Every year, one of the most popular questions in the run-up to the contest is: Who is going to host?
Dozens put their name in the hat and many more are rumoured to be on the front line to become the face of their country.
Some of TV’s finest, funniest and, occasionally, weirdest and cringiest hosts were chosen to present in the past.
But who were the best Eurovision hosts of the 2010s? That’s the question we posed to y’all some months back. And now the results are in!
After counting a total of 4,016 votes, we can reveal that Eurovision 2016’s Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw are your favourites by a landslide.
Petra Mede and Måns Zelmerlöw are your favourite Eurovision hosts of the 2010s
For its second hosting in three years, Sweden rolled out Petra Mede once again — she’d already hosted Eurovision 2013 and 2015’s Greatest Hits anniversary show. This time she was joined by the 2015 winner Måns Zelmerlöw. It was more of the same from Petra and she was definitely aided by Måns and his charismatic smile. They worked very well together, performing one of the most memorable interval acts ever. Their satirical love song to Eurovision “Love, Love, Peace, Peace” outshone even Justin Timberlake.
In this poll, the duo picked up 1,734 votes. That’s a massive 43.18% of all votes cast.
Petra Mede is back once more in second place, with 534 of you voting for her first stint as a Eurovision presenter in 2013. That’s 13.3% of all votes cast.
Petra was the sole host, though Eric Saade provided green room coverage during the grand final. Mede helmed the show with grace and flair. The presenter, comedian, actress and all-round genius had just her cue cards for help and gave Europe a flawless performance. She even gave the audience a brilliantly funny song about Sweden before the voting started.
The top three is completed by the German trio of Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers and Stefan Raab from 2011.
Comedian Anke Engelke, TV presenter Judith Rakers and all-round entertainer Stefan Raab took the reigns to deliver a show worthy of Düsseldorf’s massive Espirit Arena. Raab showed off his talents for singing and playing on his electric guitar. This included performing a rockabilly version of the previous year’s winning song “Satellite”. Fake punches, fireman’s lifts and paraphrasing the Ronald Reagan Berlin Wall speech (classic) were also on show as these three presenters certainly made it an entertaining year.
Anke, Judith and Stefan picked up 390 votes or 9.71% of all votes cast.
Poll results: Who are your favourite Eurovision hosts of the 2010s?
- 2016 – Petra Mede, Måns Zelmerlöw 43.18% (1,734 votes)
- 2013 – Petra Mede, Eric Saade 13.3% (534 votes)
- 2011 – Anke Engelke, Judith Rakers, Stefan Raab 9.71% (390 votes)
- 2019 – Erez Tal, Bar Refaeli, Assi Azar, Lucy Ayoub 9.34% (375 votes)
- 2018 – Sílvia Alberto, Daniela Ruah, Catarina Furtado, Filomena Cautela 9.16% (368 votes)
- 2014 – Lise Rønne, Nikolaj Koppel, Pilou Asbæk 5.7% (229 votes)
- 2017 – Oleksandr Skichko, Volodymyr Ostapchuk, Timur Miroshnychenko 4.08% (164 votes)
- 2015 – Mirjam Weichselbraun, Alice Tumler, Arabella Kiesbauer, Conchita Wurst 2.54% (102 votes)
- 2010 – Erik Solbakken, Haddy N’jie, Nadia Hasnaoui 2.19% (88 votes)
- 2012 – Leyla Aliyeva, Eldar Gasimov, Nargiz Birk-Petersen 0.8% (32 votes)
Total Votes: 4,016
Are Petra and Måns your favourite hosts? Who did you vote for? Let us know in the comments.
I really can’t agree enough with you. All they needed was Daniela and Filomena. Silvia and Catarina added nothing.
Petra, Anne, Filomena and Assi! These 4 are the best of the decade imo. No surprise to see their year completing the top 5. I would have put 2010 in 6th place because they were competent and I kinda like Nadia. 7th place for Denmark: competent but nothing special for me. 8th: Ukraine. I feel like they were trying too much to make it funny but it wasn’t at all. At least Volodymyr is cute. 9th: Austria. It was just embarrassing. 10th: Azerbaijan. No. Just no. I felt like they’d received a death threat if they didn’t do their job… Read more »
The funny thing that one of the Azeri trio was presented as a LAWYER.
-Hey, we have this massive entertaiment live tv show to organize, who should host it?
-Well, A LAWYER OFF COURSE. Like duh, who else?
Petra so overrated as host. Anke is best from 2010-2019.
