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Slovenia may be through to the Eurovision Song Contest grand final, but they’re not exactly buttering up the fans and press in Tel Aviv.

Zala Kralj and Gašper Šantl have been called out for their ‘rude’ responses to journalists after qualifying for the final in the first semi-final on Tuesday night.

The duo, who are a real-life couple, were seated at the end of the qualifiers’ table, having been announced last as being through to the final – so when it came to questions for all of the 10 acts, they had a bit of waiting to do to get to their turn.

But it seemed like they didn’t really want to answer anything.

One journalist asked all 10 acts in what slot they would prefer to perform in the final, and Zala and Gašper seemed very uninspired.

When the question came to them, Gašper, with his arm around Zala, said: ‘Well, um, I think it’s exactly boring questions like that why we want to go home most of the time during interviews. So… I don’t know.’

There was an awkward murmur in the crowd as the moderator said: ‘Right, it’s ok.’

However, the rest of the delegations seemed rather annoyed by Slovenia’s response, as a member of the Estonian team said: ‘We want to thank the press’, with a number of acts giving the press in the room a standing ovation.

Eurovision fans watching the live stream called out Gašper and Zala’s attitudes on social media, branding them ungrateful and rude.

Others pointed out that Iceland’s Hatari had failed to give answers to some questions, but brushed off the questions in a deadpan manner – keeping very on brand for the industrial BDSM band.

Earlier in the hour-long press conference, Zala and Gašper were equally bored, as they complained about the air conditioning in the room and seemed to belittle the significance of qualifying.

When asked how they felt about qualifying, Zala said: ‘Well, this air conditioning is killing me right now.’

The moderator laughed: ‘This is amazing, you’re so hyped from adrenaline and you’re so chill and cool’, with Zala pulling up her hoodie and replying: ‘Very cool.’

The couple were then asked by a Slovenian journalist if they were surprised Europe appreciated ‘authentic drama without any drama or bling bling’, with Gašper saying: ‘I think more than everything here we appreciate that people actually connect with our music, and that means the most – more than Eurovision, more than the final.’

The stars have since thanked fans on Instagram, writing: ‘it means more than you can even imagine, that our song got to your hearts. it is the reason why we went to eurovision, although we often feel that we don’t fit in here. we are really giving our best. it means the most when we see you cheering for our song. thank you!’

Zala and Gašper qualified with their very low-fi, The XX-esque song Sebi on Tuesday night, outdoing Finland, Portugal, Poland, Montenegro, Belgium, Hungary and Georgia.

They join qualifiers Cyprus, Czech Republic, Belarus, Australia, Iceland, Serbia, Estonia, Greece and San Marino and previously qualified France, United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Germany and Israel in the Saturday night final, and will perform in the first half.

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Another 10 acts will join them from tonight’s second semi-final – with Armenia, Ireland, Moldova, Switzerland, Latvia, Romania, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Croatia, Malta, Lithuania, Russia, Albania, Norway, The Netherlands, North Macedonia and Azerbaijan all hoping to make it through.

The Eurovision Song Contest second semi-final will take place tonight, with the final airing on Saturday night.

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