The Icelandic Head of Delegation says he fought to ensure a clip of the Icelandic performance being shown in the Ahoy during Semi-Final Two was not broadcast.
Speaking to RUV, the Icelandic Head of Delegation explained that he fought to ensure that Iceland’s performance last night was as close to a normal performance as possible. Felix Bergsson explained:
“It was like a shot at the end where they showed us on TV that this is on-screen on stage, and they did that in Australia, for example. We asked for this shot to be taken out, simply because it makes us different from the others, “
As can be seen above, following the Australian performance the camera panned back out into the arena to show that the performance was a clip.
Due to a positive COVID-19 case in the group, Iceland are having to compete using a recording of their second rehearsal. The group were offered the chance to compete without Johann however Arny explained that:
We are a team and if there is one member missing, we are not Gagnamagnið, I am not competing in Eurovision, Gagnamagnið is competing in Eurovision.
Image Source: Andres Putting | Source: RUV
Iceland debuted in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1986 and, aside from 2 years of relegation in 1998 and 2002, has participated every year since. The contest is incredibly popular in Iceland, regularly being one of the most watched programmes of the year. Iceland has yet to win the contest but has finished in 2nd on two occasions. In 1999, Selma missed out on victory in Jerusalem by 17 points, and in 2009 Yohanna became the most successful Icelandic entrant ever finishing 2nd in the final with the song “Is it True?”. She scored 218 points, yet still finished 169 points behind the runaway winner Norway.
