In the "home jury", both Rachel and I gave this one our top scores and so were delighted - and rather surprised - that the bouncy Bangaranga actually won the contest.
Our scoresheets for the evening - Rachel even made notes!
Sadly, the UK's Look Mum No Computer (which we'd voted into second place) ended up at the bottom of the 25 acts participating in the grand final, with just a single point.
In comparison, DARA scored 516 points - the biggest margin over second place in the history of Eurovision.
See below for the final tally, which includes both the international juries' and the public votes.
This is the wonderfully weird, official music video for this year's Eurovision Song Contest entry for the UK.
Definitely outside our comfort zone, I reckon LOOK MUM NO COMPUTER (aka electronics wunderkind Simon Battle) has a better than average chance of doing okay... depending on how annoyed the other voting countries still are about Brexit.
The Eurovision Song Contest is scheduled for May and will take place in Vienna, as Austria won last year.
Our scoresheets from this evening's Eurovision Song Contest
This year's Eurovision Song Contest (the 69th) has just wrapped, with Austria's JJ (performing Wasted Love) pipping Israel's Yuval Raphael (performing New Day Will Rise) to the top spot.
As we usually do, Rachel and I watched the grand final avidly, logging our own scores for all the acts, then totalling them up at the end to find out who we reckon should have won.
Neither of us particularly rated the winning song (although I did think that JJ had a very impressive voice).
Instead, our winners were Sweden's KAJ with their song about saunas - Bara Bada Bastu - closely followed by Switzerland's lovely Voyage (sung by Zoë Më) in second place.
No longer just a Saturday night event, Eurovision is a week of entertainment now that the BBC has started screening the two semi-finals on the Tuesday and Thursday before the grand climax.
And, for me, it's a highlight of the year that I look forward to months in advance.
As well as a great way to sample diverse approaches to popular music from around the world, Eurovision is the ultimate "safe space" where acts are free to be themselves and let rip: which often results in some wonderful craziness.
Beyond the music itself, we then have the delights of the eccentric voting system, which - as a stats geek - I enjoy almost more than the music.
First we get in the votes from the professional judging panels of all the countries involved (that is ALL the countries, not just the 26 taking part in the final).
Then, once we know who the professional panels liked, we go through all the acts and add in the telephone votes from around the world, which - as an example of transparent democracy in action - often shakes things up dramatically.
The voting is such fun, and has to be seen to be believed.
However, for me, the musical highlight of this evening was this mashup from of two of my favourite acts from previous Eurovisions - Käärijä & Baby Lasagna - which truly encapsulates the joyful insanity of the contest:
The final scores for 2025 - judging panels + public vote
At what age do we start developing our own tastes in music?
The earliest band I remember being obsessed with was ABBA.
After they won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974 (when I was seven), ABBA were everywhere. As well as their music, I got my hands on issues of the ABBA fan club magazine, a digest-sized publication that I guess was available in news agents, as well as an ABBA colouring book, posters etc
Agnetha became one of my earliest crushes, although as I grew older my loyalties shifted to Frida, but these days my tastes have swung back towards Agnetha again.
Agnetha Faltskog
I have to wonder if part of my youthful passion for ABBA was a subconscious rebellion against my parents' tastes, as they loved their rock 'n' roll; mum was a massive Elvis fan, for instance.
I didn't truly grok their music until I was teenager and my personal tastes had broadened to include The Doors, Pink Floyd, The Stranglers, Devo, The Very Things, The Clash, Sex Pistols, Tangerine Dream, Velvet Underground, AC/DC and a diverse host of bands whose names now elude me.
My pop culture Odyssey: a slice of super-powered geek life with heavy emphasis on pulp adventure, superheroes, comic books, westerns, horror, sci-fi, giant monsters, zombies etc
