Glen Vella, Malta’s Eurovision hopeful, was described by the international press as giving a “very strong vocal performance” after yesterday’s dress rehearsal in Düsseldorf, but bookmakers are not impressed.
Ahead of tonight’s first Eurovision semi-final, international bookmakers William Hill, Paddy Power and Bet 365 are placing Malta and Portugal at the one-before-last position – followed by San Marino as the least favourite country to make it through.
While the odds are stacked against Malta, other countries seem to be faring much better, with Azerbaijan, Russia and Turkey keen favourites to make it through to tonight’s semi-final and onto Saturday’s final show.
Mr Vella, however, is not giving much thought to bookmakers’ standings: “I’m not following them, they are not always very reliable, and anyway I am mostly focused on giving a good performance,” he told The Times after his first dress rehearsal yesterday.
Described by the media as “one of the most outgoing characters in this year’s contest”, his morale is decisively upbeat and he joked that the press were following him everywhere.
“For some reason they’ve really taken to me and, of course, I’m having fun entertaining them,” he said, as he got ready for his second dress rehearsal last night.
This dress rehearsal was crucial as a jury from every country voted – in closed circuit – for 50 per cent of the final vote. The results were sent directly to the European Broadcasting Unit and will not be opened until this evening. Tonight, viewers in each and every participating country will be able to vote for the other 50 per cent of the voting.
Toni Sant, a keen Eurovision observer, said since televoting was introduced to Eurovision, bookmakers on average rarely had the wrong type of odds.
“However, they appear to have no significant sway on the jury votes and, if this is factored into the mix, then whatever the bookmakers are willing to bet should be taken with at least a tiny pinch of salt,” said Dr Sant who is in Germany for EurovisionMalta .com.
On Sunday Mr Vella burst onto the stage wearing jeans, a white T-shirt and grey jacket for his performance of One Life and on the whole the rehearsals went well.
“Glen’s performance was great, and there’s been an improvement in the visuals, but there’s still more work to be done,” Anton Attard, Public Broadcasting Services CEO and head of the Maltese delegation, said.
The backdrop visuals showing on the large screen during Glen’s performance have been a bone of contention since the very first rehearsal last week and up till last night the Maltese delegation was in meetings with the contest’s production team to make improvements.
Mr Vella will be the 11th performer to sing tonight at 9 p.m. from 19 contestants. He will have to place among the top 10 to earn the coveted position in the Eurovision final on Saturday – the day he’ll turn 28.
Maltese viewers are in for a surprise: Malta’s top operatic export, tenor Joseph Calleja will also be featuring in the show. As is the norm in the Eurovision, a 30-second postcard related to the participating country will precede each song. This year every country will be featuring a national celebrity with a German connection.
One TV will be airing a feature on Glen before tonight’s show between 6 and 7.30 p.m. with live link-ups.