🎉 What makes a Carnival champion

What those unfamiliar with Brazil’s Carnival perhaps do not realize is that all the glitter and joy of a samba school parade exists in permanent tension with something that sounds more like filling out a tax return: a scoring system decided down to tenths of a point.

This year in Rio, the drama began before the last float had even rolled past. Executives of rival schools traded barbs in the weeks leading up to the tournament, and one school even put out a press statement while the parades were still underway, making a dig at its opponents. When the dust — and confetti — finally settled, Unidos do Viradouro edged out Beija-Flor de Nilópolis by a single tenth of a point, claiming the championship with a total of 270 points. That’s the samba equivalent of a photo finish.

There were more than just bragging rights at stake…

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