Fabulously Flamboyant Friday: The 2026 Eurovision Song Contest Preview

Let joy be unconfined – It’s that most wonderful time of year – again… EUROVISION!!!

Welcome back my friends, to the flamboyance that never ends, as Fabulously Flamboyant Friday glides effortlessly across the neatly trimmed crease to deliver yet another groin-polished googly from the gasworks end of musical magnificence.

So don your taffeta and sequinned best, pull on your bondage trousers, lube up your chaps and please be welcome our gushing preview of the annual festival of flounce and flamboyance that we all know and love as the Eurovision Song Contest.

Grand Final Night is almost upon us and, as I type this missive for a salubrious insertion into our august organ, our first pulsating semi of the week is already in hand. By the time you read this post, the semis will be behind us and the Grand Final will be just 24 hours away, so please excuse my giddy exuberance and girlish glee.

The music will of course be sensational (well, mostly awful, if truth be told, with perhaps the occasional gem) but oh my goodness – the costumes and routines, the frocks and flounces. They will all, I’m sure, be simply fabulous darling.

However, we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves lest we boil over with premature exultation. So tonight we take a deep breath and gird our loins for tomorrow night’s excess with a look at the run up to this year’s edition of what is – without the slightest scintilla of doubt – the greatest (well, certainly the most fabulously flamboyant) musical contest on the planet.

The 2026 edition of the Eurovision Song Contest takes place in Vienna and this year marks the show’s 70th anniversary – Huzzah! Sadly, however, the celebrations have once again been overshadowed by the usual feather-spitting row over the participation of Israel. As a result, when the musical delegations gather in Austria, only 35 nations will be present to tussle for the glittering crown. Five of the competition’s regulars (Iceland, Ireland, the Netherlands, Slovenia and Spain) have already flounced and taken the decision to boycott this year’s event.

Israel’s presence in the competition has generated significant controversy since the Gaza offensive that began in October 2023. During the most recent Eurovision contests in Malmö and Basel, anti-Israel protesters filled the streets and Israel’s participants eventually had to be provided with armed and exceedingly butch protection.

Some fear the controversies surrounding Israel’s inclusion could perhaps change the nature of Eurovision forever. Because, in addition to the significant number of countries that have already announced a boycott of this year’s contest, Israel’s continued participation is believed to have pushed a number of others extremely close to venturing down the very same path. As a result, some of the broadcasters are beginning to call for a change in the rules for states that are currently indulging in shenanigans or perhaps behaving in a rumbustious, caddish or uncouth manner.

At last year’s contest, Israel very nearly won. This was largely thanks to their whopping (and in fact record-breaking) levels of pan-European audience support. Apparently, several national broadcasters were less than impressed by this fulsome show of support for Israel (with the public therefore signalling their rejection of the approved narrative) and have started to question the suitability of the current populist voting system that irritatingly allows voters to vote. Additionally, there have also been suggestions of political interference and claims that Israeli-linked social media accounts were urging citizens to vote en masse for the Israeli entry. Oh wot an tangled webs we weev. However, we need to be very clear about this: the European Broadcasting Union have stated that absolutely no competition violations were uncovered and the final results were valid, verified, thoroughly above board and entirely pukka.

The European Broadcasting Union seems determined to ensure the contest remains “united by music”. However, an increasing number of participants and broadcasters are of the opinion that it’s no longer possible to separate, or even pretend to separate, the Eurovision Song Contest from international politics. In fact, as Russia was suspended from the contest in 2022, due to its invasion of Ukraine, I would argue this assertion is demonstrably true. Some now claim the seemingly ever-increasing geo-political influence on the contest’s voting procedures (and of course the eventual result) is steadily undermining trust in Eurovision as a serious international competition (well, perish the thought). As a result, some are now openly calling for a rapid change to the rules to firmly prohibit countries that are at war from participating in the contest. We shall see how that one unfolds.

However, all this hand-wringing and political controversy has not harmed Eurovision’s ticket sales in the slightest, with tickets for this year’s grand final selling out in under fifteen minutes. This, no doubt, was Euro-music to the ears of Martin Green (this year’s Eurovision director) who said, “to see every single show sell out so quickly is a powerful reminder of what the Eurovision Song Contest represents: joy, togetherness and a shared experience”. Well said that chap!

Incidently, the UK’s contribution to this year’s joyous togetherness and shared experience will be provided by Look Mum No Computer, who will be performing Eins, Zwei, Drei – a Krautrock inspired piece not currently doing particularly well with the bookies. In fact, as I write, Finland is currently the clear bookmakers’ favourite for Saturday night success, with Eins, Zwei, Drei, sadly, listed as a rank outsider.

Nevertheless, win or lose, Blighty already has a pretty decent track record in this contest. Sweden and Ireland are the reigning and thoroughly undisputed Kings and Queens of Eurovision, with seven sensational victories apiece, but the UK has tucked an impressive five thunderous victories under its belt, which puts us joint-second in the all-time winners list alongside our old enemy, France, and some assorted bits and bobs from the Benelux regions that are probably not real countries and so shouldn’t count anyway.

Additionally, of course, we are well used to just missing out on the coveted top spot, having finished in second place on no less than 16 bitter and galling occasions, with our most recent so-near-and-yet-so-far event coming in 2022, when Sam Ryder’s pretty decent Spaceman lost out (somewhat inevitably) to a rather lacklustre Ukrainian entry. For the record, Finland and Norway hold the record for coming last at Eurovision, with both nations fighting to get their hands on the bottom slot, having finished last on ten occasions each.

So who do the bookies see as Eurovision’s 2026 favourites? As mentioned above, a thumping victory for Finland (Linda Lampenius & Pete Parkkonen with their song Liekinheitin) is currently the clear favourite. In second place is Greece (with Akylas performing Ferto), and Denmark currently sit in third place with Søren Torpegaard Lund performing Før vi går hjem – that’s easy for you to say. Meanwhile, Ukraine (represented by Leleka performing Ridnym) has dropped from one of the early favourites to a lowly 11th place, with an estimated 2% chance of winning the contest.

So who will make it through to the Grand Final (as I write, Boy George doesn’t seem to be having much luck with his semi), and who will triumph on Saturday night? Well, I’ll guess we’ll just have to suppress our excitement and impatience and wait and see. And please remember, the sooner you go up the apples and pears to uncle Ned, the sooner Eurovision comes.

Phil The Fabulously Flamboyant Test Manager will be your sparkly host for tomorrow evening’s glittering festivities, and I’m off to sew some extra sequins into my favourite leatherette posing pouch. So I think that’s probably quite enough of my inane and florid Euro ramblings for tonight. Let’s keep all our fingers (and any other appendages that take your fancy) firmly crossed for a fabulously flamboyant event tomorrow night – and of course a damn good, belt off, trousers down thrashing of the competition by our plucky young Sam and his impressive entry.