STB and UA:PBC have revealed the commentators that will be guiding viewers through the Eurovision Song Contest 2019.
STB and UA:PBC have revealed the commentators that will be guiding viewers through their respective Eurovision coverage. For UA:PBC Timur Miroshnychenko will be providing viewers his thoughts and opinions on the contest in Israel. Timur has been the Ukranian public broadcasters commentator at the Eurovision Song Contest since 2007 and was one of the three hosts of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2017.
Serhiy Prytula will be the commentator for private broadcaster STB. Serhiy is a television presenter and has been the host of the Ukrainian selection process for the Eurovision Song Contest since 2016. Serhiy provided commentary for STB last year in Lisbon.
Viewers in Ukraine will not be able to vote in this years contest, due to their withdrawal from the competition. As a result viewers will be watching the contest as they did in 2015, where commentary was provided but they were unable to vote.
Ukraine held a national selection show, Vidbir 2019, which saw MARUV win with her song “Siren Song”. However, the singer and broadcaster could not come to an agreement on her participation for a number of reasons.
MARUV had been subject to intense scrutiny having previously performed in Russia during the past year, as well as having concert dates planned in the country. UA: PBC then offered the other finalists, including Freedom Jazz and Kazka, the opportunity to represent Ukraine, which they all rejected.
As such, Ukraine were forced to withdraw from this year’s contest. Despite this, they will broadcast the full event, including the performance of Sergey Lazarev, the Russian representative.
Source: KP
Ukraine first participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2003, when Oleksandr Ponomariov performed “Hasta la vista”. The following year Ruslana brought the country their first win with the song “Wild Dances”. It was a feat that would be replicated in 2016 by Jamala with her song “1944”; her emotionally charged song scored a record 534 points to take victory in Stockholm. In 2017 O.Torvald represented the country on home soil with the song “Time”. The group finished in 24th place, Ukraine’s worst result at the contest to date.
