Jan Smit is nice about his departure as commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest, but according to critics there is indeed a problem. “He left with a bang.”
The press officers are talking about it again: Jan Smit is quitting his role as commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest and what is the official reason for this? That he then has time to present a two-hour program per week (!) on the niche channel NPO Sterren NL. According to TV authority Tina Nijkamp, the correlation between them is completely missing.
Fuss and bustle
What’s really going on? There is simply something wrong, according to Story boss Guido den Aantrekker. “The incubation period since April last year was actually quite long, I thought, because it was no secret – and certainly not in Hilversum – that there was a lot of fuss and hassle,” he tells the desk of Show news.
Jan was pissed about the out-of-tune entry Mia & Dion. “Jan Smit of course left that selection committee, which was operational at Mia & Dion. He was the only member of the committee who did not agree with their entry for the Eurovision Song Contest. He saw that very well – he had a nose for it.”
‘That stung him’
What Jan is even more irritated about? “The AvroTros, and that really stung him, announced that it was a unanimous decision that they had to go there. Jan no longer felt completely out of place there and I can imagine something about that,” says Guido.
After the merger of Eurovision broadcaster TROS with the cultural AVRO, a lot has changed, the Story boss knows. “Because Jan always somewhat defended the TROS part of AvroTros. If you look at the rest of the committee, there are now more people from the canal belt.”
Hijacked by cabal
Those canal belt people have a different view of things than Jan, Guido explains. “The Eurovision Song Contest has been a bit hijacked by a certain clique from showbiz, but in recent years we have of course done quite well, so credit where credit is due.”
He concludes: “Jan clearly just didn’t feel like it anymore, hence this step. It took a while.”