They win the Golden Mermaid and the 150,000 euro prize

Tony Grox & Lucycalys, with ‘T amaré’, have won the Benidorm Fest 2026 and have won the legendary Golden Mermaid trophy and the prize of 150,000 euros in the fifth edition of the musical competition after achieving a total of 166 points, 48 ​​coming from the public.

For the first time in the history of the festival, this year the winning proposal has won a financial prize of 150,000 euros (100,000 euros for the performers and 50,000 euros for the authors of the song). However, they will not represent Spain in the Eurovision Song Contest after the withdrawal of RTVE due to Israel’s controversial participation in the contest.

The jury’s votes left the ranking with Asha in the lead with 92 points, followed by Tony Grox & Lucycalys with 82 points and Izan Llunas with 71 points. Once the demoscopic vote was revealed, the top three were occupied by Asha (120), Izan Llunas (119) and Tony Grox & Lucycalys (118). Finally, the public gave the victory to Tony Grox & Lucycalys, who added another 48 points, followed by Asha and Rosalinda Galán.

In addition, the duo formed by Tony Grox & Lucycalys has won another of the prizes up for grabs: a trip to Miami (United States), with Univision, to promote their career on the group’s television shows and record a single with a renowned music producer.

For her part, by decision of the professional jury, Asha has won the prize of a trip to Stockholm (Sweden) to record a single in Spotify’s flagship studio.

The grand finale, hosted by Inés Hernand, Javier Ambrossi and Jesús Vázquez, together with Lalachus, collaborator of the program ‘La Revuelta,’ began at 10:00 p.m. with a special performance by the 2025 winner, Melody, who has performed parts of some of her most successful songs: ‘Esa Diva’, ‘El apagón’ and ‘Alarma’.

“I want to say, from the bottom of my heart, thank you very much to each of you for supporting me, for loving me, for pampering the music,” said the artist on stage at the contest won by Chanel (2022) with ‘SloMo’, Blanca Paloma (2023) with ‘Eaea’, Nebulossa (2024) with ‘Zorra’ and Melody herself (2025) with ‘Esa Diva’.

The first to open the competition this Saturday was Mayo with his song ‘Tócame’. He has been followed by Kitai with ‘Love gives you fear’, Asha with ‘Turista’, Dani J with ‘Dancing’, The Quinquis with ‘You don’t want me’, Izan Llunas with ‘What are you going to do?’, Mikel Herzog Jr. with ‘My half’, María León ft. Julia Medina with ‘The Ladies and the Tramp’, Rosalinda Galán with ‘Mataora’, Kenneth with ‘The eyes don’t lie’, Miranda! & bailamamá with ‘Despierto Amtamos’ and Tony Grox and Lucycalys with ‘T amaré’.

In the first semifinal, Tony Grox and Lucycalys, Izan Llunas, Kitai, María León and Julia Medina, Mikel Herzog Jr. and Kenneth qualified; while in the second qualifying round they made it to the final Miranda! & bailamamá, Dani J, Álvaro Mayo, The Quinquis, Rosalinda Galán and Asha.

In addition to Melody, the gala has had the special participation of Chanel and other artists such as Nebulossa and Blanca Paloma, winners of the 2024 and 2023 editions, respectively, Agoney, Jorge González, Almácor, Daniela Blasco, Vicco, who have ended up performing ‘Eres tú’, by Mocedades, together. During Nebulossa’s performance, singer María ‘Mery’ Bas showed a Palestinian flag painted on her chest.

Viewers have been able to vote for their favorite artists for free since the start of the gala by SMS, by phone and also through the RTVE Play app, with only one vote allowed per person.

The professional jury of the Benidorm Fest 2026 is made up of Alicia García, director of Strategic Agreements and Sponsorships at Starlite Group; Almudena Heredero, president of the Association of Women in the Music Industry (MIM); Dani Ruiz, producer and composer for artists such as Sebastián Yatra, Abraham Mateo, Chanel or Pastora Soler; Ignacio Meyer, president of Univision Networks Group at TelevisaUnivision; Javier Llano, journalist and member of the Spanish Academy of Music and head of music programming at Cadena 100; Melanie Parejo, Director of Music for Southern and Eastern Europe at Spotify; Sonia Durán, manager of the Independent Phonographic Union (UFI), and Roberto Santamaría, director of Radio Nacional de España (RNE), who has served as spokesperson.

Like the two semi-finals, the grand final took place at the Palau d’Esports l’Illa in Benidorm (Alicante) and could be followed live on TVE’s La 1, RTVE Play, RNE, the Corporation’s radio and social media platforms and on Radio Exterior.