josé maría íñigo

José María Íñigo, Spain’s Eurovision commentator, says that he has no desire to go to Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine because it’s “too far away” and he feels “too lazy”. Furthermore, he says that he doesn’t understand how the televote worked at this year’s Eurovision, since Spain only received 10 points. It seems like someone is on a permanent siesta…

Barei – Say Yay live at Eurovision 2016

Íñigo made the comments during an interview with Catalan radio RAC1. His resistance to travel stems partly from his experience traveling to Eurovision 2012 in Baku. “I don’t feel like doing 7 or 8 hours in a plane, but who knows what will happen in the end”, he said.

We should point out that Íñigo is 73 years old. But one is never too old to learn. Sadly he revealed that nobody explained the televoting system to him, despite the fact he was supposed to explain this system to the five million Spaniards watching at home. Of course, the EBU did make a video about the new system, which explains it pretty clearly…

Íñigo went on to say that nowadays Eurovision “is a lottery” and that Spain can only try to make a decent performance and finish in an acceptable position. So much for keeping the faith…

The commentator also spoke about the popular demand for the resignation of Toñi Prieto and Federico Llano. He says that out of 42 countries, only one is the winner, and that doesn’t mean that all the non-winning HoDs should resign. But may I just say that if your country hasn’t won in 47 years, something must be wrong….

What do you think about José María Íñigo’s reaction to Eurovision 2017? Does going to Ukraine concern you? Do you think the resignation petition should extend to Íñigo? Share your feelings with us in the comments section below!

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Alex
Alex
7 years ago

And by that I mean tOST wins the thread with the first comment. Too lazy to sit in a plane for 15 minutes longer?

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

Hahahahaha tOST wins this thread.

Alex
Alex
7 years ago

What about retiring?? He seems to be too old for this.

And Baku was way more difficult, too far away. Kiev is in Europe.

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

you Russian trolls getting really repetitive, don’t you think?
anything else to discuss? Kobzon said he’ll sing in Ukrainian to show that it’s his Motherland. what do you think? it is zrada or peremoga?

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

Andrew,
really? Russians said they will send Kobzon to sing for them. can you guarantee that he’ll be safe in Ukraine? of course I’m not representing the whole country but at least I’m not flying in the clouds like you. Will you enroll as a bodyguard for Kobzon? can you assure he will be 100% safe in arena and in town?

song about 1991? we’ll dance it. bring any song, pass EBU rules and sing it away.

Medved
Medved
7 years ago

@Oxana darling, Ukrainians have been killing themselves and destructing their country for two and a half decades. Don’t blame Russians for your mistakes. If Crimeans weren’t oppressed under UKrainian rule they would have never wanted to rejoin Russia. By the way I saw yesterday an interview of Jamala’s mother. I was rather surprised to see her and her relatives living in Crimea and being satisfied by the new government and laws.

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

Don`t listen to Oxana, she is not representing Ukraine. Ukrainian government will do everything to create healthy and safe environment. It will be not as easy as in Stockholm, but we will manage. Kyiv is nice and friendly city which already hosted Eurovision succesfully.

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

@Oxana
”a victory in good condition?”

As far as I know, is not the host who can decide the winner, but Europe,
and the host must create good condition 100% safe, otherwise let other country do it.
What if, next year russian entry will be a song called ”1991” about the dissolution of Soviet Union ? Mother Russia crying over her babies.
I DON’T BELIEVE THIS WOULD BE RIGHT , but Ukraine can’t complain because Ukraine created the precedent.

TT
TT
7 years ago

@Sanro, I’m agree with you, except for this “while Spain is always fabulous (but finally robbed)”. J.M.Iñigo really hates to send songs in english (Barei) or from foreign composers (Edurne). He wants to send ESC always “pachanga” or typical spanish songs, and he say that every time he attended Teresa Campos’s tv show. He’s simply outdated, as is the spanish HOD.

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

an esc fan, and what is even more disgusting in your words, is that you failed to see that I’m trying to help Russians by suggesting less painful route for them (and they possible will score a victory). it will be a huge difference if we’ll accept their artist and will help ’em to achieve their goal (as an act of generosity, because we’re also tired to see them stalking the contest), or it will me pressure and Russian delegation will bring home some mental disorder, because we can be really mean with people who conducted a crime against us… Read more »

Mariam
Mariam
7 years ago

no me extraña que no quiera ir… es que no lo entiende él ni nadie, ni el sistema de votación ni los resultados. Para lo que hay que ver, yo tampoco iría. no entiendo que le ven a la cancion de Polonia en serio. no entiendo que pasara a la final Polonia, y que Estonia y Finlandia se quedaran fuera. No lo entiendoooo. I think I’m not watching Eurovision next year

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

an esc fan,
oh really? I guess what is more disgusting at that you want Ukrainians to love Russians after they stole our land and killed 10 000 of our people. we’re already generous to let them set their filthy feet on our land, don’t ask for more, it’s impossible at the moment. will you greet and hug some ISIS party? No? it’s disgusting 🙂

