A heavy metal band whose members have been accused of being devil worshippers has won the Eurovision Song Contest, shattering the competition's traditional image. The band from Finland performed its song dressed like characters from a horror movie. This report from Richard Galpin:

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But the Finnish band Lordi stormed through their set, demolishing their opponents and the bland reputation of the contest in one fell swoop: and when the votes of viewers and listeners from around Europe and beyond were finally counted up, Lordi had won an easy victory. Even the band leader himself, Mr Lordi, seemed stunned by what they'd achieved:

Mr Lordi:
"We feel great, think about it, this is weird, this is strange this is interesting. You know think about it, we're a rock band and we just won the pop song contest. That is weird and also Finland won which is kind of nice."

This was indeed a big victory for Finland, which first entered the contest more than forty years ago, but until now had always come away empty-handed. For the other twenty-three finalists, bitter disappointment, especially for the UK entry, rap singer Daz Sampson. He thought he'd also brought something different to the contest. But he paled into insignificance compared to Lordi.

Richard Galpin, BBC, Athens

Listen to the words

stormed through
played powerfully and with enthusiasm

their set
their musical performance

demolishing their opponents
beating the other singers in the competition easily

the bland reputation of the contest
the image that the competition usually has of uninteresting, boring pop music

in one fell swoop
in a single moment

stunned
surprised and shocked

empty-handed
with nothing, without any any prizes

bitter disappointment
feeling very unhappy after losing

paled into insignificance
was seen to be completely unimportant

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