Sakis and Maria give press conference

Hosts Sakis Rouvas and Maria Menos gave a joint press conference at just past lunchtime in the press room. Maria Menos (pictured) said that this year's Eurovision will be the best contest ever seen- not just because Sakis and I are hosting, but because of all the performers and the great show this is in store. Both hosts agreed that they'd been having lots of fun with the Eurovisino atmosphere, and Ms. Menos indicated that she hoped to change (costume) as many times as possible! She continued by adding that her dress will be as bright as possible.

Sakis Rouvas was asked by a Greek journalist that as this is his second Eurovision appearence- one as a singer in 2004- would he consider appearing a third time? Sakis tried to avoid the question, saying that Eurovision has been a great experience for me- it's changed me as a person, muscially and pshycologically, and that it's a whole different world. He said that if someone asked me to go to Eurovision then I'd say 100%, but in the future I'd prefer to host than sing.

An Irish jounralist asked about the new scoring system. The hosts explained that points 1-7 will appear directly on the scoreboard and will not be announced by the presenters, with 8-12 then being awarded by each countries' respective spokesperson. The hosts then left the press area to go and continue their preparations for this afternoon's dress rehearsal.

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