The Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands will be hosted by Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit. Chantal Janzen is a famous actress and presenter, Edsilia Rombley a presenter, singer and two-time Eurovision participant (1998 and 2007), and Jan Smit is a singer, presenter and Eurovision commentator for the Netherlands.
The presenters will open the three live shows, talk to the contestants in the Green Room and guide the voting for an audience of some 180 million viewers from Europe and around the world. “When deciding on hosts, we first and foremost chose 3 people with a great deal of stage experience. They also happen to have started their career as singers,” says Sietse Bakker, Executive Producer Event of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020.
Chantal Janzen
Chantal was born in 1979 in Tegelen and studied at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. She rose to fame as a musical actress, performing in Tarzan, Petticoat and Hij gelooft in mij. She also acted in several well-known Dutch movies. Chantal started her TV career at public broadcaster AVRO, where she hosted the award show Gouden Televizier-Ring Gala from 2008 to 2010. In 2011, she made the transfer to commercial broadcaster RTL where she hosted shows like Holland’s Got Talent and The Voice of Holland. Chantal Janzen won the Televizier-Ster award for best TV presenter an impressive 5 times.
Edsilia Rombley
Born in Amsterdam in 1978, Edsilia (Instagram) was introduced to the general public when she won the Dutch talent programme Soundmixshow in 1996. A year later she also won the European Soundmixshow and, in 1998, she represented the Netherlands at the Eurovision Song Contest with Hemel & Aarde, finishing 4th.
In 2007, she took part for the second time with On Top of the World. Edsilia also presented the Dutch voting and jury results twice. She hosted the first season of the successful AVROTROS programme Beste Zangers. Since 2005 the popular singer completed 7 theatre tours and since 2014 she has been performing as part of the formation Ladies of Soul annually. In 2019 she hosted Eurovision in Concert, which she will also do in 2020.
Jan Smit
Jan Smit was born in 1985 and grew up in Volendam and scored his first hit at the age of 10. He has been a co-commentator for Eurovision for nine years. Since 2012, he has been hosting the AVROTROS show Beste Zangers, which got nominated for a Televizier-Ring in 2017 and 2019. As a singer, Jan is not only well known in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. He is the most successful Dutch artist in Germany, reaching up to 12 million viewers with Schlagerchampions, Die Hüttenparty and Schlagerboom.