Poland in the Eurovision Song Contest 2022

According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "Big Five" (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) are required to qualify from one of two semi-finals in order to compete for the final; the top ten countries from each semi-final progress to the final. The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) split up the competing countries into six different pots based on voting patterns from previous contests, with countries with favourable voting histories put into the same pot. On 25 January 2022, an allocation draw was held which placed each country into one of the two semi-finals, as well as which half of the show they would perform in. Poland was placed into the second semi-final, held on 12 May 2022, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show.^[29]

During his performance, Ochman wore a black suit. He was joined by four contemporary dancers wearing all-black clothing and masks, described by the official Eurovision website as looking "like ghosts", giving the performance "a powerful, yet haunting visual".^[30] Ochman's performance featured flashing light effects, with predominantly dark blue staging. Ochman himself commented on the performance, saying: "The dancers are posing as demons. The whole concept of the song is getting to the moment of inner peace, but getting away from the noise and the demons".^[31] The predominant colour in the Polish performance was black and dark blue. The performance also featured visual effects, consisting of a storm-like overlay projected onscreen and sounds of rain hitting the ground, which was met with criticism from Polish Eurovision fans, who called them "unnecessary" and "kitschy".^[32] The performance also included other elements that were criticised, namely the idea of Ochman's face being projected on the back LED displays, as well as his suit.^[33]

Once all the competing songs for the 2022 contest had been released, the running order for the semi-finals was decided by the shows' producers rather than through another draw, so that similar songs were not placed next to each other. Poland was set to perform in position 14, following the entry from Romania and before the entry from Montenegro.^[34] Poland qualified for the final and was announced fourth.^[35] Shortly after the second semi-final, a winners' press conference was held for the ten qualifying countries. As part of this press conference, the qualifying artists took part in a draw to determine which half of the grand final they would subsequently participate in. This draw was done in the order the countries appeared in the semi-final running order. Poland was drawn to compete in the second half. Following this draw, the shows' producers decided upon the running order of the final, as they had done for the semi-finals. Poland was subsequently placed to perform in position 23, following the entry from the United Kingdom and before the entry from Serbia. In the grand final, Poland finished in position 12 with 151 points – the country's best placing since Michał Szpak's 8th place, achieved in 2016.^[36] Poland also managed to reach its best result in the semi-finals in the history of the country in the contest, having achieved 6th place with 198 points. Poland had also previously scored 6th in the semi-final in 2016, but received less points.^[36]

In Poland, all shows were broadcast on the television channels TVP1 and TVP Polonia, featuring commentary from Aleksander Sikora [pl] and Marek Sierocki [pl].^[37] The Polish spokesperson, who announced the top 12-point score awarded by the Polish jury during the final, was Ida Nowakowska, who had previously announced the points for Poland in 2021. Controversy surrounded the point announcement as social media posts alleged that Nowakowska had performed a Nazi salute during her segment.^[38] That allegation was disproven by Reuters, which stated that Nowakowska hadn't done the salute, but instead showed a peace sign.^[38]

In a statement released during the broadcast of the grand final, the EBU revealed that six countries, including Poland, were found to have irregular jury voting patterns during the second semi-final. Consequently, these countries were given substitute aggregated jury scores for both the second semi-final and the grand final (shown above), calculated from the corresponding jury scores of countries with historically similar voting patterns as determined by the pots for the semi-final allocation draw held in January.^[41][42] Their televoting scores were unaffected. The Flemish broadcaster VRT later reported that the juries involved had made agreements to vote for each other's entries to secure qualification to the grand final.^[43]

On 19 May, the EBU released a further statement clarifying the irregularities in voting patterns. This confirmed that the six countries involved had consistently scored each other's entries disproportionately highly in the second semi-final: the Polish jury, as well as the juries from Azerbaijan, Georgia, Montenegro, Romania and San Marino, had each ranked the other five countries' entries as their top five, proving beyond statistical coincidence that they had colluded to achieve a higher placing. This prompted the suspension of Poland's intended jury scores (shown below) in favour of the EBU's calculated aggregate scores, presented above.^[44] The Polish broadcaster TVP commented on the situation, strongly rejecting the accusations of vote manipulation and criticising the EBU's method of calculating the aggregate jury scores. The statement went on to request further transparency from the EBU over the issue.^[45]

The following members comprised the suspended Polish jury:^[46]

• Aleksandra Szwed
• Andrzej Jaworski
• Dagmara Jaworska
• Krystyna Giżowska
• Mikołaj Gąsiewski

Poland's suspended jury results (Semi-final 2)^[44]

Score	Country
12 points	San Marino
10 points	Azerbaijan
8 points	Romania
7 points	Montenegro
6 points	Sweden
5 points	Finland
4 points	Georgia
3 points	Estonia
2 points	Serbia
1 point	Australia

Detailed voting results of Poland's suspended vote (Semi-final 2)^[44]

R/O	Country	Juror 1	Juror 2	Juror 3	Juror 4	Juror 5	Rank	Points
01	Finland	3	8	8	5	13	6	5
02	Israel	15	16	12	14	14	17
03	Serbia	7	7	5	13	12	9	2
04	Azerbaijan	5	3	3	2	1	2	10
05	Georgia	6	5	11	7	9	7	4
06	Malta	16	17	17	9	7	13
07	San Marino	4	1	2	1	2	1	12
08	Australia	2	14	10	12	16	10	1
09	Cyprus	17	12	13	10	11	15
10	Ireland	13	9	16	15	5	12
11	North Macedonia	14	15	14	11	3	11
12	Estonia	9	10	4	6	15	8	3
13	Romania	1	4	7	4	4	3	8
14	Poland
15	Montenegro	8	2	1	8	6	4	7
16	Belgium	11	11	15	16	10	14
17	Sweden	12	6	6	3	8	5	6
18	Czech Republic	10	13	9	17	17	16