Sanro
Sanro
7 years ago

I hope we have a better, more proffesional comentaror next year Comentators should make Eurovision possible to those who do not speak English. But Jose María Íñigo is another kind of comentator: he completely annoys me, everything he says, above all on voting: it seems Europeans are just out of their minds and the winners and best-placed songs do not deserve it, while Spain is always fabulous (but finally robbed). However, it can be easily seen that this is just a representation of RTVE’s way of living the festival: they try to convince us that we do not win not… Read more »

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

Oxana : ” You can cheer for Russia, no one will harm you. It’s only a thing between Ukraine and Russia, if you don’t have Russian accent and don’t yell “Putin is my god” you’re safe. ”

This is horrible, so people are in danger if they have russian accent, or if it sounds like russian accent. Also Russia must send the artist that the host wants.
I am not russian, but I think this is disgusting.

Marcus (day one)
Marcus (day one)
7 years ago

You have to remember millions of Ukrainians go about their business every day without having to worry about whether they’re safe or not.

As for Eurovision I think Ukraine will want to put on a great show but less Copenhagen 2014 and more Vienna 2015 in terms of staging.

See you all next year in Ukraine 🙂

Panic
Panic
7 years ago

The situation next year is going to be :
“If cheering for Russia was crime, then we would be criminals”

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

Ronny,
you’re getting it wrong. You can cheer for Russia, no one will harm you. It’s only a thing between Ukraine and Russia, if you don’t have Russian accent and don’t yell “Putin is my god” you’re safe.

tOST
tOST
7 years ago

After Ukraine gave 12 points to Russia by televoting this year I can’t believe to someone’s saying that Ukrainians may display hostility towards supporters of Russian entry.

Jenny the hedgehog
Jenny the hedgehog
7 years ago

I will also skip next year hahah no offence, but I dont want to get killed by some mad ukrainians

Mariana
Mariana
7 years ago

https://youtu.be/C0Sz2c26_ng

Silvia Abril (a dancer of Chiquilicuatre) has imitate Barei dancing Say yay hahaha. Great humor! Barei has also laughed of this video.

Ronny
Ronny
7 years ago

I agree with Petra… nobody can guarantee the safety of the fans 🙁 I also am going to skip next year and will wait for 2018. Next year will be “Come Together…except Russia” and if someone dare to cheer for Russia they will shoot him in the head lol 😀
Greets from UK

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

the only way for Russia (if they really want to participate) is to send some young female singer that is not known for anti Ukrainian stances, and to make her look positive, maybe it should be someone from girls who participated in our The Voice.
Lyudmila Chebotina, Moscow, 19 y.o. – nice girl with great voice. send her and we’ll support her as our own
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=53BxnNYwht4

Petra
Petra
7 years ago

@Andrew OMG you are so simple if you think like that. I am concerned about my safety. I really like the Russian entries. They usually send Top5 material, but I dont think that ukrainians will be tolerant to people who cheers for Russia. I dont want to be beaten by some ukranian ultra nationalists because I waved russian flag. No one can guarantee my safety on the street or in the arena. And I wish to be wrong, but I am pretty sure that the ukrainians will do everything possible to humiliate the russian delegation…if Russia decides to participate of… Read more »

Oxana
Oxana
7 years ago

fikri
“can the host city guarantee the safety of the russian delegation?”

NO
no guarantees to Russian. if locals will want to “show ’em some support”, thousands of locals, no police can prevent it.

Toscano
Toscano
7 years ago

I´d also prefer Lviv than Kyiv. Most of the countries that have hosted at least twice have chosen different host cities.

Fatima
Fatima
7 years ago

I agree with lalala, but without the swearing!

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

Safety of russian delegation of course will be guaranteed. However political tension may make russians not completely comfortable in Kyiv, it would be the same for ukrainian delegation in Moscow. But it depends on contestant. For example Lazarev is absolutely has no aticipation in Ukraine, he is our friend and nice guy. If russians will choose someone controversial it may result in some unpleasant cituation. But I`m sure Ukraine will try to do our best to make it joyfull and happy for all…

fikri
fikri
7 years ago

@andrew: can the host city guarantee the safety of the russian delegation? 🙁 russia is one of my favourite ESC countries (politics aside) so if they can’t participate, eurovision next year is going to suck. so. hard.

tania
tania
7 years ago

i’m sure everything will be ok with eurovision in ukraine. as to me i would prefer lviv to host it. a beautiful city with a good infrastructure. the only minus is they seem to lack a big concert hall. odesa is also a good option.
and kyiv already held eurovision in 2005.

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

@Carpacho @Petra “Come together”, but only to rich and fancy Sweden.

