POLL: Which former Eurovision singer was the best host?

Every day until December 24, we’re stuffing your stockings with a new Eurovision poll and asking for your opinion about important matters such as the best edition of Eurovision and the best Israeli entry over the past ten years. Consider this our advent calendar for 2015. Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, you can let us know your thoughts each and every day by casting your vote and sounding off in our comments section. Let’s open the door to today’s poll!

Day 15: From singer to host

Yesterday it was revealed that Eurovision 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw will host next year’s contest together with Petra Mede. Måns will follow in the footsteps of Conchita Wurst, Eldar Gasimov and Marie N, who all hosted the contest (in some capacity) after winning it the previous year.

But they aren’t the only former Eurovision entrants who later served as a presenter. Which of them did it best? We aren’t asking for the best song, but rather for the best host. Click the name of all your favourites in our poll and then press submit. You can vote for as many people as you like, but you can only vote one time.

Corry Brokken (1976)

Corry Brokken took part in Eurovision three times, winning the second edition of the contest in 1957 with “Net als toen”. After Teach-In won the contest for The Netherlands, Corry was invited to host the contest in The Hague.

Yardena Arazi (1979)

https://youtu.be/J60p57cTJAI

Yardena sang for Israel in 1976 as part of Chocolate, Menta, Mastik and placed sixth with “Emor Shalom”. A few years later, Israel won the contest for the first time and Yardena had the honour of hosting the contest from Jerusalem. In 1988 Yardena returned to the contest with “Ben Adam” and finished seventh.

Lill Lindfors (1985)

https://youtu.be/QZJlFIdG8R8

Lill Lindfors sang “Nygammal Vals” together with Svante Thuresson back in 1966. Sweden won the right to host the contest in 1985, after Herreys’ victory. Lill Lindfors caused drama by having a wardrobe malfunction on the stage — which was planned beforehand.

Åse Kleveland (1986)

Åse Kleveland was the first woman who didn’t wear a dress during her performance. She finished third in 1966 with “Intet er nytt under solen”. Bobbysocks took Norway’s first victory in 1985 and the next year Åse presented the contest from Bergen.

Gigliola Cinquetti and Toto Cutugno (1991)

Toto Cutugno was the first winner to host the contest the next year. He was joined by another Eurovision winner, Gigliola Cinquetti who sang “Non ho l’età” in 1964 and later returned to the contest with “Sì“. Most of the evening Toto and Gigilola used Italian, giving the international commentators a lot of work to do at home.

Dafna Dekel (1999)

Dana International took the victory for Israel with “Diva” in 1998 and the following year the contest was held in Jerusalem for the second time. For the first time ever the contest had three presenters. One of them was Dafna Dekel, who sang for Israel in 1992. She finished sixth with “Ze Rak Sport”.

Marie N and Renars Kaupers (2003)

https://youtu.be/gAPuVwO0FdM

Marie N was Latvia’s first ever Eurovision winner, and by winning in 2002 with “I Wanna”, she brought the contest to Riga. Marie got another former Eurovision singer — Renars Kaupers — as her co-host. Renars finished third with his band Brainstorm and their song “My Star” when Latvia debuted at the contest in 2000.

Sertab Erener (2004)

Turkey won the contest on their 26th try in 2003, when Sertab Erener sang “Everyway That I Can”. The next year Sertab hosted the green room, with Meltem Cumbul and Korhan Abay serving as the main hosts.

Ruslana (2005)

https://youtu.be/YFITdfShO4Q

Just like Sertab the year before, Ruslana returned to host the green room after winning with “Wild Dances”. She was intended to host the contest from the main stage, but was reportedly relegated to the green room due her poor English skills.

Sakis Rouvas (2006)

Sakis Rouvas sang “Shake It” in 2004 and finished third. Helena Paparizou’s victory with “My Number One” brought the contest to Athens and Sakis hosted the contest together with American actress Maria Menounos. He returned to the contest in 2009 with “This Is Our Night”.

Željko Joksimovic (2008)

Željko Joksimovic finished second behind Ruslana in 2004 with “Lane moje”. After debuting as a independent country in 2007, Serbia took victory on their first try. Željko hosted the event from Belgrade together with Jovana Jankovic — whom he later married.

Alsou (2009)

Alsou represented Russia in 2000 with “Solo” and placed second after Denmark. Later Dima Bilan brought the contest to Moscow with “Believe”. Alsou was invited to host the grand final together with Ivan Urgant while Russian television personality Andrey Malakhov hosted the semifinals with model Natalia Vodianova.

Stefan Raab (2011)

Stefan Raab sang “Wadde hadde dudde da?” for Germany in 2000 and finished fifth. He also mentored Lena for her victory in 2010 and got the right to host the contest in Düsseldorf. He was joined by Anke Engelke and Judith Rakers.

Eldar Gasimov (2012)

Eldar Gasimov brought the contest to Baku by winning together with Nigar Jamal on “Running Scared”. Once again there were three hosts — Leyla Aliyeva, Nargiz Birk-Petersen and Eldar himself.

Eric Saade (2013)

Eric Saade finished third behind Azerbaijan and Italy in 2011. Two years later Loreen took the victory for Sweden and as Petra Mede hosted the contest, Eric was invited to host the green room during the final. Eric deserved some criticism by calling Petra #MILF — even the line was scripted.

Conchita Wurst (2015)

https://youtu.be/uYYww-19I5c

Conchita Wurst — the winner of Eurovision 2014 — joined an all female line-up when hosting the green room in 2015. Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler and Arabella Kiesbauer hosted the contest from the main stage.

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