Eurovision Song Contest Finals Announced

Russia's Dima Bilan won the Eurovision Song Contest singing the R&B ballad Believe. winning the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest, beating performers from Ukraine and Greece.

Bilan won the title early Sunday with an R&B ballad Believe that featured a violinist and an ice dancer in the packed Beogradska Arena hall in Belgrade, Serbia. Bilan made a comeback two years after he settled for the second place in the contest. He won 272 points from viewers from 43 countries who picked the winner by phone calls and text messages. Bilan's triumph is the first ever for Russia

The Eurovision Song Contest -- Europe's most glamorous pop-song festival -- is held annually and watched by an audience of more than 100 million people across the globe.

While U.S. television viewers have been obsessed with “American Idol" over the last few months, European music fans have been transfixed on “Eurovision," their longer-running (since 1956), song-centric version of “Idol."The second semifinals of the multi-country competition (each country sends a representative act and song to compete against other nations) was held yesterday, leaving 20 countries' entries still standing and ready for finals Saturday in Belgrade, where the event was being held, despite a rough year for the Serbian capital.

The nations surviving Thursday's elimination round are Iceland, 2004 winner Ukraine, Albania, Portugal, Croatia, Sweden, Turkey, Georgia, 2003 toppers Latvia and 2001 champs Denmark.

On Saturday, the aforementioned 10 squared off against 10 other countries who won the first semifinal, which took place earlier this week, with their representative acts.

Those countries include early favorite Russia, 2006 champs Finland, 2005 winner Greece, Romania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel, Poland, Azerbaijan, Norway, Armenia and Norway. Host country (and last year's winners) Serbia and the four nations bankrolling the entire contest (Spain, France, Germany and England) get free passes into the finals Saturday.

Controversy

Veteran Eurovision Song Contest commentator Sir Terry Wogan has won support from prominent figures in showbusiness for his criticisms of the competition. On Saturday night Sir Terry cast doubt on whether he would be involved in covering the event again, after doing so since the 1970s. He said it was “no longer a music contest" and that prospects for Western European participants were “poor". Showbusiness legend Bruce Forsyth said: “I agree with him. It's not a song contest any more, it's political. It's all so biased, it's developed into a farce. I've stopped watching it, the last couple of years." Forsyth said he had always admired Sir Terry - “His radio show has been so successful." And asked about the future of the show and Sir Terry's role in it, he quipped: “As long as they don't ask me to do it, I don't care!" Pop svengali Simon Cowell said: “If people enjoy it as entertainment, that's great, but it's all a bit empty and meaningless as a competition." Public relations guru Max Clifford commented: “Terry Wogan is spot on. It's all about politics and block voting and nothing to do with the merits of a song. It's like having a World Cup where the results are worked out in political terms and it's got nothing to do with who scores the most goals." Sir Terry spoke out near the end of his commentary after Britain's entry Andy Abraham had a disappointing night in the 53rd contest. The former binman finished joint last of the 25 finalists. Heart throb Dima Bilan of Russia romped to victory with a massive 272 points with a big ballad, produced by US R&B star Timbaland, called Believe. Saturday night's contest was held in the Serbian capital Belgrade and was due to be watched by more than 100 million television viewers across Europe.