Rylan gives us all the info on tonight’s Eurovision Handover show in Liverpool

Rylan and AJ will host tonight’s epic Eurovision Handover show live from Liverpool.

Eurovision will launch in Liverpool this evening with a special live show from St. George’s Hall which you can watch on BBC 2 from 7pm.

It will be down to Rylan AJ Odudu to do the honours of hosting the show and launching the live draw to see which countries will face who in the semi-finals.

We met Rylan and AJ at St. George’s Hall as the countdown to the broadcast began.

Rylan, no stranger to Liverpool, told us how much he loved the city and how he fell in love with it ten years ag when he did his first X factor audition at the M&S Bank Arena.

AJ told us how she’s spent many years in the city with a friend who was at university here.

Tonight Rylan and AJ will be helped by pupils from a Liverpool school and members of the Ukrainian community who have settled in the city since the outbreak of the conflict.

The allocation draw is also held to determine which country will compete 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, and Italy – and 2022 winners, Ukraine, will vote in.

Altogether, 37 countries will take part in the Eurovision Song Contest 2023 and 31 will go into the draw for the Semi-Finals (May 9 and 11) with 10 from each semi-final progressing to the Grand Final on May 13. The ‘Big 5’ and Ukraine automatically qualify to compete in the Grand Final.

The event will be broadcast live to BBC Two and BBC iPlayer. You will also be able to follow the event as it unfolds with live text commentary on the BBC News website live page.

January 31 will also see the launch of the BBC’s Eurovision podcast, Eurovisioncast, made by the team behind hit podcasts Newscast and Ukrainecast. It will have 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. Eurovisioncast will bring the inside gossip on plans and unique insights on the competition, and listeners will also hear from former contestants, those set to take part in the 2023 Contest, and celebrity fans.

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