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Serbian ballad wins at Eurovision | Serbian ballad wins at Eurovision |
(20 minutes later) | |
Serbian singer Marija Serifovic has won the Eurovision Song Contest at a ceremony in Helsinki which saw the UK's entry coming joint second-last. | Serbian singer Marija Serifovic has won the Eurovision Song Contest at a ceremony in Helsinki which saw the UK's entry coming joint second-last. |
Serifovic's powerful ballad Molitva had been second-favourite with bookmakers in the run-up to the competition. | Serifovic's powerful ballad Molitva had been second-favourite with bookmakers in the run-up to the competition. |
She scored 268 points, beating Ukrainian drag queen Verka Serdyuchka into second place. Russia was third, with Turkey fourth and Bulgaria fifth. | |
British act Scooch managed only 19 points with their song Flying the Flag. | British act Scooch managed only 19 points with their song Flying the Flag. |
EUROVISION TOP FIVE 1. Serbia (268 points)2. Ukraine (235)3. Russia (207)4. Turkey (163)5. Bulgaria (157) | |
Twelve of these came from Malta, which placed the UK entry top in its voting, but there was little recognition from other countries. | |
The UK tied with France one position above the bottom in the results table, with Irish folk group Dervish scoring only five points and coming last overall. | |
It meant that Scooch narrowly avoided finishing 24th out of 24, as British act Gemini had in 2003 - famously scoring "null points" - with the song Cry Baby. | |
The competition had been embraced by people in the Finnish capital, which earned the right to stage the event when rock group Lordi won in 2006. | |
EUROVISION BOTTOM FIVE 20. Spain (43 points)21. Lithuania (28) 22=. France (19)22=. UK (19, pictured)24. Ireland (5) | |
Lordi's song Hard Rock Hallelujah was reprised as the opening number of the show, at Helsinki's largest ice hockey stadium. | |
Big-screen TVs were erected in the city centre, where fans gathered to watch the ceremony. | |
Some 350 spin-off events had also been organised as part of Eurovision "fever". | |
The contest - held since 1956 - had a record 42 entries this year. | The contest - held since 1956 - had a record 42 entries this year. |
It was broadcast to an estimated global TV audience of 100 million, with the winner selected after a poll in each country involving telephone votes and text messages. |