According to Eurovision rules, all nations with the exceptions of the host country and the "
Big Four" (France, Germany, Spain and the United Kingdom) were 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 7 February 2010, a special 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. Belgium was placed into the second semi-final, to be held on 27 May 2010, and was scheduled to perform in the second half of the show. The running order for the semi-finals was decided through another draw on 23 March 2010 and Belgium was set to perform in position 8, following the entry from
Poland and before the entry from
Malta. The two semi-finals and the final was broadcast in Belgium by both the Flemish and Walloon broadcasters. VRT broadcast the shows on
één with commentary in Dutch by
André Vermeulen and
Bart Peeters. RTBF televised the shows on
La Une with commentary in French by
Jean-Pierre Hautier and Jean-Louis Lahaye; the second semi-final aired on a 50-minute delay on La Une. The final was also broadcast by VRT on
Radio 2 with commentary in Dutch by
Sven Pichal and
Michel Follet, and by RTBF on
La Première with commentary in French by Patrick Duhamel and Corinne Boulangier. The Belgian spokesperson, who announced the Belgian votes during the final, was Katja Retsin.
Semi-final Tom Dice took part in technical rehearsals on 17 and 21 May, followed by dress rehearsals on 24 and 25 May. This included the jury show on 24 May where the professional juries of each country watched and voted on the competing entries. The Belgian performance featured Tom Dice dressed in a dark blue trousers and waistcoat as well as a light blue shirt, and performing on the centre of the catwalk together with two backing vocalists who were placed at the back of the main stage. The stage backdrop displayed black and orange lights while Dice played a blue guitar throughout the performance. The backing vocalists that joined Tom Dice during the performance were Jimmy Colman and Mátyás Blanckaert. At the end of the show, Belgium was announced as having finished in the top 10 and subsequently qualifying for the grand final. This marked the first qualification to the final for Belgium since the
introduction of semi-finals in
2004. It was later revealed that Belgium placed first in the semi-final, receiving a total of 167 points.
Final Shortly after the first 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 the running order for the final. This draw was done in the order the countries were announced during the semi-final. Belgium was drawn to perform in position 7, following the entry from
Bosnia and Herzegovina and before the entry from
Serbia. Tom Dice once again took part in dress rehearsals on 28 and 29 May before the final, including the jury final where the professional juries cast their final votes before the live show. Tom Dice performed a repeat of his semi-final performance during the final on 29 May. Belgium placed sixth in the final, scoring 143 points.
Voting Voting during the three shows consisted of 50 percent public televoting and 50 percent from a jury deliberation. The jury consisted of five music industry professionals who were citizens of the country they represent. This jury was asked to judge each contestant based on: vocal capacity; the stage performance; the song's composition and originality; and the overall impression by the act. In addition, no member of a national jury could be related in any way to any of the competing acts in such a way that they cannot vote impartially and independently. Following the release of the full split voting by the EBU after the conclusion of the competition, it was revealed that Belgium had placed fourteenth with the public televote and second with the jury vote in the final. In the public vote, Belgium scored 76 points, while with the jury vote, Belgium scored 185 points. In the first semi-final, Belgium placed third with the public televote with 146 points and first with the jury vote, scoring 165 points. Below is a breakdown of points awarded to Belgium and awarded by Belgium in the first semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Iceland in the semi-final and to Greece in the final of the contest.
Points awarded to Belgium Points awarded by Belgium ==References==