Belgium was represented by Tonia, with the song "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel", at the 1966 Eurovision Song Contest, which took place on 5 March in Luxembourg City. Tonia was chosen internally to be the Belgian representative, and the song was chosen in the national final on 25 January.
French-language broadcaster RTB was in charge of the selection of the Belgian entry for the 1966 Contest, held at the RTB studios in Brussels. Four songs were performed by Tonia and the winner was chosen by postcard voting. "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel" emerged the winner by a margin of just over 1,000 votes.[1]
Final – 25 January 1966
Draw
Song
Votes
Place
1
"Tu pourrais m'emmener danser"
2,501
3
2
"Petite fleur de Chine"
2,496
4
3
"Un petit rien"
2,757
2
4
"Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel"
3,765
1
At Eurovision[]
On the night of the final Tonia performed 3rd in the running order, following Denmark and preceding Luxembourg. Each national jury awarded 5-3-1 point(s) to their top three songs, and at the close of the voting "Un peu de poivre, un peu de sel" had received 14 points (5 from Germany and the Netherlands, 3 from Portugal and 1 from Sweden), placing Belgium joint 4th (with Ireland) of the 18 competing entries. This was Belgium's highest Eurovision finish to date, and would remain so until Jean Vallée's second place in 1978. The Belgian jury awarded its 5 points to contest winners Austria.[2]
Belgium
