Semi Final 2 - Who is going to qualify?

After a dramatic first semi final where eight countries were sadly knocked out of the competition it's now time to turn our attention to the second semi final where the next round of 18 acts will compete for their place in Saturday's Grand Final. Let's once again take a look at the bookies prediction as to who the lucky ten qualifiers will be as well as the press poll from the rehearsals last week.

Bookies

If we quickly look back to the bookies' prediction for the first semi final we can see that they managed to predict nine of the ten qualifiers with the exception being that Poland qualified and Finland, to the surprise of many, was left behind. Similarly to the first semi final, the qualification odds for the second semi finalists have fluctuated quite a bit with a few notable examples. Firstly, (FYR) Macedonia and Serbia's demise over the course of the week of rehearsals is one of the most significant changes in the ranking. Prior to the arrival of the various delegations in Kyiv, Macedonia and Serbia sat firmly within the top ten counties predicted to advance to the final with Macedonia being one of the fan-favourites for the contest, placing within the top ten of the OGAE Rankings. However, come the first and second rehearsals, the bookies seem to have lost faith in the acts with Serbia sitting in 11th place - just outside the top ten - and Macedonia down in 14th. On the other hand, Austria and Belarus have seemed to have impressed the bookies as both, who were outside of the top ten, are now predicted to qualify in 8th and 10th place respectively. At the top of the table sit Bulgaria, who have remained at the top of the betting odds leading up to and during the rehearsals, Romania and the Netherlands have also had their odds improved over the course of the week.

As of Wednesday 10th May, the bookies have predicted that the ten qualifiers of Thursday's semi-final will be:

1. Bulgaria - Kristian Kostov - "Beautiful Mess"

2. Romania - Illinca feat. Alex Florea - "Yodel It"

3. The Netherlands - OG3NE - "Lights And Shadows"

4. Estonia - Koit Toome & Laura - "Verona"

5. Denmark - Anja Nissen - "Where I Am"

6. Hungary - Joci Papai - "Origo"

7. Israel - Imri Ziv - "I Feel Alive"

8. Austria - Nathan Trent - "Running On Air"

9. Norway - JOWST - "Grab The Moment"

10. Belarus - NaviBand - "Historyja Majho Zyccia

with Serbia, Croatia, Switzerland, Macedonia, Ireland, Malta, Lithuania and San Marino being left behind in the semi.

Press Poll

Just like the bookies, the press poll managed to predict the majority of qualifiers and non-qualifiers from semi final one with the exceptions being that Latvia and Finland didn't qualify and where replaced in actual show by Poland and Belgium - who finished with 0 points in the poll. When looking at the results of the press poll, we can see quite a lot of similarities between the bookies predication as well as the points assigned by the journalists in the press room. The single difference between the two, in terms of who is predicted to qualify, is that Croatia has replaced Israel who, in the press poll, sits in 13th place with 16 points. In addition to this, Austria, who were sitting outside of the bookies' prediction prior to rehearsals have sailed to second place in the press poll behind Kristian Kostov and were the victors of the first day of semi-final 2's rehearsals. One of the most outstanding points from the results is, like Belgium, Serbia's Tijana Bogicevic received 0 points from the press after her first rehearsal placing her above only Lithuania in the table due to small adjustments made for each day. Considering, however, that Blanche also got 0 points from the press poll yet still qualified for the final, does this give us a signal that Tijana will follow suit? We'll have to wait and see!

According to the press poll of the first rehearsals, Bulgaria, Austria, Romania, The Netherlands Hungary, Croatia, Estonia, Belarus, Denmark and finally Norway will be the countries to advance to the grand final.

Once again we are up for another tense and dramatic semi-final with much uncertainty surrounding which ten countries will please the jury and televoters. What do you think about the results of the press poll and the predictions that the bookies have made? Do you agree with the press poll and the prediction of the bookmakers? Let us know and be sure to check out our various social media pages as well as our updates on the website!