Germany wins 2010 Eurovision Song Contest

Germany wins 2010 Eurovision Song Contest
Germany wins 2010 Eurovision Song Contest

Germany has won the 2010 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place in Oslo on Saturday night - but the United Kingdom finished in last place once again. The winning song, Satellite by teenage singer Lena Meyer-Landrut, scored 246 points to finish well ahead of second placed Turkey with 170. Romanian duo Paula and Ovi finished in third place while Denmark and pre-contest favourites Azerbaijan completed the top five. The UK's song, That Sounds Good To Me by Josh Dubovie, scored just 10 points to finish bottom of the heap. It is the third time in the past 10 years that the UK has finished last, after Jemini in 2003 and Andy Abraham in 2008. Josh, whose song was written by Mike Stock and Pete Waterman, had been the 175-1 outsider to win the contest. The UK did score a handful of points from juries early on but quickly found themselves at the bottom of the scoreboard. It was in contrast to the UK's 2009 result, which saw Jade Ewen finish in fifth place with the Andrew Lloyd Webber-penned It's My Time. Meanwhile Lena Meyer-Landrut - who won the chance to compete in Eurovision after taking part in German talent show Unser Star Fur Oslo - appeared speechless as she took to the stage to reprise her winning song. "This is so absolutely awesome and I feel like it's not real," she said. "I'm so happy and so thankful and so grateful and I never thought that we could do this." She continued to show her disbelief during her reprise of the song, at one point shouting "Oh my God this is so crazy" at one point. Although they have been taking part since the contest began in 1956 this is only the second time that Germany have won Eurovision, and is their first victory for 28 years. Their only other winning song was Nicole's A Little Peace in 1982. 25 countries took part in this year's final - with the UK, France, Spain and Germany automatically qualifying to the final due to the amount of funding they put into the event - as well as host nation Norway. A memorable moment came early on in proceedings when an audience member invaded the stage during the Spanish entry Algo Pequenito and began swaying along with the backing dancers. Spanish singer Daniel Diges was given a chance at the end of the main show to perform the song again as a result of the interruption.

Patrick McLennan

Patrick McLennan is a London-based journalist and documentary maker who has worked as a writer, sub-editor, digital editor and TV producer in the UK and New Zealand. His CV includes spells as a news producer at the BBC and TVNZ, as well as web editor for Time Inc UK. He has produced TV news and entertainment features on personalities as diverse as Nick Cave, Tom Hardy, Clive James, Jodie Marsh and Kevin Bacon and he co-produced and directed The Ponds, which has screened in UK cinemas, BBC Four and is currently available on Netflix. 


An entertainment writer with a diverse taste in TV and film, he lists Seinfeld, The Sopranos, The Chase, The Thick of It and Detectorists among his favourite shows, but steers well clear of most sci-fi.