And we do have a second entry for the season! Aiko smashed the international votes and despite finishing 5th among the Chech audience will travel to Malmö. Aiko had more votes in total but finishing only 5th in Czechia is a bad omen for Czechia's interest and future to the Contest.
I do have a feeling that the Czechs will not be present to the Grand Final.
There are too many things that are currently wrong and I am not sure that a vocal improvement, a revamp or a good staging could be enough to save them and send them to the Final.
'Pedestal' is trying to be an avant-garde, provocative entry without being one. The NF staging was too aggressive for the average viewer and screaming does not help either.
Israel '14 does come in mind when a bad running order and a very aggressive staging caused an unexpected non qualification with a much superior entry.
Czechia is traditionally struggling with the Televoting and I do expect more left-field/televote magnets that could make things more difficult for them.
The vocal performance was far from perfect but this could improve in the following months.
The only path that could lead to a qualification is performing as late as possible in the Semi - Final, ideally in the Pimp slot but I doubt that producers and EBU will do Czechia any favors with a number of countries having a worse/bad qualifying record.
If they somehow make it to the Final, they will fight with the worse of the Big-5 entry for the last place.
It reminds me of...
Israel '14 (NQ), Slovenia '18 (Q), Armenia '19 (NQ)
Televoting Potential: 6/10
Jury Potential: 3/10
Staging Potential: 7/10
Momentum: 7/10
My Opinion: 5/10
Total: 28/50
What the fair winning chance % would be?
0.001%
Best case scenario:
Borderline qualifier
Worst case scenario:
Last place in Semi-Final
Pre-Contest estimated points:
SF: 5-35
Final: Js: 0-10 - TV: 0-25 - Total: 0-35
What do I see in my crystal ball?
If in first half Czechia will perform in #2 or #3 or it will be sandwiched between two favorites and will finish bottom-3 in Semi - Final.
Czechia has done a great job lately when it comes to staging but they basically need to change the whole concept and attitude of the song to stand a chance and I am not very confident they can make it.
Update: You can hear some thoughts about Czechia in our Eurovision podcast 'Talk About Things' co-hosted with the Eurovision experts @mat_rickard and @Panos_Zannettos at
