Look I’m not saying it’s rigged but… Sweden winning the year before the anniversary of ABBA’s win seems entirely too convenient to me’.

Fixed? Eurovision fans have accused the song contest of rigging the result to allow Sweden to win

Anniversary: Viewers claim that organisers orchestrated Loreen’s victory so that Sweden would host next year coinciding with the 50th anniversary of ABBA’s win

A second tweeted: ‘No way they rigged the entire thing so Sweden can host it on the 50 year anniv of ABBA’s win bro. I’m SALTY’.

A third echoed: ‘this whole ABBA anniversary and Sweden winning seems a bit too coincidental to me idk’.

A fourth agreed, writing: ‘I’m not a conspiracy theorist but the idea that this was rigged so Sweden can host on the fiftieth anniversary of the Abba win makes lots of sense right now.’

While a fifth added: ‘I’m loving the instant conspiracy theory that #EUROVISION2023 was rigged so that next year could be in Sweden for the 50th Anniversary of ABBA & Waterloo.’

And a sixth penned: ‘they wanted sweden to win so ABBA perform their 50th eurovision anniversary in sweden next year’. 

Swedish group ABBA entered into the 1974 Eurovision Song Contest with Waterloo and Bjorn, Benny, Agnetha and Anni-Frid were catapulted into stardom after winning.

2024 marks exactly 50 years since their decisive victory, with many expecting the group to perform at next year’s contest.

Sweden was hit by more fix accusations after fans also spotted that Loreen’s microphone had been left on.

One fan said: ‘Did they already give Loreen the head mic for her performance? Or is this just for the interview, do they normally double-mic people?’

Accusation: But not all were in agreement that Sweden deserved first place and speculated that the competition had been fixed

Deflated: The UK’s Mae Muller looked crestfallen as the scores for her performance were read out, and she ended the night with just 24 points despite being among the top ten favourites going in 

On Saturday night, Loreen won with a staggering 583 points, followed closely by Finland. Ukraine meanwhile scored an impressive 243 points after rocketing up the leaderboard thanks to the public vote.

But the UK’s Mae Muller looked crestfallen as the scores for her performance were read out, and she ended the night with just 24 points despite being among the top ten favourites going in. 

Liverpool hosted the competition on behalf of war-torn Ukraine, which won the contest last year, and fans around the UK proudly showed their support for both countries. 

Eurovision fans went wild for hosts Graham Norton, Hannah Waddingham, Alesha Dixon and Ukrainian rock star Julia Sanina.

Hannah Waddingham was forced to calm booing crowds in Liverpool, reminding them that everyone was ‘friends’ as it was revealed that the UK entry received just a handful of points in the public vote.

Following the individual country jury votes, Sweden were on top with 277 points, and they topped the leaderboard again when the public vote came through. 

Italy and Israel’s entries following in second and third, almost neck and neck with 141 and 137 points. 

Hannah and Graham spoke to announcers across the entrant countries, each of which told them where their 12 points would be going.

But the ‘early days’ results for Eurovision 2023 put the UK in the bottom half of the leaderboard with only 15 points.

Audiences around the world were treated to further performances as they waited for the votes to come in, with Sam Ryder and Roger Taylor from Queen taking to the stage.

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