Senhit Collects Collaborators Like Rare Pokemon

San Marino looks like a postcard kingdom carved into a mountain, but the real surprise is how well it runs. We’re fascinated by the numbers: a small population, booming tourism, low unemployment, and a political system that swaps its heads of state every six months. That sounds like chaos, yet it might be part of the secret sauce. 

Then things get spicy with 2026’s “Superstar” and the decision to bring in Boy George. We unpack why the collaboration has triggered pushback, how social media arguments have fueled the drama, and the awkward national final moment where he  didn’t appear live and was projected on screen instead. We end with the question that matters for fans and performers alike: what counts as fair play on a Eurovision stage?

If you like Eurovision analysis, microstate politics, and pop culture controversy with a side of humour, subscribe, share the episode with a mate, and leave us a review. What do you reckon, should a featured artist have to show up live to qualify?

#eurovision #eurovisionsong contest #eurovisionpodcast #eurovisionaustralia #eurovisionfunny

Transcript

Welcome Back And Meet San Marino

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Bonjour, good dog, prepared. Hello, and welcome back to the Deuspois podcast. This episode, we take a cheeky bite out of that tasty little morsel that is San Marino is the tiny area. Population 33,000. It looks like Henry Cavill's Superman chiseled out a medieval empire and then just poop, plucked it down. In April 2025, San Marino established diplomatic relations with the Solomon Islands. Why? Who knows? Because apparently the microstates are forming the world's most wholesome Avengers. The economy is stable, tourism is booming, and unemployment is at record lows. All of this while changing the heads of state twice a year. That's right, you get six months and then the head of state known as the Captain's region is out. Perhaps this is the key to political and national stability. This is the only country where the government rotates more often than a TikTok trend, and I am here for it. But how is this tiny mountain republic doing better than half the G20? The only possible blip on the radar is the International Monetary Fund. Basically told San Marino, look, San Marino is doing great, but please keep an eye on your banking sector, which is basically the economic equivalent of your doctor saying, you're healthy, but maybe stop eating cheese for every meal. And San Marino is absolutely the kind of country that eats cheese for every meal. So who has San Marino chosen to represent it this year? Well, it seems it's who they get to represent them every year. It is San He. Now, the first thing that you are gonna know is previously she has appeared as San He S-E-N-I-T. She has now rebranded as S-E-N-H-I-T. Yeah, we see what you did there. Sen Heat is back with her unshakable belief that Eurovision is a lifestyle choice, not simply an event. Hit was born in 1979 in Malona, Italy. Now, surprisingly, instead of immediately becoming a pop star, Senhit took the scenic route through musical theatre. She spent her early career touring Europe, performing in shows like The Lion King, Fame, and Hair. Eventually she returned to Italy and thought, let's become a pop star too. She released albums in the mid-2000s, including Sen Hit and So High. But then came the moment that would define her life forever. In 2011, Sen Hit represented San Marino with the song Standby. Did she win? Did she qualify for the final? Look, also no. But did she think, well, that was fun, but time to move on? Absolutely not. And she appears to have made it her life commitment. Because Sen Hit doesn't leave Eurovision, Eurovision leaves her. She was selected again to represent San Marino in 2020, which freaky, which the universe promptly cancelled with the pandemic. A lesser person might have taken this as a sign to rest. Senhit took it as a sign to come back and come back louder and bigger. And she did in 2021. She returned with Adrenalina. Adrenalina. Featuring the one and only Flowrider. Proving that if you keep showing up, eventually an American rapper will join you on stage. With that much superstar power, she obviously reached the final, but shockingly finished 22nd. Admittedly, there was absolutely terrible staging with that performance. But still, oh, I do think it should have been higher than 22nd. So Sen Hits made the decision, well, why not just give it another crack? So naturally, she is back in 2026 winning with Superstar. At this stage, at this stage, it seems her strategy seems to be to collect iconic collaborators like rare Pokemon. So she is performing this year with, of course, 80s icon boy George. Now, this in of itself has caused some controversy and pushback due to criminal charges that were laid with Boy George in particular. In 2008, when he was convicted of assault and false imprisonment of a Norwegian model and male escort. The incident occurred in April 2007 at George's London flat, where he handcuffed Carlson to a wall fixture and beat him with a metal chain. He described this as a psychotic episode while under the influence of cocaine. Some people felt that this convection should have excluded him from performance at Eurovision. But he was able to participate and it has been quite interesting with some, I guess shall we say, back and forth on social media. Some people who were not happy with Boy George coming to Eurovision and they said so on his social media. And Boy George has decided, rather than playing the bigger person, was deciding to go tit for tat and engage in a war of words with these angry Eurovision fans. So that has been quite interesting. If you are interested, you can look up. There are reports on social media where you can actually see some of the exchanges between Boy George and some of his non-fans. But let's see. Hopefully, this will not take the spotlight away from Superstar. Let's test this. This social commentary controversy was not even the start of the scandal for this song. The first thing that angered people is with this performance and at the national final performance. Firstly, Boy George doesn't even show up essentially until the last minute of this song. And at the national performance, he didn't even show up live or perform on stage. His role, his voice, his bit was just projected onto the screen and was played for the national final with a promise of, okay, pick us and then I'll show up. This did have some people outraged at the time. Notably, there were some other performers who were attempting to qualify for the song, thought that this should not be allowed. What do you think? Do you think this is okay if you have a celebrity, just beam in for the minute? Do you think you should be able to qualify for the Eurovision performance without actually having stepped on the stage to perform with your co-performers? Look, I think this song is fun. It is gonna get people up and dancing. Absolutely no shot whatsoever of winning. I think you're probably about three and a half decades too late. But thank you, San Marino, for once again bringing the fun. I do find a bit of irony in the fact that the song chosen to represent San Marino apparently has more problems, complications, and scandal than the actual country itself. Ah, San Marino, never stop being you.