By Neil Durham

WHEN? 16 May 2026 HOW TO WATCH? BBC1 in the UK at 8pm

WHERE? Wiener Stadthalle, Vienna

No Spain this year which is 1 of 5 countries to boycott 2026 because of Israel’s participation and it’s the UK’s Look Mum No Computer (pictured) which is giving us the most interesting entry of the pre-qualified finalists.

• Read on for reasons including the UK’s Look Mum No Computer

AUSTRIA Cosmo Tanzschein (Dance licence) (Benjamin Gedeon, Elias Stejskal, Ella Stern) PREDICTION: 25th

Is affecting a sinister deep voice ever a good look for a song? The worst host Eurovision entry ever. No production values in its final, a 1st year drama club vibe and a deep-throated, creepily voiced disaster of a song. Furiously Googling the word ‘Tanzschein’ for further clues to check whether this is the host broadcaster ORF actually competing to finish last.

FRANCE Monroe Regarde (Look at) PREDICTION: 1st to 5th

17-year-old Monroe won a France 2 talent show last year performing The Queen of the Night from The Magic Flute. Born in Salt Lake City to a French mother and an American father, p-opera is the style which triumphed at Eurovision last year but isn’t a genre we much appreciate. If your idea of Eurovision is London’s West End theatre, here is your winner.

GERMANY Sarah Engels Fire (Dario Schürmann, Luisa Heinemann, Raphael Lott, Sarah Engels, Valentin Boes) PREDICTION: 21st to 25th

Not the disaster that is Austria but Eurovision by numbers rhyming ‘Fire‘ unimaginatively with ‘liar’, giving us onstage flames without the tinder to generate any sparks. Germany may have backed Israel’s participation this year but clearly has neither the Fire nor ‘desire’ to host in 2027.

ITALY Sal Da Vinci Per Sempre Si (Forever yes) PREDICTION: 11th to 15th

Our predictions for Italy are notoriously too tight because we genuinely fail to understand the Eurovision fan desire (Fire, higher, liar …) for a San Remo win. Per Sempre Si could be beamed in from the 70s with Baccara waiting to bat it out of the park from the wings but is lacking in ambition, dripping in nostalgia and possibly heading for a worse result than we’re predicting this year.

UK Look Mum No Computer Eins, Zwei, Drei (1, 2, 3) (Sam Battle) PREDICTION: 6th to 10th

An English musician known for making and playing unusual, esoteric, and eccentric electronic musical devices made from vintage technology. Sam Battle runs This Museum Is (Not) Obsolete in Ramsgate, Kent and this is the daring switch to indie we were expecting from the BBC. There’s a Blur quality to the lyric (‘that’ll be a pony’, ‘got me feeling okey dokey’ and ‘mustard … roly-poly with custard’), Pet Shop Boys feel to the 80s keyboards and sense of Europe as escape. We love it but wonder what Eurovision will make of it. It’s so niche and leftfield any result is possible for it apart from winning … probably.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Look No Computer and BBC Eurovision. Tickets
• Have you seen a Eurovision semi final before and what do you think of this 1? Tickets
• Let us know what you thought in the comments below. Our predictions for the pre-qualified 2026 Eurovision Song Contest Semi 1 participants. Semi 2 predictions Updated final predictions
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