Eurovision shocker: The turkey is stuffed!

Ireland's entry Dustin the Turkey controversially missed the 2008 Eurovision Song Contest final after failing to advance from the semis on Tuesday night.

The most decorated Eurovision country chose the glove puppet to represent it in a homage to the contest's history of humour.

However, the move failed to tickle the funny bone of countries who take the contest more seriously. Sir Terry Wogan commented that 'no one song should try to be funnier than the contest itself'.

Dustin the Turkey, who sang Douze Points, has previously recorded six albums and has performed duets with artists including Bob Geldof and Chris De Burgh.

The countries from Tuesday's semi-final which won through were Azerbaijan, Armenia, Greece, Romania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Finland, Russia, Israel, Poland and Norway.

The UK, France, Germany and Spain are automatic finalists because of their financial backing of the event.