Eurovision viewers were left confused last night when a camera crashed during Switzerland's live performance at the semi-final in Basel.
The technical mishap occurred during host country Switzerland's exhibition performance by Zoë Më.
The 24-year-old Swiss artist was showcasing her unique staging, which featured one steady camera shot meant to follow her throughout the song.
However, the camera dramatically froze mid-performance, causing confusion among those watching the first semi-final on BBC One.
The technical mishap occurred during host country Switzerland's exhibition performance by Zoë Më
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
After a series of freeze frames flashed on screen, the broadcast suddenly cut to wide shots of the audience.
The technical difficulties appeared unplanned as audience directions were accidentally displayed on the archway of the stage.
The illuminated sign instructed audience members to "Please turn on your phone light now," revealing behind-the-scenes production elements not meant for broadcast.
The incident occurred during the penultimate act of the evening, just before Cyprus was due to take the stage.
As per Eurovision tradition, Switzerland, as last year's winning country, automatically qualified for Saturday's grand final alongside the "big five" nations.
Despite qualifying automatically, Zoë Më still performed an exhibition piece, which unfortunately was marred by the camera malfunction.
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Despite qualifying automatically, Zoë Më still performed an exhibition piece
EUROVISION SONG CONTEST
Following the technical difficulties, BBC presenter Rylan Clark addressed the issue on air.
"Gorgeous song there from Zoë, she's like a young Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games," he remarked.
He then acknowledged the camera problems directly.
"We should say there as well, I think there were a couple of little tech problems with that one single-shot camera," Rylan explained.
Despite his attempt to downplay the incident, viewers had already noticed the obvious technical mishap.
The camera crash was particularly unfortunate as it disrupted what was meant to be a carefully choreographed performance relying on a single continuous camera shot.
Following the technical difficulties, BBC presenter Rylan Clark addressed the issue on air
BBC
Eurovision viewers quickly took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to comment on the camera mishap.
One viewer wrote: "Oh no Switzerland staging is really cool but they had some problems with the cameras," accompanied by a crying emoji.
Another demanded: "JUSTICE FOR ZOE ME AND KALEEN ROBBED DIVAS WITH THE CAMERAS."
"The cameras breaking???" enquired a third user.
Some found humour in the situation, with one joking: "Not the Swiss delegation's Head of Finance unplugging all the cameras at the end of Zoe's performance."
Another simply exclaimed: "THE CAMERAS CRASHED."
"Oh no. It went a bit wrong with the cameras there," added another fan.
