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UK media rounds on Erichsen
Eurovision Chief backtracks on Wogan attack
According to a daily Telegraph report yesterday, Erichsen, Terry Wogan is a problem for Eurovision and makes the contest look "ridiculous". In a report in yesterday's Telegraph newspaper in the United Kingdom, he said: "The UK has double standards in the contest. It is something you love to hate. It's something to laugh at. It's something continental. It's a scam. It's ridiculous. The British like to distance themselves from it."
"Terry Wogan is a problem because he makes it ridiculous. I know he is very popular, and maybe that is the reason why a lot of people watch. But one day he will have to retire and the BBC will have to find someone else. It will be interesting to see if that attitude changes. The BBC gets a very large audience but it chooses to represent the Contest in a certain way. They take it far more seriously in Sweden. They have a genuine love and respect for it."
Mr Erichsen is reported to have raised his concerns with the national broadcasting corporation, who will be horrified at the prospect of a possible retirement from a man that has seemingly maintained and developed the popularity and viewing figures of the competition against all the odds, when figures have been plummeting across much of Western Europe.
In 2007, Verka Serduchka became the first non-victorious, non-British Eurovision Song Contest entry to successfully chart in the United Kingdom in 34 years. Viewing figures have been increasing despite the shift towards digital and satelite channels and the fact that so few singers are known in the UK.
Sweden's serious attitude towards the Eurovision Song Contest will see entertainer and commedian, Kristian Luuk commentating once again, and many of his comments have been seen as far more controvercial than Sir Terry's.
Terry Wogan's responce was swift, choosing to ignore the comments, he simply commented on the voting that provides the highest quality winner: "I would have predicted Russia to win, since everybody in the former Eastern Bloc is terrified of losing their oil and gas, but in the end, it will depend on who has got the most representatives in the final, the Baltic or the Balkans....And France, Germany, Spain and ourselves? We just pay for most of it, otherwise we'd never qualify for the final. If we'd only thrown the Cold War".
The comments came just one week after Mr. Erichsen rejected any investigation into the result of the 1968 Eurovision Song Contest result after it was alleged that the United Kingdom was cheated out of a second consecutive victory. It was claimed by a Spanish television documentary that General Franco bought jury votes for Spain to ensure that Massiel won the competition. The story captured the British media and remained leading news for several days.
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a clip of the winning entry in west end eurovision the cast of wicked the musical http://www.youtube.c(...)/watch?v=_U9hlMDlxXg
wicked are the first ever winners of west end eurovision, a fantastic night that anyone who was there will never forget, great thanks must go to all who performed to help raise vital funds for theatremad, it was one of the campest nights theatre that the west end has ever seen, im sur that others would agree and lets hope that next years is even bigger, i can imagine tickets will be like gold dust next year, the songs performed by each cast were WICKED ooh aah just a little bit,AVENUE Q waterloo,BUDDY save your kisses for me, GREASE making you mind up,my personal fave was MAMMA MIA dinge-dong,PHANTOM love enough for two, LION KING drame queen, the film clips were fabulous, the opening number was an inspired mix of each show specially written for tonight, the judges were fab, the band were amazing and the host was hilarious, congratulations must go to david pendlebury and all at theatremad for pulling off a theatrical treat, i cant wait till next year
I watch in UK and pay no attention to Wogan except when he talks over songs or important parts...if he was gone it would make no difference to most people and those that say it will are living in the past...its not a sarcastic old Irish man that makes the show in the UK it`s the show itself and yes people laugh to see how much certain countires are hated and the political farce of the voting and that is what is funny not just one little man....the love hate relationship in Europe with the UK.
Ok - some people hate Wogan and some poeple love him.
But to say "he has single handedly made eurovision a joke in the uk" is complete nonsense!
ESC is PRIMARILY a joke in the UK because of the quality and style of music. It's kitsch, plastic and not that great pop. Ok - there are the odd exception and the occasional great song. But overall - it's pretty dire stuff.
Terry only reflects most peoples views - there are far worse comments made by people I watch the show with!
And if Terry goes - then the viewing figures may come under pressure. If the UK had a presenter that took the "competition" seriously, then most UK people wouldn't watch.
Most of the countries of Europe would like to understand Terry's humour, claerly it is beyond a lot of them. Yes Terry does not do a lot of research, but otherwise his commentary is just perfect.
What a shame there are not other commentators who are as funny, and do not take it so seriously. Actually Ken Bruce is excellent too on BBC R2, he also understands the funny side of it all, and is able to cut the whole thing down to size..
I agree with Lincoln Towers that "it is up to the British people who they want to watch and listen to on British TV". I watch Swedish SVT of course but when BBC Prime was broadcasting the ESC (last time in 2006) I used to tape it so as not to miss Wogan's commentary 
When watching the tape I found myself shouting "shut up" every time he talked over music, etc. so I have mixed feelings for Terry.
