Olly Alexander responds after suffering a breakdown during his Eurovision performance

Singer Olly Alexander has spoken out for the first time since suffering a minor breakdown during his Eurovision Song Contest performance. He premiered his song ‘Dizzy’ during the first Eurovision semi-final on Tuesday (May 7).

While performing in Malmo, Sweden, Olly’s microphone pack fell off, but he caught it and continued to perform. He appeared on ITV’s Lorraine on Wednesday (May 8) morning, addressing the experience and the criticism he received.

The singer was accused by some viewers of being “off” and “detonated”, but others, who managed to pick up on Olly’s breakdown, came to his defence. Dave Hope wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter: “Anyone else notice that Olly’s mic pack has fallen off. Noticed only on rewatch. As a gym instructor, I know how frustrating it is. An amazing performance just got even higher! Go Olly! #Eurovision2024 #OllyAlexander.”

Olly told the Scottish presenter: “It’s massive.” Alexander then admitted: “This whole Eurovision experience is wild. Last night was amazing. It was the first time they performed in the arena and on TV. It was just… yeah, it was amazing.”

He then went on to address the mic pack: “I had a slight wardrobe malfunction – my mic pack came off – and I had to improvise, but that’s fine – it’s live TV, it happens.”

“You did so, so well with that,” Kelly then told her guest, adding, “I think a lot of people — I noticed it — but I think a lot of people wouldn’t have noticed that the mic was out. you have to adapt, so well done and also what a cheeky show, glad to say it was fantastic – these dancers are simply awesome!

It was the first time in the history of the Eurovision Song Contest that the Big Five – Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain – as well as host nation Sweden presented their entries during a semi-final. Five countries left the competition last night, including Poland, Iceland, Moldova, Azerbaijan and Australia.

The second semi-final kicks off at 8pm BST on Thursday 9 May on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. All details about when the Eurovision Song Contest will be broadcast and voting changes, can be found here.