#Antonia Kaouri

[gaymer-hag-stan]

I am here to spread the word and deliver some TEA regarding this year's Greek Eurovision participation!

On 26 August 2022, ERT, the greek broadcaster, opened a submission period where artists and composers were able to submit their proposals for consideration by the broadcaster. 106 songs were received by the submission deadline. Seven entries were then shortlisted by a seven-member artistic committee and were announced on 28 December 2022. The seven acts were then evaluated by a public committee consisting of a total of 70 members randomly selected from 2,982 applications based on five age groups: 25 members in the 18 to 24 category, 20 members in the 25 to 34 category, 15 members in the 35 to 44 category and 10 members in the over 45 category. The combination of votes from the public committee (50.6%) and the artistic committee (49.4%) then selected the Greek entry.

On 19 January 2023, ERT shortlisted three final songs, which was the outcome of the public committee vote, followed by a respective evaluation by the artistic committee. Greek-Danish singer Victor Vernicos was announced as the Greek representative for the 2023 contest on January 30.

Now here's where things get a little shady.

Melissa Mantzoukis, one of the three shortlisted acts, hired a lawyer through whom she requested the voting results.

The results are as follows:

Public Committee Votes

1. Melissa Mantzoukis – Liar 693 votes

2. Victor Vernicos – What They Say 509 votes

3. Maria Marangkou and Antonia Kaouri – Shout Out 341 votes

ERT's Artistic Committee

1. Victor Vernicos – What They Say 740 votes

2. Maria Marangkou and Antonia Kaouri – Shout Out 720 votes

3. Melissa Mantzoukis – Liar 440 votes

Both the public as well as the artistic committees used a voting system similar to Eueovision's, i.e. awarding 12 points to their favourite song, 10 to their second favourite and 8 to their least favourite.

I should also clarify that the fact that we were gonna get a, sort of, public vote this year was not widely promoted by ERT at all, it was not a well known fact that people could apply for the public committee.

As you can see, Melissa Mantzoukis won the public vote with an overwhelming 9,9 average score with Victor Vernicos scoring a 7,27, and the duet only 4,87. With ERT's scores however things are different. Victor Vernicos had an average score of 10,57, the duet scored 10,28 and Melissa scored 6,28.

At some point, all three songs leaked, and around that time, Maria and Antonia withdrew from the national selection because they didn't feel the song they had submitted was, after all, not up to their own artistic standards and they didn't have time to revise it so they hope to return next year with a better song.

This is turn raises the question, why is it still included by ERT in the final results? Shouldn't ERT's committee have re-evaluated the two remaining songs and only vote amongst them?

Melissa's lawyer is suspecting foul play, and has furthermore legally requested to know whether ERT's committee voted after they had seen the public's score, possibly ranking Melissa lower on purpose since they saw she was winning the public vote, and also how ERT's committee actually voted after all because the whole procedure and it's rules lacked transparency and clarity in the first place.

Now, this is my own speculation, I want to make all of this very very clear, but Victor is signed with Panik Records, an absolute giant label in Greece and Cyprus that has signed, virtually, any well known artists in Greece and Cyprus with huge connections in the industry. Is it a stretch to assume that said connections could have influenced ERT's Artistic Committee in any way 👀 I've also seen a lot of people saying Victor's family is filthy rich, but I can't confirm or deny that.

So yeah that's it, basically. I don't think anything will come out of this; I doubt either Melissa or ERT will have any desire to work with each other after this and I don't think EBU cares enough do disqualify Victor and if ERT just withdraws at this stage we'll have to pay a fine so I don't see that happening.

I hope they remember all this when we don't qualify for the final though. Because Victor's song is a typical ballad and this year there's no juries in the semi finals to save us. The twelve points from Cyprus can only do so much lol.

Sources:

https://eurovoix.com/2022/10/11/greece-106-songs-eurovision-2023/

https://eurovisionfun.com/2022/12/%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%BB%CE%AC%CE%B4%CE%B1-%CE%AD%CE%BD%CE%B1%CF%82-%CE%B1%CF%80%CF%8C-%CE%B1%CF%85%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%8D%CF%82-%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%85%CF%82-7-%CE%B8%CE%B1-%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%82-%CE%B5%CE%BA%CF%80/

https://eurovoix.com/2022/12/19/greece-public-jury-tdecember-28/

https://eurovisionfun.com/en/2023/01/its-the-final-countdown-one-of-them-will-represent-greece-at-eurovision-2023/

https://esctoday.com/189131/greece-victor-vernicos-will-fly-to-liverpool/

https://eurovisionfun.com/2023/02/breaking-news-%CF%84%CE%B1-%CE%B1%CE%BD%CE%B1%CE%BB%CF%85%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CE%AC-%CE%B1%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B5%CE%BB%CE%AD%CF%83%CE%BC%CE%B1%CF%84%CE%B1-%CF%84%CE%B7%CF%82-%CF%88%CE%B7%CF%86%CE%BF/