Welcome to our review of Melodifestivalen heat 1 and our own exclusive Mello afterparty curated especially for you, dear reader. Skinnydipping optional. Did your favourite/s get through? Let us know in the comments below.

• Read on for our thoughts on Saturday night’s Gothenburg show, the results and some best of Melodifestivalen clips

SPOILER ALERT: Congratulations to Ace Wilder and Robin Bengtsson for making it to the 12/3 Mello final.

Well done also to Samir & Viktor and Albin & Mattias for being selected for the 5/3 Andra Chansen.

Next week’s Mello heat 2 is from the Malmo Arena and features Krista Siegfrids who finished 24th in the 2013 Eurovision where she represented Finland with the song Marry Me from the same venue. (clip below) It was also our 10th and last live Eurovision and we’ve fond memories of bumping into Team Ding Dong wherever we turned in Malmo.

We’re expecting Eurovision winner Charlotte Perrelli to be co-hosting (or perhaps even to have an ‘enhanced artistic role’, according to SVT) and here’s the Swedish version of the song she won in 1999 with:

and here’s her last (vastly underrated) Mello appearance (‘Feel the pow-ow-ow-er of dancing, feel the pow-ow-ow-er of love …’).

The artist formerly known as Charlotte Nilsson also hosted our 1st of two live MF finals – in 2004. It featured our favourite ever MF moment (below):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOcJchLNq-k

But more of ‘ver Dark in heat 3. What did you think of tonight’s show? Too much bare flesh? Not enough actual skinnydipping? Best water feature on a Eurovision stage since Jedward? Let us know in the comments below. Look out for our preview of heat 2 on this site from Thursday next week. Happy Melodifestivalen!

• Picture via Facebook courtesy Samir & Viktor. Watch Melodifestivalen here.
• Enjoyed this review? Follow its author on Twitter @NeilDurham