So the home town team, Ukraine, take to the national final stage this evening as the co-production between NTU and STB begins the search for the Eurovision participant for the reigning champions. The list of the first 8 Semi Finalists are shown below.
| Performer | Song | Televote | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| Claudia Faniello | Breathlessly | 4966 | 1 |
| Janice Mangion | Kewkba | 4544 | 2 |
| Kevin Borg | Follow | 2502 | 3 |
| Brooke Borg | Unstoppable | 2000 | 4 |
| Franklin Calleja | Follow me | 1303 | 5 |
| Maxine Pace | Bombshell | 627 | 6 |
| Deborah C & Josef | Tonight | 572 | 7 |
| Raquela Dalli Gonzi | Ray of light | 551 | 8 |
| Cherton Caruana | Fighting to survive | 340 | 9 |
| Klinsmann Coleiro | Laserlight | 332 | 10 |
| Rhiannon | Fearless | 288 | 11 |
| Crosswalk | So simple | 245 | 12 |
| Richard Edwards | You | 186 | 13 |
| Jade Vella | Seconds away | 166 | 14 |
| Shauna Vassallo | Crazy games | 159 | 15 |
| Miriana Conte | Don't look down | 156 | 16 |
Just so you know how this is going to work, there will be an “expert” jury of three, Jamala, Konstantin Meladze and Andriy Danylko (better known as Verka!) give 50% of the score and the public of Ukraine get to give the other 50% through the medium of Televoting with two through to the final in 3 weeks time.
We suspect that there will be no discussions on the merits of the finalists live on television like the Ruslana debacle last year but you’ll need to have your dinner early as the final begins at 1800 CET!