France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

France’s entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was Virginie Pouchain with the song "Il était temps" (It was time).

Eurovision Song Contest 2006
Country France
National selection
Selection processArtist: Et si c'était vous?
Song: Internal selection
Selection date(s)14 March 2006
Selected entrantVirginie Pouchain
Selected song"Il était temps"
Finals performance
Final result22nd, 5 points
France in the Eurovision Song Contest
◄2005 • 2006 • 2007►

Virginie Pouchain is a 26-year-old hairdresser, who decided to take part in ‘Entrée des Artistes’, a musical show hosted by Pascal Sevran. Virginie won that competition and along with three other participants, she entered Et si c'était vous?, the French broadcaster's national final for the 2006 contest.

Before Eurovision

Et si c'était vous?

France's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 was selected in a national final consisting of talent search performers, which was intended to have new talents emerge.

Competing artists

21 artists competed, which consisted of 13 selected by France 3 through seven regional auditions, 4 selected by France 2 through Entrée des Artistes, and 4 candidates selected by RFO (overseas territories).[1]

Broadcaster Country Artist
France 3  France Alexandre Vautrin
Aude Henneville
Candice Parise
Émilie Chenneviere
Fabian Ballarin
Gwladys Fraioli
Julien Lamassonne
Laurent Leandri
Leila Barechdy
Maëlle Audic
Pierre Suppa
Tamara Calhoun
Virginie Schaeffer
France 2  France Fabien Incardona
Mélody Simek
Virginie Pouchain
Yorrick Vrzal
RFO  French Guiana Chris Combette
 Martinique Kolo Barst
 Mayotte Mikidache
 New Caledonia Tyssia

Semi-final

The semi-final took place at La Plaine St-Denis TV Studios in Paris on 14 March 2006, hosted by Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar. Out of 21 participants, 10 were selected to advance to the next round.[1]

Semi-final – 14 March 2006
Draw Artist Result
1 Candice Parise Finalist
2 Aude Henneville Finalist
3 Alexandre Vautrin Finalist
4 Virginie Schaeffer Finalist
5 Gwladys Fraioli Eliminated
6 Tamara Calhoun Eliminated
7 Pierre Suppa Finalist
8 Laurent Leandri Eliminated
9 Maëlle Audic Eliminated
10 Émilie Chenneviere Eliminated
11 Leila Barechdy Finalist
12 Fabian Ballarin Eliminated
13 Julien Lamassonne Finalist
14 Kolo Barst Eliminated
15 Chris Combette Eliminated
16 Mikidache Eliminated
17 Tyssia Finalist
18 Mélody Simek Eliminated
19 Yorrick Vrzal Eliminated
20 Fabien Incardona Finalist
21 Virginie Pouchain Finalist

Final

The final was held at La Plaine St-Denis TV Studios in Paris on 14 March 2006 (immediately after the semi-final), hosted by Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar. The ten finalists performed again and the winner was determined by a 50/50 combination of the votes from public televoting and a jury panel in two rounds. In the first round, the top two entries were selected to proceed to the second round. In the second round, Virginie Pouchain was selected as the winner after she interpreted Céline Dion's French hit, "Pour que tu m'aimes encore".[2]

The jury consisted of Charles Aznavour, Lara Fabian (represented Luxembourg in the 1988 Contest), Natasha St-Pier (represented France in the 2001 Contest) and Pierre Gage.

First Round – 14 March 2006
Draw Artist Result
1 Virginie Schaeffer Eliminated
2 Alexandre Vautrin Eliminated
3 Virginie Pouchain Advanced
4 Aude Henneville Eliminated
5 Tyssia Eliminated
6 Pierre Suppa Eliminated
7 Candice Parise Eliminated
8 Fabien Incardona Advanced
9 Julien Lamassone Advanced
10 Leila Barechdy Eliminated
Second Round – 14 March 2006
DrawArtist Song (Original artists)PercentagePlace
1Virginie Pouchain "Pour que tu m'aimes encore" (Celine Dion)42.5%1
2Fabien Incardona "Savoir aimer" (Florent Pagny) 34.2%2
3Julien Lamassone "L'envie" (Johnny Hallyday) 23.3%3

Song selection

After winning the selection, Virginie complained to the songwriter, Corneille Nyungura, that the initial song "Vous, c'est nous" did not suit her style. The song was later changed to "Il était temps", composed by Corneille Nyungura and Virginie Pouchain.

At Eurovision

Pouchain was accompanied on stage by Matheson Bayley. As France was one of the top four donors to the European Broadcasting Union, it gained automatic entry to the final. Pouchain's song finished 22nd out of 24 entries, with just 5 points.

Points awarded to France
Points awarded to France (final)
12 points 10 points 8 points 7 points 6 points
5 points 4 points 3 points 2 points 1 point

Points awarded by France

See also

References
  1. http://esckaz.com/2006/fra.htm. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  2. "FRENCH NATIONAL FINAL 2006".
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