YUGOSLAVIA – Other memorable moments included a glitch in the scorekeeping, giving host country Ireland 310 extra points instead of the 10 designated by the Luxembourg jury. Also of note, when host Doireann Ní Bhriain attempted to collect Yugoslavia’s votes, after repeated attempts to contact them, Yugoslavia’s spokeswoman, Helga Vlahović, who went on to present the 1990 contest, finally answered the phone and abruptly answered “I don’t have it”, causing laughter to erupt from the audience. Also during the final vote, Turkey’s nine points suddenly disappeared from the scoreboard.
FACTOID
Helga Vlahović (28 January 1945 – 27 February 2012) was a Croatian journalist, producer, and television personality, whose career spanned five decades in both SFR Yugoslavia and later Croatia. She was one of the most popular television presenters in the 1980s. Throughout her career, she was also credited as Helga Vlahović Pea and Helga Vlahović Brnobić during the times she was married. Due to her extensive musical programming experience, as well as her proficiency in English, she was picked, along with Oliver Mlakar, to host the Eurovision Song Contest 1990 in Zagreb following Yugoslavia’s win in 1989.
