Ellen Jokikunnas and Jari Rask adopted their son Ralph in 2024.
Ellen Jokikunnas participated in February as an invited guest of the Helsinki Culinary Institute. Sanna Salo
Host Ellen Jokikunnas reveals how her son reacted to his parents’ recent Venla award. Jokikunnas and Spouse Jari Raskin following life Dreams in Italy program was awarded at January’s Kultainen Venla gala as the lifestyle program of the year.
In the second season of the program, which was shown last year, the couple’s adoption process was followed, among other things. The family was completed in November 2024 with a school-age child Ralph– son. The Venla award was meaningful to the whole family, especially Ralph.
– He thinks that he has now won. The next day, we watched my father’s victory speech again and again, Jokikunnas tells Iltalehte at the reception of the Helsinki Culinary Institute.
The third production season of the program will be released in the spring, in which Ralph will also be involved.
– He has insisted that mom and dad, can we make so many videos that we win all the gold awards. Then, with the experience of twenty-eight years of television work, I try to explain to the child that you can’t win those things just like that, my dear. That even if you make good programs, it is not a given that there will be awards. He still thinks that you can always win, and so does my husband, says Jokikunnas warmly.
Ellen Jokikunnas and Jari Rask were awarded the Golden Venla award for their program “Dreams in Italy”. Atte Kajova
Differently
Filming for the third season began last spring, after Ralph had been with the family for a few months. The renovation of the second home in Italy continues now with the help of a family of three.
– It’s wonderful to be able to share how wonderful it is when, after years of waiting, we got our own son home. It’s quite surprising that he’s just like us. He wants to renovate and tinker. Today we have more morning discos and going out and noise and it’s really great, Jokikunnas smiles.
In the third season of the “Unelmia Italia” program, the life of Ellen Jokikunnas, Jari Raski and Ralph’s son is followed as a family of three. MTV
The arrival of a child has changed the program making process. Both the parents and the rest of the show’s production team have been particularly careful about how you present Ralph’s voice in the show when making the latest season.
The filmed material has been carefully reviewed together, image by image, so that nothing ends up being published that would endanger the child’s privacy or harm him in any way.
– It’s the same as in all private life, that you don’t necessarily have to share everything. But we’re doing so damn well that we don’t have much to hide.
– We adults disgrace ourselves in every episode. However, we want to make sure that the child is not shown in the wrong light, Jokikunnas explains.
Ralph is originally from the Philippines. In his former homeland, Ralph learned Tagalog and English. According to Jokikunnas, after living in Finland for more than a year, the boy has also learned the Finnish language completely.
– He babbles just like Finnish little boys. It’s really strange, Jokikunnas describes.
Ralph goes to a Finnish language school. Learning Finnish is also invested at home every day. The family reads books together. Ralph also learns Finnish using the Duolingo application.
– We have a rule that we always do Duolingo first, and then we get an hour of screen time, Jokikunnas says.
Jokikunnas says that Ralph has already started learning Italian during family trips to Italy.
Jokikunnas and Rask got married in 2017 after seven years of dating. The couple waited for an adoptive child for more than six years.
