Those of you who have had the pleasure of hearing me go on and on about my upcoming trip would know that attending Eurovision was only part of my Eurovision dream. I also wanted to meet Julia Zemiro and Sam Pang, the hosts of Eurovision for the Australian broadcaster, SBS. Yes, Australia does have its own press coverage for Eurovision, a fact which leaves Europeans a little perplexed as they can’t understand how we’ve even heard of Eurovision, let alone how we’ve become obsessed by it.
We had tried our hardest to meet them by watching out for anyone wearing press accreditation, checking out any filming that’s been going on, stalking Sam’s Twitter account etc, but to no avail.
However, a passing comment by another Australian fan led us on to a Facebook site that was organising an SBS hosted meet and greet with Julia and Sam. We immediately logged into the free wi fi at the arena and joined the site. The event was by invitation only and limited in numbers, but we managed to RSVP just in time!
The exclusive nature of the event meant that our contacts with other Australian fans then included furtive references such as, “Are you going on Friday?” As we could’t give the game away if they weren’t in the loop.
At 10.30am, around fifty Australian Eurovisioners dragged their seedy post second semi final bodies to the rendezvous. We met the SBS crew, watched the Australian postcard and clips from Julia’s upcoming Eurovision show, then were treated to a 20 minute meet and greet with Julia and Sam themselves. It was fantastic! We talked Eurovision and had photos taken. They were both really lovely and approachable, and all the Aussie fans were completely stoked to have had the experience. Thank you so much SBS. We all walked out feeling incredibly lucky to have had this opportunity and completely star struck.
So all my Eurovision dreams have really come true! Not only did Cinderella make it to the ball, she also met up with the prince (and princess).
The bonus was that we then met up with two Aussie expats living in Malmö, Tina and Aaron, who then took time out of their day to have coffee and show us around town, giving us an insider’s perspective. Thanks guys, that was great. Although it was a little freaky that Tina has a friend living in Stockholm who went to our high school! Small world indeed!
(last photo from SBS Eurovision Facebook page)
Julia Zemiro … you name dropper!!