Presenters Rylan and AJ Odudu will host the 2023 Eurovision Song Contest Handover and Allocation Draw on 31 January. It will air live on BBC2 and iPlayer and on the official Eurovision You Tube channel.
Taking place in host city Liverpool and in front of a live, invited audience the event determines which country competes in which Semi-Final of the Contest when it takes place in May as well as deciding which Semi-Final the ‘Big 5’ (Spain, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy) and 2022 winners Ukraine will vote in.
Handover from Turin
AJ and Rylan will conduct the live draw assisted by young people from a local Liverpool school and members of the Ukrainian community who have settled in Liverpool since the outbreak of the conflict.
The programme will also see the Mayor of 2022 Host City Turin, Stefano Lo Russo hand over the official keys of the Eurovision Song Contest, known as the Insignia, to the Mayor of Liverpool, Joanne Anderson and will be the night the 2023 theme and slogan is unveiled.
An amazing year for Eurovision
Rylan said: “From being part of the UK delegation since 2018, Eurovision has become such a big part of my life. I’m so excited to be presenting the handover and allocation draw which symbolises the start of the Eurovision Song Contest 2023; the year in which the United Kingdom hosts Ukraine’s party. It’s going to be an amazing year for Eurovision. I genuinely can’t wait.”
AJ Odudu said: “It’s so exciting to have the Eurovision Song Contest in the United Kingdom in 2023. New and existing fans are in for an event like no other come May with spectacular live shows on the BBC and a city take over in Liverpool, all with British creativity and Ukrainian culture at its core . I can’t wait to kick things off with the draw later this month.”
Podcast
January 31st also sees the launch of the BBC’s Eurovision podcast, Eurovisioncast (Other Podcasts are available), made by the team behind hit podcasts Newscast and Ukrainecast.
Turning their attention to the biggest music contest in the world will be four hosts: Eurovision winner Måns Zelmerlöw; Eurovision fan, BBC Breakfast’s Nina Warhurst; BBC News’ Eurovision Reporter Daniel Rosney and Radio Merseyside presenter, Liverpudlian Ngunan Adamu.
The weekly podcast will be available on BBC Sounds from January 31, and will be broadcast on BBC Radio 5 live and BBC Radio Merseyside.