France in the Eurovision Song Contest 2006

Et si c'était vous? was the national final organised by France Télévisions in collaboration with three broadcaster channels: France 2, France 3 and overseas territories broadcaster RFO to select France's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006. The competition took place on 14 March 2006 at the La Plaine St-Denis TV Studios in Paris, hosted by Michel Drucker and Claudy Siar. The show was broadcast on France 3 as well as online via the broadcaster channel's official website france3.fr.[3] The national final was watched by 3.4 million viewers in France with a market share of 18.5%.

The selection process took place in two stages before the 21 selected finalists for the live final and ultimately the winner were selected. The first stage of the competition included France 2, France 3 and RFO each conducting varying selections in order to determine the candidates they submitted for the second stage of the competition. France 3 submitted thirteen candidates while France 2 and RFO each submitted four candidates.[4] The 21 candidates proceeded to the second stage, the televised national final, where the winning artist was selected as the French entrant for the Eurovision Song Contest 2006 and would perform an internally selected song written by Canadian singer-songwriter Corneille Nyungura.[5]

The four candidates selected by France 2 for the national final were determined through the France 2 programme Entrée des Artistes, produced and hosted by Pascal Sevran. Eighteen contestants were selected for the competition from over 500 performers that attended auditions held in Lille, Marseille and Paris between 2 December 2005 and 13 December 2005. Following two heats on 14 and 21 January 2006 and a semi-final on 28 January 2006, six contestants ultimately qualified to compete in the final on 4 February 2006, from which four were selected exclusively by public televoting to advance to the national final and announced during an additional show on 4 March 2006.[6]

The thirteen candidates selected by France 3 for the national final were determined through auditions held in thirteen cities across France between 16 January 2006 and 3 February 2006, where over 3,000 performers attended.[7] From each audition, ten performers were selected to advance to the second round and the public was able to vote online via france3.fr.[8] The winner of each audition was determined by the combination of the online vote (50%) and a jury panel headed by vocal coach Malika Bellari (50%) and announced between 9 and 14 February 2006.[6][9]

The four candidates selected by RFO for the national final were determined through the musical programme 9 Semaines et 1 Jour which featured 93 artists from French overseas territories.[4] Nine artists ultimately qualified to compete in the final round, from which four were selected to advance to the national final by the combination of an online vote (1/3) and a jury panel (2/3) and announced on 7 February 2006. For the online vote, the public was able to vote for their favourite artists via the programme website 9s1j.rfo.fr between 30 January and 5 February 2006.[10]

Draw	Territory	Artist	Result
1	Martinique	Kolo Barst	Advanced
2	Réunion	Ousa Nousava	Eliminated
3	Mayotte	Mikidache	Advanced
4	French Polynesia	Barthélémy	Eliminated
5	Guadeloupe	Krys	Eliminated
6	Saint Pierre and Miquelon	D'Ge	Eliminated
7	New Caledonia	Gulaan	Eliminated
8	New Caledonia	Tyssia	Advanced
9	French Guiana	Chris Combette	Advanced

The national final took place on 14 March 2006 and the winner was selected over three rounds of voting. In the first round, the twenty-one finalists performed cover versions of popular songs in groups and the top ten contestants as determined by a four-member jury panel advanced to the second round. In the second round, the remaining ten contestants together performed a medley of English language songs: "Y.M.C.A." by Village People, "Rasputin" by Boney M., "Ring My Bell" by Anita Ward and "Lady Marmalade" by Patti LaBelle, and the top three contestants as determined by the combination of public voting (50%) and the four-member jury (50%) advanced to the final round. Viewers were able to vote via telephone, SMS and online voting.[4] In the final round, each of the remaining three contestants performed a cover version of a French language song and the winner, Virginie Pouchain, was determined by the public and jury vote.[11][12]

The jury panel that evaluated the contestants during the show consisted of:

• Charles Aznavour – Singer-songwriter
• Lara Fabian – Canadian singer-songwriter, represented Luxembourg in the 1988 contest
• Natasha St-Pier – Canadian singer, represented France in the 2001 contest
• Pierre Gage – Singer

In addition to the performances of the contestants, Corneille Nyungura and jury members Lara Fabian and Natasha St-Pier performed as the interval acts of the show. The French contest entry, "Vous, c'est nous", was also presented to the public during the show.[3]

Following Virginie Pouchain's win at the French national final, the singer stated that she would be performing a song other than "Vous, c'est nous" at the Eurovision Song Contest following consultation with composer Corneille Nyungura as the entry, originally written to be performed by a male vocalist, did not suit her style.[13] After being given an extended deadline by the EBU, the replacement entry "Il était temps" was formally presented to the public on 10 April 2006 during the France 3 programme Questions pour un champion, hosted by Julien Lepers.[14]

Below is a breakdown of points awarded to France and awarded by France in the semi-final and grand final of the contest. The nation awarded its 12 points to Armenia in the semi-final and to Turkey in the final of the contest.