He’s the Danish veteran with a sure touch who has guided TV viewers through Eurovision since 2011. But yesterday commentator and Eurovision expert Ole Tøpholm was laid off by broadcaster DR in a major cost savings plan.
The austerity measures were revealed back in September after the Danish government demanded that DR cut no less than 20 per cent of its existing budget. But it was only yesterday that the pink slips were delivered to nearly 400 DR employees.
DR will have to cut down on its entertainment budget and associated offerings. Whether this will impact Dansk Melodi Grand Prix is not yet known.
Ole Tøpholm himself has reacted to his firing on Facebook.
“I’m really sad about it and it actually hurts to feel rejected,” he writes.
Mr. Grand Prix
The 41-year-old journalist and Eurovision fan started working at DR in 2000 and made sure that his contract stipulated that he could take two weeks off every May in connection with the Eurovision Song Contest. But in 2011 the two-week vacation was replaced with two weeks of working when he was offered the job as DR’s new Eurovision commentator. The job rightfully gave him the nickname Mr. Grand Prix in Denmark.
In his personal life, Ole Tøpholm has been the chairman of the Danish Dansk Melodi Grand Prix fan club and in 2009 he published a book “Dansk Melodi Grand Prix -de største øjeblikke” about the biggest moments in Dansk Melodi Grand Prix history.
Still hope for Ole fans?
Ole Tøpholm also reveals on his Facebook page that he has been offered a job as a journalist on one of DR’s local radio stations. Whether or not Mr. Grand Prix will accept the job is not yet known. But let’s hope it’s not the last that we have seen of Ole as a Eurovision commentator.
Send your greeting to Ole in the comments box below and let us know what you think a great commentator is made of.
READ MORE DENMARK EUROVISION NEWS HERE
Well at least it’s a cost savings plan. In Greece from 2012-2017 Kapoutzidis , a well known Greek comedian and a diehard Eurovision fan was the commentator,not being a ERT employee, and did it for free. Until in 2018 they chose not to bring him back, providing us with lacklustre commentary instead.
NOOOOOOO! Ole, is the voice of Eurovision for me! It won’t be the same without him):
Seeing the massive cost savings plan where entertainment department is cut down I’m surprised DR has enough money left to compete..
Was he fired or laid off? The two are different. Either headline or second sentence is misleading… My guess is the headline 🙂
I’m sorry this chapter with DR in your life has ended. I wish you all the best Mr. Ole in your new beginnings. 🙂
Off-topic: “Danish Dansk Melodi Grand Prix” sounds quite redundant with the English adjective “Danish” sitting next to its local counterpart of “Dansk”.
🙂
There are German and French Dansk Melodi Grand Prix Clubs so it’s not redundant.
I get what you mean that is still sounds off when everyone knows that “Dansk” is “Danish” in the vernacular so if you translate the whole thing in English, it would be: “Danish” or the other way around as “Dansk Dansk”, hence the spotted redundancy.
In this particular context, the writer is referring to the local DMGP fan club so as an English speaker, how it was worded doesn’t exactly makes sense upon hearing it being said. It would take a while to register in your mind what was meant.