In the show just before the ESC, Barbara Schöneberger welcomed two former participants, but also Sylvie Meis – and that amazes the audience.
45 minutes before the start of the world’s largest music competition, ARD got viewers in the mood for the Eurovision Song Contest with a talk. It has been moderated by Barbara Schöneberger for years. The 49-year-old was the host of the “Countdown” again this year.
Right at the beginning of the show, the moderator welcomed Luca Hänni and Cesár Sampson on stage. Both musicians had already successfully participated in the Eurovision Song Contest in the past. Luca Hänni took fourth place for Switzerland in 2019, Cesár Sampson third with Austria a year earlier.
“What is Sylvie Meis doing there?”
But Sylvie Meis was also suddenly sitting on the sofa in Liverpool – and that caused question marks among the viewers. The first comments quickly accumulated on Twitter: “What does Sylvie Meis have to do with the ESC?” Asked a user, for example. “Why Sylvie Meis? I don’t quite understand, but it doesn’t matter,” wrote another. Also read: “What is Sylvie Meis doing there?”
She herself explained on the show that she was a “huge ESC fan”. “I used to always watch with my parents, of course. My heart beats for Belgium and Holland because my mum is from Belgium.” One of her favorite songs is “J’aime La Vie”, with which Sandra Kim won the ESC for Belgium in 1987. “I tried to play it back once, but I can’t speak French.”
Barbara Schöneberger also added as a reason for Sylvie Meis’ participation that she was allowed to sit on the ARD couch as a quasi-neutral representative. Because with Luca Hänni and Cesár Sampson, Switzerland and Austria were already represented – and together with Germany, they now share a studio in Liverpool.
This year Gustaph represented Belgium with the party song “Because of You”. The singer got a total of 182 points and thus took seventh place. It was far worse for Germany.
