The controversial Irish entry for this year's Eurovision song contest, a purple-beaked glove puppet called Dustin the Turkey, has already been plucked from the competition by unimpressed voters.
Dustin's gravelly-voiced rendition of "Irelande Douze Pointe," a high-tempo electronic song, never really took off and he was summarily dumped at the contest's first semi-final stage on Tuesday evening in Belgrade.
Speaking to reporters after the performance in the massive Belgrade Arena, Dustin said he was "disappointed" and urged his fans to be "dignified in defeat."
The head of the Irish delegation, Michael Kiely, said the result proved how "unpredictable" the Eurovision song contest had become.
Choosing Dustin as the emerald isle's representative had ruffled a few Irish feathers when it was made, with some arguing that it was an insult to the Irish music industry.
"Irelande Douze Pointe" ("Ireland 12 points") is a parody on the continent-wide contest, which is often accused of selecting a winner for political reasons rather than its artistic quality.
Sample lyrics include: "Shake your feathers and bop your beak, shake em to the west and to the east, wave Euro hands and Euro feet, wave em in the air to the funky beat, Irelande douze pointe!"
Also culled in the first semi-final were Belgian entrants Ishtar, whose song "O Julissi" was composed entirely of meaningless words.
Other nations that dropped out were Andorra, Armenia, Estonia, Moldova, Montenegro, The Netherlands, Poland, San Marino and Slovenia, to the disappointment of fans who had travelled from the former Yugoslav republic.
The countries going through to Saturday's final included favourites like Bosnia, Greece, Romania and Russia. The others were Armenia, Azerbaijan, Finland, Israel, Norway and Poland.
The 53-year-old competition is a sing-song battle between East and West in which many western European nations have in recent years been left languishing behind eastern or Scandinavian counterparts.
Dustin the Turkey first appeared on television in 1990 on a children's programme broadcast by Irish national broadcaster RTE.
But his irreverent style, marked by periodic belching and flatulence, boosted his popularity among adults.
His six albums have flown off the shelves and he has appeared alongside several national stars, including the former Boomtown Rats singer turned anti-poverty activist Bob Geldof.
In Thursday's second semi-final, another 10 countries will be selected to go through to the final of Eurovision 2008 where Britain, France, Germany, Spain and Serbia will be waiting for them.