Petra
Petra
7 years ago

@Carpacho
Yeah I will probably skip it too. But we can still watch it online I guess. I was also disappointed from the results and I am not planning to vote next year and waste money on ESC

Carpacho
Carpacho
7 years ago

I think that we would expect a lot of problems at next year’s edition of ESC in Ukraine. Probably not the best place to organise such an event, especially in a country that is in a war conflict 🙁 Maybe I should skip next year and wait for 2018

Andrew
Andrew
7 years ago

First of all Kyiv is safe. 5 million people are living there every day, including my whole family. If you have security concerns remember about huge recent terror attacks in hearts of France and Belgium, Ukraine had nothing like this. Yes, war at east part is still not fully solved, but it has nothing to do with how 90% of country lives and in 1 year hopefully it will be settled. Organising event like Eurovision requires not so much money. It is about 15-40 millions euro. For Ukraine, even in hard situation like now, it is not huge money. And… Read more »

saschee
saschee
7 years ago

Please, stop it with the spanish eurodrama, nobody cares!

oooops
oooops
7 years ago

That lottery thing is right. Estonia came last, and Montenegro 13th.

Toscano
Toscano
7 years ago

That´s very simple, if he doesn´t want to go, he will(has to) be replaced. I saw the semi-finals and Grand Finale through TVE and it was atrocious, you weren´t able to hear Iñigo comments neither Petra or Mans´. Next time I´ll watch it online.
There´ll be hundreds of people really glad to be in his position anyway.

lalala
lalala
7 years ago

F*ck off guys. Eurovision 2017 in Ukraine will be one of the best, believe me. Something similar Russia and Europe were telling about Euro 2012 “ohh they are poor, no money in Ukraine”, Euro 2012 Poland-Ukraine was amazing. Life here same as everywhere in Eastern Europe, at some points even better, so f*ck off again.

an esc fan
an esc fan
7 years ago

When football World Cup was in Brasil, the locals protested that the country is wasting money while they have financial problems.
I think that will be the same in Ukraine. Bigger the show, more upset will be the citizens. Now they are still happy for the victory, but later will become more realistic.

Javi
Javi
7 years ago

Oh my. RTVE is full of old glories. Not enough time to get rid of them all in a single lifetime.

We could find young and interested people for this contest in a heartbeat to replace these people but they first have to leave!

About the HoD comments. Expected corporativism. Can’t wait to see our candidacy in much better hands.

nn
nn
7 years ago

fikri

Ukaine wili prepare better contest than Sweden, becuase they wili get money for that from country and capital goverment plus money from rich mega milionere people in Ukraine and to show Russia that Ukraine can be break. I expect expensive scene like Moscow 2009 , Copenhagen 2014 in big stadium like Copenhagen 2001.

Huh
Huh
7 years ago

@blondboybc
I thought Spain was serious especially this year. I mean, almost all countries, right? I just don’t get what you mean by serious like Sweden and Russia’s songs. Because these two are overrated and always overestimated among many people unlike other countries.

dimabuxx
dimabuxx
7 years ago

I think is for the best. I saw the contest last saturday on tve and he was translating some of the televotes results wrongly. Probably the problem is with his english level not that he didn’t understand the new vote system…
By the way, the female copresentator was doing much better than he did and for sure rtve need a change of faces, more fresh and young. It was an anecdote that this year Barei was singing in english when last year Edurne was forced to sing in spanish.

blondboybc
blondboybc
7 years ago

Meh. If he doesn’t want to attend, send someone else and retire him from his position so he can enjoy the contest from home…send someone younger, more knowledgeable (he didn’t understand the voting system? really?) and more enthusiastic. Methinks he doth complain too much. As for Spain’s results, I’ve never understood why they often rank low, but then usually so do most of the Big 5!! For me, they just don’t take it as seriously as some other countries like Sweden, Russia, etc.

fikri
fikri
7 years ago

my only concern (apart from why ukraine should be hosting in the first place when it should be australia and russia) is that do they have the resources to host? after sweden, a contest in ukraine will look VERY underwhelming. ukraine seems like a pretty unsafe place too.

anka
anka
7 years ago

He probably would not need to go to Kyiv next year. Who knows if the country of Ukraine is still in place in May 2017, I believe that when EBU appointed the Ukraine to be a fake winner, they certainly had in mind a back up plan for hosting the contest and they certainly did’t mean at all for Ukraine to host it. There too many reasons that awarding the victory to Ukraine this year was the stupidest thing ever. The main one is the security. Ukraine is at war at present. How many crazy Europeans would want to attend… Read more »

Mar
Mar
7 years ago

I know europeans aren’t used to long distances but I’m pretty sure a flight from Spain to Kiev does not take 7 hours.
He should probably be more concerned about his safety there than whether he can take a nap or not on the plane.

El Rosario de Raquel
7 years ago

Por que la cantante de Italia, al terminar su actuacion nos ofrecia una cebolla germinada?
Por que desafinaba tanto Ira losco de Malta y a su vez como Malta dio 12 puntos a Azerbaiyan?
Por que las coristas de Serbia 2016, son las mismas de Montenegro 2015?
Por que triunfan mas los cantantes masculinos Italianos, que sus chicas?
Por que los paises de la vieja Europa, no se votan entre ellos ni pidiendoles el favor y los de la nuevo europa siempre juntos?

Mei International
Mei International
7 years ago

flight from madrid to kyiv is 4 hours. flight to stockholm was 3.5….

ESC84
ESC84
7 years ago

He just want to resign Spain, nothing more, say “lazy” is to put it in a good word

Lucas
Lucas
7 years ago

those weren’t his words!