The bands had been in southern Sweden for nearly two weeks.

Performing the song, this year's entry finished 20th out of 26, in a finals overshadowed by controversies.

The act, consisting of folk duo Puulup plus 5 miinust four rappers-cum-audience prompters: Lancelot, Päevakoer, Korea and Estoni Kohver, won Eesti Laul, the annual competition to decide who will represent Estonia at the Eurovision, back in mid-February.

Only the "big five" countries plus the hosts are exempt from qualification, which 5 miinust ja Puuluup went through, making it to the final at Thursday's semi-final second heat in Malmö.

On the night, the act scored poorly from the international juries, picking up just four points and lying in last place at one stage. However, 5 miinust ja Puuluup were evidently more popular with the public than with the juries, and certainly fared better in the phone-in vote than the U.K.'s entry, which notched up the dreaded "nul points."

The 33 points picked up from the public vote for the Estonians restored some pride and put the act at 37 points overall.

In an interview given to Sunday morning talk show "Hommik Anuga," group members noted that they did not care about the low points tally in any case, and had started hoping for the notoriety zero points might bring.

Kohver said that the men had their hearts set on remaining on zero points once the results started coming in. "But that didn't happen either, so another failure," Estoni Kohver said. Marko Veisson of Puulup blamed Italy and Austria for "ruining that plan for us."

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