Switzerland won this year’s scandal-hit Eurovision Song Contest with Nemo and The Code on Saturday night, beating the public’s favourite Croatia thanks to a high score from the professional jury.

There was also some consolation for the Netherlands and Joost Klein, who was revealed to have come second to Israel in the second semi-final, ahead of his disqualification for making a threatening gesture towards a camerawoman, and ahead of the Swiss entry.

Nikkie de Jager, who should have given the results of the Dutch voting in the live broadcast, decided not to go ahead, following Klein’s absence and the scores were read out instead by Eurovision boss Martin Österdahl to loud boos from the audience.

The Dutch 12 points went to Israel, which finished the contest in fifth place.

Meanwhile, Klein himself has given one sign of life since the furore began, posting a short film of dogs walking in strange ways on his Instagram account, accompanied by the Baha Men’s Who Let the Dogs Out, Dutch media reported. The video is no longer visible.

There was also a nod to the Netherlands from Estonia, who thanked the public in Dutch. 

The incident which led to the Dutch Eurovision Song Contest entry Europapa being disqualified from Saturday’s final centred on a camerawoman who filmed Joost Klein after he had finished competing in Thursday’s semi-final, Dutch broadcaster AvroTros said in a statement on Saturday.

“Against clearly made agreements, Joost was filmed when he had just gotten off stage and had to rush to the greenroom,” the statement said. “At that moment, Joost repeatedly indicated that he did not want to be filmed. This wasn’t respected. 

“This led to a threatening movement from Joost towards the camera. Joost did not touch the camera woman. This incident was reported, followed by an investigation by the EBU and police.”

AvroTros said it had consulted extensively with the European Broadcasting Union and proposed several solutions. 

Disproportionate

“Nevertheless, the EBU has still decided to disqualify Joost Klein. AvroTros considers the penalty very heavy and disproportionate,” the statement said. “We are very disappointed and upset for the millions of fans who were so excited about tonight. What Joost brought to the Netherlands and Europe shouldn’t have ended this way.”

EBU director general Noel Curran told Swedish radio station Sveriges Radio later that the camerawoman had “a different version” about what had happened, but did not go into details.

Meanwhile, more than 275,000 people have so far signed a petition to show solidarity with Klein.