The big favourites The Ark and debutant Marie Lindberg received the most votes and move on to the Melodifestivalen final in Globen after tonight's second Melodifestivalen semi final. Jimmy Jansson and Jessica Andersson won the right to challenge again in Nyköping and “Andra chansen” (The Second Chance round).

This evening the Swedish people gave The Ark and Marie Lindberg tickets to the Melodifestivalen finalat the Globen,Stockholm. Marie Lindberg, who was totally unknown before the contest, couldn't stopthanking the audience in the Scandinavium arenawhen she made her second performance for the evening with her ballad Trying to recall:

"This is a saga and I am the princess, she said with tears in her eyes".

After leaving the stage she told esctoday.com that her minutes on stage had been her best and that she had problems understanding what really had happened and that she actually had made it to the final in Globen.

"This is fantastic! Tonight I will party and I will definitely not be the one who drives the car home. I guess I will have to speak with the principle at school, because I am schedualed to work the week when the final take place in Stockholm".

The Ark, the big favourites before the contest, made a magnificant performance and got standing ovations from the crowd. When being asked by esctoday.com if they are going to party tonight they just laughed and said that they might go to bed instead of partying.

"We made a great performance and we represent something totally different than the other artist. We put on a real show and got a fantastic responce from the crowd".

Jimmy Jansson will get a new chance to reach the final with his song Amanda in "Andra chansen" in a three weeks time.

"I made a good performance and am happy to be able to perfom it again. This was such a strong line-up of songs that I just can't be dissatisfied with the result. Both The Ark and Marie were great and deserved their places in the final".

Former Eurovision entrant Jessica Andersson will follow Jimmy along to Nyköping with her song Kom.

"It feels great! Last year I finished fifth and this year I will reach a better result. Of course I am happy about all the votes I have received. It feltfantastic to go on stagetonight and I think that showed", she said to esctoday.com with a big smile on her face".

When talking about last years result with her song Kalla nätter, Jessica says that she never thought about it as a failure.

"I definitely didn't feel like a looser last year, because "Kalla nätter" became a big radio hit. It was a great song and it still is"!

The girl group Cosmo4 managed to stay in the contest for the second round with What's your name, but ended up infifth place. This means that theywill not be able to perform their songagain in this years contest.

"We were thrilled to be in the top five and of course we had hoped for a second chance. However, we are happy with our performance and will take it from here. We are about to finish our album".

Eliminated after the first voting was the veterans Svante Thuresson and Anne-Lie Rydé with Firsta gången, the group Lustans Lakejer with Allt vi en gång trodde på and the all-round artist Regina Lund with Rainbow star. Svante and Anne-Lie told esctoday.com that their performance tonight was their best together so far.

"We are pleased, but we can't say today if we will compete in Melodifestivalen again. It's too early to say".

Johan Kinde, the singer in Lustans Lakejer was also happy about their performance but told esctoday.com that this probably was the first and last time in Melodifestivalen for the band.

"I might compete again as a song writer but you will never see Lustans Lakejer in Melodifestivalen again".

Regina Lund suffered from a bad cold and was not able to give her best tonight. When meeting the press afterwards she hugged her son and told the press that she wanted to be left alone. however, later esctoday.com was able to get a comment from her.

"I did my best, but I wasn't able to give 100% during the performance tonigh. There wasn't much I could do about it, I'm afraid".

Tonight a total of 508 000 votes were made during the show, which is a much higher figure than last Saturday in Jönköping. Most likely The Ark and all the media attention around the bandhad an affect on the voting figures.

Here is the result of the second semifinal of Melodifestivalen in Göteborg:

To the final:

• The Ark "The Worrying Kind"
• Marie Lindberg "Trying to recall"

To "Andra chansen" (The Second Chance round):

• Jimmy Jansson "Amanda"
• Jessica Andersson "Kom"

Eliminated from the contest:

• 5. Cosmo4 "What's your name"
• 6. Svante Thuresson & Anne-Lie Rydé "Första gången"
• 7. Lustans Lakejer "Allt vi en gång trodde på"
• 8. Regina Lund "Rainbow star"

The next semifinal of Melodifestivalen will be held in Örnsköldsvik next Saturday.

• Click here to pre-order your copy of the Official Melodifestivalen 2007 CD here.