Mae Muller will be taking to the stage on Saturday (Picture: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images)
The 26 acts going through to the Eurovision Grand Final on Saturday have officially been confirmed.
The 10 countries who made it through to the grand final after an epic first round on Tuesday were Croatia, Moldova, Switzerland, Finland, Czechia, Israel, Portugal, Sweden, Serbia and Norway.
Meanwhile, Malta, Azerbaijan, Latvia and the Netherlands failed to qualify alongside Ireland’s Wild Youth.
During Thursday’s second round it was confirmed that ten more acts had qualified: Cyprus, Estonia, Belgium, Albania, Lithuania, Poland, Austria, Australia, Armenia and Slovenia.
Greece, Denmark, San Marino, Georgia and Iceland failed to make it through.
The 20 countries who have qualified will now be joining last year’s winner Ukraine, as well as UK, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Eurovision paid tribute to the music of Ukraine with a performance by Maria Yaremchuk, Zlata Dziunka and Otoy featuring music from the country from throughout the years including the Christmas carol, Carol Of The Bells, which is based on the Ukrainian song Shchedryk.
Trio of hosts Britain’s Got Talent star Alesha Dixon, Ted Lasso’s Hannah Waddingham and Ukrainian singer Julia Sanina also transformed into drag queens by walking into a ‘Queen Machine’, before a troupe of performers took to the stage for a medley of hits including Free Your Mind by En Vogue and a remix of Free Yourself by Jessie Ware.
Elsewhere, alongside Rylan Clark and Scott Mills’ commentary, Peppa Pig made a surprise appearance, leaving fans truly baffled.
For the first time in the competition’s nearly seven-decade history, people from countries outside the contest were able to vote for their favourite act, as their votes were converted into points that had the same weight as one participating country.
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In another change for 2023, only viewers’ votes decided which countries qualified onwards from the semi-final stage.
This meant acts will not have to face the judges until they reach the grand final stage.
More to come…
The Eurovision Grand Final airs Saturday, May 13 at 8pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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The results are in!
