As with the the race for host city, the race to become the host of Eurovision 2019 seems endless and filled with constant speculation and rumours about the potential candidates.
But as November approaches, Israeli media — including Mako — is reporting that KAN and the EBU have shortlisted four candidates — three of which had already been tipped, as we reported last month. Those three are Eurovision alum and Broadway star Shiri Maimon, and well-known TV hosts Erez Tal and Lucy Ayub.
There is, however, a new candidate who has joined the race and who has not been mentioned previously. His name is Lior Suchard, 37, and he’s an international mentalist and supernatural entertainer.
Yes, you heard that right. Suschard started his career in Israel after he won the show The Successor (aka The Next Uri Geller – a tribute to the famous Israeli illusionist and mentalist). Since The Successor, Suchard has been travelling the world with his highly successful show ‘Supernatural Entertainment’ where he performs extraordinary displays of telepathy and telekinesis. Some of his “subjects” have included international celebrities Kim Kardashian, Zac Efron and Jeniffer Lopez. As with Daniela Ruah last year, this potential Eurovision host is well-established in the United States.
Watch Lior Suchard amaze Kim Kardashian
Suchard is also a TV personality and a businessman who has been providing services to international companies as an “infotainer” in order to promote their brands and products.
Last January, he was a guest at an event for foreign press in Jerusalem which was organized by the government. During the event, he was asked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to guess what he had written on a folded piece of paper, but failed to do so, apparently because Netanyahu “tricked” him while he was distracted for a moment.
We are wondering how his skills will be used during the show. Perhaps he will be reading the artists’ minds while they are waiting to hear their destiny in the green room? Or perhaps he’ll predict the votes before the juries announce them? That could be interesting…
The auditions for the hosting gig — or gigs? — will be held next month, after which a final announcement will be made. Are we going to have four hosts again? Or will they shorten the list even further?
We’ve contacted KAN’s spokesperson, Gili Shem Tov, who has denied the reports.
What do you think about the potential hosts? Do you think Lior Suschard is a good candidate? Do you have any suggestions for his performance? Let us know down below!
The smaller number of hosts the better. Two could be good if the two have chemistry, otherwise go with one. (jmho)
I think he would do a great job. He looks good and would represent Israel well in European homes.
He also does the El Al flight safety video! At least he did in February when I last flew El Al.
Still does.
I know this is off-topic, but will Wiwibloggs cover Junior Eurovision this year? I haven’t seen any posts on it yet. Maybe just waiting until all songs are released?
All right, thank you for the reply.
Oh, it’s in Belarus? Interesting. I would love to find out what would happen if Belarus wins Eurovision. The NDR/ARD ESC dude Thomas Schreiber said years ago in an interview: “If Belarus wins, do I want to be a part of that? In a real dictatorship? No.” It would certainly be an interesting scenario. Personally, I’d love for Angelica Agurbash to host it for the fun factor but she probably can’t buy her way in anymore what with the divorce and the prenuptial agreement.
On a semi-related note, look at this beautiful video I just found. During the Gulf War, a bunch of Dutch musicians and singers teamed up to make a benefit single for the people of Israel. It’s worth sharing already because it’s beautiful and borrows a lot from traditional Jewish music (as opposed to the cheesiness of most charity singles), but also because a few Dutch Eurovision contestants are among the roster. See if you can spot Lenny Kuhr (winner from 1969) and Maggie McNeal (1974 and 1980). Beautiful blast from the past.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_84744Ho7E
I’d like to see erez tal and shiri maimon host as a duo
I personally don’t think Lior us formal enough, and he has a pretty strong accent but good English, same for Lucy and Erez, but I think Shiri is the best in this criteria, as she just finished her “Chicago” tour in America.
In any case I believe it is going to be Erez/Lior with Shiri as hosts, and Lucy as green room host.
I’m waiting for Germany to win again so we can see Florian Silbereisen host the contest. He’s a member of KLUBBB3 (the Schlager-group that declined to represent Germany in 2016) and is really multi-talented. He sings, performs and presents all at the same time. Plus he loves Eurovision. He’s the ideal host for the show.
Oh please, god no.
That would be torture for most people who speak German and are under 89 .
It’s not only florian, jan smit has been the dutch commentator for a few years now and he used to be very invested in our Jesc productions.
I don’t care who they select as long as they don’t choose more than three hosts
I can already hear the cringeworhy jokes during the show 🙁
My initial reaction was gonna be “what an awful idea” but remembering sooo many bad, unqualified, humorless, stiff hosts of past contests, the bar is really low and he could actually improve simply by not being stiff and completely humorless (yes, that’s shade for the hens of Austria 2015).
True. It’s like a tradition, at this point. Although 2015 was just sad, not even funny as it “it’s so bad you can laugh about it”.
This year was relatively OK. Compared to 2017 (which was at least kind of endearing but mostly cringey), it was definitely an improvement, since you could at least single out one really good host (Filomena the queen!). On the cringe vs. non-cringe scale, on a scale from 1 to 10 (1 being “oh lord go away” and 10 being “almost as fun as the acts themselves”), here’s some relative placings from about the ’70s or so on. 10: 1985, 2013, 2016 (Almost as good as the acts themselves) 9: 2014 (A ball of laughs, endearing) 8: 1984, 1996, 1998, 2003,… Read more »