Everybody leave Terry alone!! He is perfect for Eurovision. He has the best commentating the UK has ever heard. Without him the UK eurovision fans would probably not be like they are today. Bjorn Erichsen... / to you lol ;-)
at last. wogan gets the criticisn he deserves. he has single handedly made eurovision a joke in the uk. im sure he sees eurovision as an extension of the wogan show. i wouldnt mind if he at least had some knowledge of the performers ,but clearly he does zero research and treats the show a s free holiday . the only thing he is ever right about is the neighbour and diaspora voting
Bjorn Erichsen is absolutely right. The sooner we get rid of that embarrassing idiot the better. Every year it's the same tired old jokes, cliches, cringe-worthy insults of other countries, zero research and zero interest. He just turns up and repeats exactly the same rubbish he came out with last year and for years before that. Just an excuse for him to be put up in a nice hotel for a few days at the taxpayers' expense. Next year somebody tell him the contest is being held on Easter Island and hopefully we'll never see him again.....
I totally agree with his words. Considering the vast amount of money Wogan gets for that night, he sounds so arrogant and on the verge of being offensive every time... The British love his rudeness... He pushes humour to the limits of acceptability. You can tell he is getting old because he is starting to become so predictable... But in my view, it is possible to keep some of the humour and still be respectful, nevertheless Wogan's recent assurance that he loves the ESC is an utter lie. He clearly hates it, and that bitterness comes across every year.
Btw I gave Zingo the night off!
dont forget that this thursday is WEST END EUROVISION taking place at the piccadilly theatre starring the casts of west end smash hits WICKED, PHANTOM, SOUND OF MUSIC, LION KING, MAMMA MIA,GREASE, AVENUE Q, LORD OF THE RINGS, BUDDY all performing evergreen eurovision classic all in aid of theatremad tickets are available on 0870 060 6630 and if you quote STAGE DOOR OFFER you will get top price seats for only £20 the judging panle will include cheryl baker(bucks fizz), sally ann triplett (bardo & prima donna) and frances rufelle, come alomg and have a great night and help a great cause, hope to see you all there
How come UK won ESC twice with Sir Terry as commitating?
If he goes, good bye UK in Eurovision! 
@ Philip
We keep coming back to the same problem though of how do you get someone with the caliber of say Leona Lewis to represent the UK when she is very successful in her own right. The UK can afford to be elitist because its artists don't need the eurovision to be successful.
I agree though with getting Lorraine Kelly in on Eurovision maybe to commentate alongside Terry
When Terry's humourous comments wre resticted to perhaps a bizarre outfit or a mis-matched him & her or that a song was tuneless , that could be quite funny but now he goes on endlessly about political bvoting an block voting etc and spolis it. neighbours will always vote for each other, often because they have similar tase in music but more often because they ar familar with that artiste. In Britain we are so elitist that we are, for the main only interested in UK and US music, though occaisionally someone continental like Robyn manages to sneak into our charts. I f we picked some one with Talent who could sing AND had hits in Europe we would do better. Leona Lewis would be an ideal choice or as previously mention ed Girls Aloud.
Move over Terry give the job to Claudia Winkelman or perhaps Lorraine Kelly. Lorraine would have fun but would not be disrespectful
Terry is perfect, and has exactly the correct opinion about the ESC. The ESC is principally a joke event for Europeans who otherwise have no sense of humour.
Everyone loves the event and spectacle, including Terry, but to try to take it seriously in any way, as Mr Erichsen does, completely misses the point: The ESC is a very large, successful annual comedy show, and it is hilarious. And the voting is hilarious too, utterly predictable every year.
to all of those people that dont pay for the bbc licence fee, pi** off and stop moaning, terry works for our television company not yours, we wouldnt slag off people on your tv channels for having a sense of humour, yet you think its your god given right to criticise ours, when you pay you say, until then get a life and face the fact that people are dying of hunger in burma at the moment yet the only thing that matters in your sad lives is a SONG CONTEST wake up open your windows and look around there is life outside eurovision, put it into context its hardly a matter of life and death
@ James & Jonny K
I always say that Serebro were the true winners last year
I went to see Girls Aloud too when they came to Belfast with my mates. There concerts are great when you are completely topped up with alcohol!
Kick Wogan out,the guy has no respect for the contest.As far as BBC attitude doesn't change they deserve to be in bottom of the table
As much as we love Terry W, Erichsen is right. He is underminding the competition and thus the UK ends up being represented by songs that have no chance of winning, like this year's entry!
- James Waite
I agree!!!!
GIRLS ALOUD for Eurovision 2009 LOL!
- DannyT
I agree! And you're right eurovision is becoming more modern, I mean, look at Russia 2007, that was a perfec Girls Aloud song! So hopefully . . . . 10, 20 years time, big names may actually care for eurovision!!!
I think though the BBC is in a catch 22. Contestants from the 90s such as Michael Ball or Sonia may have done well for the UK but they in no way shape popular music. I doubt the BBC has any chance of courting a big name act to the contest because the image is so kitsch. I don't think that it is the fault of the because the Eurovision has always been 10, 20 years behind music trends and almost every nation has sent a tacky song with a dumb gimmick. The public isn't stupid and can tell this themselves.
I do think the competition however is getting better from the horrible entries pre 2000 because France, Greece,Bosnia all seem like entries that wouldn't be out of place in the charts today.
I don't think with this attitude UK is getting something.
- DannyT
Amen to you to!!!
And btw, did u not see Terry Wogan in the national final this year. He didnt say as much as usual and looked completely out of touch! That to me says it all about his place in Eurovision now. Sad but true
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