For me TOP 5 host
1.1985 (Petra learn how to be natural funny from host from 1985)
2.1984
3.1987
4.2011 (Anke)
5.1981
Good shout on Doireann from 1981. She did a good job on what was a horrible voting. It goes wrong from the very start with the Austrian spokeswoman forgetting that points are not announced in performance order anymore. She was the spokesperson in 1980 too but oddly gets the order right then. On top of that, Frank Naef snaps at Doireann for going too fast (she isn’t), the scoreboard isn’t reliable, the Yugoslavia incident, and some juries are slow to come in. She said later in interview she couldn’t barely see the scoreboard and was struggling to keep track of… Read more »
Yeah, Catarina ruined it for the rest of them. She was horrible in every possible way. Silvia was sweet, but she looked overwhelmed and awkward. Filomena and Daniela were great and would have done great on their own.
Another thing that bothered me about them was the fashion. Usually I don’t pay attention to things like that but in this case it was just painful to watch. Not only were they badly dress individually, but their outfits clashed with each other.
SMS, SMS!
2014 and 2017 underrated and clearly better than 2018
Pretty predictable. The 2016 hosting was indeed top notch, though I didn’t care for Petra in 2013 and IMO she isn’t that great of a host individually. I think teaming with Mans did her good, and whoever wrote the script in 2016 did a tremendous job.
Shout out to Anke Engelke, best ESC host ever <3
I don’t get the hate towards the Austrians, they were Ok. The Azeri trio looked like they never appeared on camera before. A school talent show level of hosting.
Are they really hated, or just not exceptional enough for people to vote for them?
IMO they were really ok, but I only voted for three contests (2011, 2016 and 2019) and they just didn’t make the cut.
I can see a lot of comments actually hating them. Which is weird. They might been bland but not “horrible”.
I agree
I liked Alice in 2015. The others weren’t very good though.
You complain every year about EVERYTHING about Sweden and still you place us 1 and 2. haha fans are the worst hypocritites EVER. In the future only love and no hate then thanks.
It’s not hypocrisy, it’s just giving credit were credit is due. We can criticize favorable treatment given to Sweden (which is very different from hating Sweden) and still vote for Swedish hosts in a poll if we think they were good at their job.
we dont have favourable treatment. thats why you are all hypocrites
You do, from the juries, every single year. And that hurts you in the televote department. But I wouldn’t say it’s Sweden’s fault. I think the juries sort of voting for Sweden on autopilot, because Sweden usually doesn’t send bad songs, so it’s a safe bet. But in the process many other good songs get ignored because they come from “weaker” countries. That ennoy the public, that down vote Sweden.
fans are 1% who thinks like that. Normal people dont remember what a country came the year before so im not worried
Remember your televote result in 2018? Get ready to have more of those.
ok so you ONLY vote against some special countries because they take ESC serious. what floats you boat
I don’t think fans hate on Sweden but they are bored. Bored of always seeing “perfection”. It’s not a compliment. See, until 2015 fans were impressed by Swedish skills & stuff (Måns was a well deserved winner). After that, Europe needed something else but Sweden continued to serve the same “perfection” in 2017, 2018, 2019 and it would have been the case in 2020 (Frans was the only one a bit different). The job of the juries is to credit the quality so it’s normal to see Sweden in their top 3 every year but it’s also normal to see… Read more »
I quite agree. What makes the Swedish songs appeal to the juries – very safe and polished, not to say manufactured, pop songs – is usually less appealing to the average viewer. It’s working on the jurors because they have a more traditional perception of what Eurovision is and should be. The Swedish songs are very Eurovisiony, but contemporarily produced and well staged, which makes them the perfect jury magnet. It taps to the jurors fondness of kitsch and anthems, but it wraps it in a modern package which enables them to vote for it without feeling old-fashioned.
No one except maybe 1% thinks like you. and thats GOOD haha
Also almost every year Christer Björkman, a Swedish person who is involved in the selection of the Swedish entry, arranges the contest lineup and, lo and behold, Sweden always gets good placings, especially in the finals. The earliest they were ever placed in the first half of the final was song #9, The earliest they were ever placed in the second half of the final was song #20, and they usually got a late slot in the semis. No other country gets this preferential treatment.
I think it’s based on betting odds and such though. And Sweden has for the last 5 years at least always been ranked in top 5 prior to the competition. I think they put all those higher ranking songs in more favorable starting positions, so nothing out of the ordinary that Sweden is as well. It has nothing to do with Bjorkman being Swedish.
No it’s not. It’s based on Björkman’s “professional” opinion. Otherwise it could have been a computer algorithm that determined the line-up, and there are plenty of examples of countries high in the odds getting less than desirable positions.
