Karl Smallman
SPANISH singer Pastora Soler has admitted it would be best if she did not win the live competition tonight in Baku, Azerbaijan as the country would struggle financially to host next year’s event.
Contest rules state that the public broadcaster of the nation that wins must host the event the following year.
The 33-year-old singer told ABC Punto Radio: “If we won, I think it would be impossible to stage the next edition because it costs so much money.”
Directors from Spain’s national broadcaster, TVE, sent a joke message to her, saying: “Please, don’t win!”
Soler, whose latest album got to number three in the Spanish charts, will sing her ballad Quedate Conmigo (Stay With Me) which is the 28-1 outsider.
The 33-year-old singer told the AFP news agency: “I think it is not the moment, neither for Spain nor for the Spanish public, to win Eurovision.”
Spain has won the competition twice previously – the last time in 1969.
Don’t worry Pastora (and Spain) Sweden got suckered this time. The whole Eurovision thing is like watching paint dry anyway.