Chantal Janzen, Edsilia Rombley and Jan Smit will host the two Semi-Finals and Grand Final of the 2020 Eurovision Song Contest, NPO, NOS and AVROTROS announced today.

The hosts will open the three live shows, talk to the contestants in the greenroom and guide the voting for an audience of some 180 million viewers from Europe and around the world. “With this trio we first and foremost choose three 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 2020 Eurovision Song Contest.

Chantal Janzen (1979) was born in Tegelen and studied at the Amsterdam University of the Arts. She rose to fame as musical actress, performing in Tarzan, Petticoat and Hij gelooft in mij. She also acted in several well-known Dutch movies. She started her TV career at AVRO, where she hosted the Gouden Televizier-Ring Gala from 2008 to 2010. In 2011 she made the transfer to RTL, where she hosted shows like Holland’s Got Talent, Chantals Pyjama Party and The Voice of Holland. Chantal Janzen won the Televizier-Ster for best TV presenter five times.

“Chantal Janzen is simply one of the Netherlands’ most talented presenters in TV entertainment,” Sietse Bakker says. “While the Eurovision Song Contest is a distinctly public broadcaster format, we chose to open up to talent from outside the public broadcaster and focus on showing Europe the best our country has to offer,” he adds.

Edsilia Rombley (1978), born in Amsterdam, was introduced to the general public when she won the Soundmixshow in 1996. A year later she also won the European Soundmixshow, 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. She also presented the Dutch voting and jury results twice. Edsilia hosted the first season of the successful AVROTROS programme Beste Zangers. Since 2005 the popular singer completed seven theatre tours and since 2014 she has been performing as part of the formation Ladies of Soul annually. In 2019 she played the part of Maria in The Passion. In 2019 she hosted Eurovision in Concert, which she will also do in 2020.

“She is a two-time Eurovision Song Contest participant, she has presented the points twice, she will be hosting Eurovision in Concert for the second time… Edsilia is one of the most authentic presenters we have. And the Eurovision fan community has embraced Edsilia. All together, her hosting the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 needs no further explanation,” Sietse Bakker says.

Jan Smit (1985) grew up in Volendam and scored his first hit at the age of 10. In 2005 his reality show Gewoon Jan Smit won the Televizier-Ring. Jan Smit is also a member of De Toppers and the German formation KLUBBB3. Since 2012 Jan has been hosting the AVROTROS show Beste Zangers, which got nominated for a Televizier-Ring in 2017 and 2019, which, as contender, prevented him from hosting the event twice. As singer Jan is not only well known in the Netherlands, but also in Belgium, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Germany, where he reaches up to 12 million viewers with Schlagerchampions, Die Hüttenparty and Schlagerboom, he is the most successful Dutch artist.

Sietse Bakker: “With Jan Smit we choose an internationally experienced artist and presenter who has shown to be a great ambassador for the Eurovision Song Contest over the past nine years, commenting the shows next to Cornald Maas. Jan has also been a solid member of the selection committee, which is responsible for picking the Dutch entry. Jan is a great guy, authentic and keeps his head cool during live shows — exactly the qualities we need to achieve a more personal interaction with the artists at the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.”

The semifinals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 will be held on Tuesday 12 May and Thursday 14 May, the final on Saturday 16 May, live from Rotterdam Ahoy. The organization of the Eurovision Song Contest 2020 in the Netherlands is a collaboration between NPO, NOS and AVROTROS, in co-production with the EBU.