And besides, why is the position of the host country taken out of a hat if the person determining the lineup is Swedish? If he really is the only person in Europe who can arrange a list of 26 songs, let Sweden’s position be determined by lot.
Really? Godd give me a break please…
Ironic how the hate on Sweden is big in here and still we are 1 and 2 haha. I feel emberassed for fans in here.
Ok Petra and Måns were great and that’s why they are first. But i would like to see the norwegian trio higher, they did a good job if we consider that hosting wasn’t such a big thing for the fans back then (I think).
Nadia was fantastic.
I agree, they were really good. Maybe they’ve just been forgotten since it was 10 years ago?
I think Assi may have overdone it in the flirting department Una? I even felt uncomfortable for Miki that evening.
An embarrassment. Madonna can have him, Miki deserves something better.
My mother (almost 80) voted for Miki; not sure if she liked the song and/or she thought he was hot!
I thought both. The people who did his staging and clothing really let him down, in my opinion.
We had better join the queue – behind Assi and my mother!
Wouldn’t know about the staging but I think that slightly “dishevelled” look may have been deliberate appeal to certain demographic. I had no complaints about his outfit. I think the Ben Dolic team may have been going down the same road.
I do not like Bar because of her tax evasion which I think is inexcusable and in my opinion should have prevented her from being allowed to host for her country, but I did enjoy the ‘Germany, I’m sorry’ line. It’s really all I remember besides the uncomfortable flirting.
Bar wasn’t even indicted until after the 2019 Eurovision, she was only investigated at the time, and I don’t think that’s reason enough to disqualify her.
I was never a fan of Bar but I was pleasantly surprised by her in Eurovision, she was a lot of fun and her JAP demeanor, which can be annoying at times, came out as cute and ironic.
JAP = Jewish American Princess.
It’s a stereotype that portrays some Jewish-American women as spoiled, self-involved brats. See here > https://youtu.be/-TQmo5TvZQY
Bar isn’t American, but in a way she does posses some JAP traits. I liked how she didn’t try to be something she’s not, but rather used these traits to her advantage, and I think that’s part of what made her such a fun and memorable host.
Well I believe Jewish women (which I am) have the prerogative of using this acronym. Anyway, Bar was great IMO too.
Give me a break. The most famous atheletes in the world, people who are supposed to be example for children, were convicted with tax evasion (Messi, Neymar, Ronaldo) and the world somehow survived that. If they can continue playing football and be idolized, Bar Rafaeli can host whatever she wants.
That song and Albert was Poland’s best choice by far for this year’s canceled contest.
Allegedly Miki knew all about it in advance but it did not look like that? It was during one of the semis (snigger) when the Big 6 were wheeled out. Assi and Miki – sound like characters from a Carry On film!
It was rehearsed and scripted, Miki wasn’t blindsided.
You can see that in the jury rehearsal of the 1st semi final, at 2:50:45 in this video – https://ok.ru/video/1125909400073
Gosh, I was in the rehearsal of that show. That whole flirting thing, including the photo was scripted and REHEARSED with MIki. It was probably written for Assi because he has a Spanish husband, so he “likes Spanish guys”. If Miky felt uncomfortable with this whole thing they would change it. This was not a spontaneous conversation.
You can’t please everyone. Actually that was one of the reasons Israel has toned down the role of the hosts in the “entertainment” department. Israel has outstanding comedy writers, but there was fear that the Israeli humor won’t be translated well to 40+ different nations. So they went with very little humor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-HXJ7M70kA
There’s nothing to agree or disagree with, the whole thing is pure sarcasm.
Petra and Petra. She was so good that even the zero charisma of the dude they put next to her in 2016 didn’t hurt so much.
I also liked the two main Ukrainian hosts because they were sort of cute.
The Danes were okay, too.
Also the Norwegians should be higher. Nothing great, but competent at least. Certainly more than the Austrian horror.
They were DULL. The warm-up lady on the night should have done the show ?
Yes, they were. But still much less painful than the 2015 ones. They looked like they didn’t even know themselves why they got chosen for this.
They blamed Conchita!
I thought they would be ranked higher? They were fun? Guy in Green Room seemed like he was presenting a political discussion!
The Green Room guy was probably dragging them down. I didn’t like him, either.
Azerbaijan are killing it! Another top 10! Praise Aliyev!
2015 and 2017 are the only bad ones, lots of the others were unmemorable though 🙁
2013 is the best!
Im surprised the Austrian robots werent last. We remember them for much, being good hosts isnt one of those..
They should be last forever. May there never be worse hosts than them.
It’s not far off. I agree with the split in the ranking.
The top six sets of hosts did a pretty good job whereas the bottom four in the poll were memorable for mostly the wrong reasons.