Love Island’s Antigoni Buxton said she’s ‘honoured’ to represent Cyprus in next year’s Eurovision competition after she was confirmed on Friday.
The TV personality, Antigoni Buxton, 29, who has Greek/Cypriot heritage, starred on the ITV dating show in 2022, and has been performing at various events since leaving the villa.
Antigoni Buxton has now been announced as the first musician who will star in the competition when it returns in May.
A post shared to their official Instagram read: ‘We have our first artist for Vienna 2026! Antigoni will represent Cyprus at the 70th Eurovision Song Contest in May.’
Antigoni Buxton wrote: ‘I’m so honoured. Cyprus I will make you proud.’
Antigoni Buxton has a music background and was signed by Island Records when she was 20 by former president Darcus Beese, the man who also signed Amy Winehouse to the label.
After parting company with the firm, she set up her own independent label Sirena Records and released a single called Hit List in May 2023.
The Eurovision Song Contest 2026, the 70th anniversary of the competition, will take place in May in Vienna.
The honour of hosting is granted to the winner of the previous year. The winner this year in Basel was Austria´s JJ for the song ‘Wasted Love’.
Eurovision is a competition in which performers from countries across Europe, and a few beyond it, compete under their national flags with the aim of being crowned continental champion – a sort of Olympics of pop music.
It’s also a place where politics and regional rivalries play out. Russia was banned from Eurovision after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Israel has won the competition four times since its debut in 1973, and has hosted it twice in Jerusalem (in 1979 and 1999) and once in Tel Aviv in 2019.
The competition’s hosting broadcaster, Austria’s ORF, earlier this week confirmed that the contest would go ahead even in the case of boycotts.
‘The Eurovision song contest will take place in Vienna in 2026,’ an ORF spokesperson said. ‘The event will take place irrespective of the number of participating broadcasters.
Austria has publicly rejected the calls for a boycott, while Germany, Australia and France have confirmed they would not withdraw over Israel’s presence.
Austria’s foreign minister Beate Meinl-Reisinger said boycotting Eurovision would only deepen divisions.
‘As foreign minister of the host country, I am deeply concerned about the risk of a rift between the members of the European Broadcasting Union on this issue,’ she wrote in a letter seen by Reuters.
‘Such a rift would only deepen the discord and preclude opportunities for important dialogue between artists and the public – without improving the situation on the ground in Israel and Gaza.
‘Excluding Israel from the Eurovision Song Contest or boycotting the event would neither alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza nor contribute to a sustainable political solution.’
Meanwhile, the UK is yet to make a decision on boycotting the competition – with BBC director-general Tim Davie in the process of reviewing the corporation’s position.
A BBC spokesperson said: ‘We are aware of the various views and concerns which have been expressed in recent days in relation to next year’s Eurovision.
‘At this stage, we will continue to be part of the discussions, led by the European Broadcasting Union, with other members and broadcasters.
‘Eurovision has never been led by politics, it has been – and is – a celebration of music and culture that brings people together from across the world.’
In a statement, the EBU said: ‘We can confirm that a letter has been sent from the executive board of the European Broadcasting Union to directors general of all our members informing them that a vote on participation in the Eurovision song contest 2026 will take place at an extraordinary meeting of the EBU’s general assembly to be held online in early November.’