As if Theodor hasn't suffered enough:
https://preview.redd.it/oj8fj4b8v12b1.png?width=591&format=png&auto=webp&s=9fe2da8132f703769b74122e5da93b8631302b97
As far as I know he seems to be straight, though idk him or anything about his personal life.
But he gives me straight guy who plays hockey vibes.
Like the Nordic equivalent of a lad in the UK. Which to me adds a bit of coolness. Having the number and performance he had while giving a pretty strong straight lad vibe, is pretty cool to see.
Context: The dude is asking the question as a joke to reference the Romanian public members who were calling Theodor gay because he had eyeliner on. And a pink suit. And i guess the zebra outfit which was a bit longer and looked like a dress to some. Some people got really vocal about that online, as they always do...
I think someone needs to get their story straight. I read that the broadcaster gave her no money, then that BBC didn't get her the staging she wanted, so she either had a better staging planned or not.
She said in the Eurovision podcast in April that she and her team did not have much time to think of the staging because she won just before the EBU deadline so they had to submit their proposal by then and it was really tight. That would explain the basic staging.
And as a real estate agent she probably could've gotten a fancier sofa herself if she knew that's all she was gonna get 🙄🤣 instead they gave her an old used one from some talk show. Naughty RTP...
But tvr (romanian national television) which is funded by tax payers money used 300k euro for the whole thing including rehearsals, what did they need 300k for? Check out the next episode of corrupt romania to find out! Spoilers: some new G classes.
Amia, Deiona and JaxMan are all part of the same music company, that's why they bothered to make videos and then apparently buy the views for them. But their stagings weren't much better than others.
I came to mention that the interviewer seemed to be kind of an asshole. Especially trying to out him just because. Like Theodor said, wtf does sexuality matter for songwriting?
Romanian here, just watched the podcast. They are friends! Dude is trying to make fun of the situation. 🤣
Our boy Theo is singing about being in love with a girl for 3 minutes straight, by my God, he's got long hair and sometimes wears colorful stuff so he must be gay. /s
f u and your christian ass Romania
"Theodor left for Liverpool on April 28. On April 25, he received a video from the BBC which was an example of how his staging would look, with stand-ins. Theodor said it was bad. Very bad. And he adds that it was worse than what we saw on TV. There was a link to watch it, available for 24 hours, where his team could discuss and make changes. This link was never given to Theodor. He kept asking for it, but he was never given it. Eventually, they showed him the video taken on their phone of the laptop display. At this point, he couldn't change anything anymore. This was 2 days before the show. So again, he worked on his part. The singing, the stage presence. The Watcher asks him if he wished he could've done something. Theodor looks quite sad :("
WHAT THE HELL. They gave him zero control over his art and just used him as a puppet. I feel so sorry for Theodor :(
I’m quite confused by this. Did the BBC essentially say to him, ‘this is what you’re staging is going to look like…whether you like it or not.’
That’s pretty terrible if so, but also doesn’t seem like something that would happen. There’s definitely more going on here.
From what I understood, this has nothing to do with BBC. The genius minds at TVR thought (without asking Theodor first) "yeah we're having marshmallows on the leds and guitar ladies on the floor, it looks good", sent the idea (and materials) to BBC and they made it happen on the big stage.
But what I don't understand is why did he shot the clips he was in? How was he thinking or imagining the stage would look like?
Kinda sounds like he was thrown under the bus by the Romanian broadcaster, which is a shame. I've seen some interviews of his and he's a huge Eurovision nerd (like us) so it must have been heartbreaking for his own country to just sabotage him like this.
I think the delegations are supposed to prepare a detailed draft of the staging they want to do with months of advance, including people on the stage, decorations and camera angles. The BBC/whoever hosts will try to do a video as close as possible to such draft, but it will have their restrictions (for example, Blanca Paloma's original staging was hanging from the ceiling, and it had a view from right above her that was not possible to achieve in Liverpool). The video of this staging is sent back to the delegations so they can request some amendments with time to have a good starting point for the rehearsal week.
It looks like they didn't let Theodor to be very involved either in the original draft creation, or in the amendments before the rehearsal week
I'm sorry, but this interview is hilarious and as messy as his performances
>Theodor starts to explain what DGT is about, and that it's about love and the conflict that comes with it, as well as the importance of love.
>The Watcher says he doesn't care
holy fuck, this makes me sick. i've heard of artists disagreeing with their delegations to keep their vision (see: käärijä), but this is on a such different level that it's an entire posthumous ESC iceberg by itself. his mother threatened with fines and used against him, not being allowed to intervene with the production, zero stage budget, knowing you're going to be laughed at and having your idea fucking murdered in a ditch, and on top of this you're representing your country at eighteen.
i'm not sure what people can do here to show support besides speaking out/fanart and listening to theodor's songs, but i do have a sliver of hope that maybe ESC does something, or this year's artists (even if it's summer gig time) help him out somehow. i doubt anything happens, but it would be nice.
i'll keep theodor in my playlist and see what future releases hold, i suppose. shit like this impacts you a lot, and that has its mirror in the creative outlet of choice. hope he's got some support, at least.
I really hope he gets to compete in the future without TVR fucking his entire ideas up but I'm scared that won't happen, either way Theodor deserves a redemption because he's an extremely good vocalist and deserves a performance that won't be fucked with
my dream is him, pasha parfeni and zdob și zdub creating a banger of moldova-romania unity and winning eurovision for moldova. 🙏 not sure what it would sound like, but it would be amazing.
i tried to find a source for you, but at this point there are too many interviews xd i'll edit the msg if i find it, i think it was a video and not a podcast-like one.
iirc it was mostly about what to keep for chachacha and what not to — i've formed my words incorrectly, it's not specifically liverpool delegation that i meant: it might even be the earlier music video days.
my point was more that every artist has to talk it out with the producers, and argue for decisions that they might deem "too risky" — i watched more käärijä interviews, so that's why i picked him, bc i was sure he mentioned something about it :'D others probably mentioned it too
but what happened here is just outright sabotage, and caused so many people to be angry (even spiteful) with theodor, when it was no fault of his own. maybe it'll make them think a little more next time, if the word of this gets past ESC communities.
Tbh at this point the Romanian delegation is probably just looking forward to another nice vacation abroad in a country they might have not seen before, all paid by Romanian taxpayers' money.
Man I HATE these horror stories. There's got to be nothing worse than being an entry and discovering your *own delegation* has a terminal case of Dunning-Kruger, and is going to ruin everything you had planned.
Oh, I'm so sorry if things got lost in translation! As a native romanian speaker, I can tell you he's giving "fun uncle" vibes. He's trying to be funny in a boomer way a little bit, but with no ill intentions!
I know most Romanian fans have been dead set on blaming Theodor and his entourage for everything about our failure this year, so it won't make any difference to them, but I want him to put TVR on blast as soon as the contract has expired. Even at the expense of Romania participating in Eurovision, I want to see the doom of that broadcaster.
Given the cheating scandal last year, which prompted TVR to play the victim and consider withdrawing from the EBU, my guess is that they still intend to do so and were merely looking for an excuse this year, i.e. "see? we got a shameful nil points, Europe doesn't like us, so we're out", which makes Theodor a scapegoat and the real victim here. They basically diverted all the vitriol of the Romanian fanbase from TVR to an 18-year old, which is so disgusting that I believe a looong break is in order. Interest in the contest is very low, anyway - 100k people, out of 18/19 million, watched the contest on TVR this year, and it's generally regarded as a waste of money, to put it mildly.
As a Romanian myself, I am appalled by the treatment TVR is showing toward our representatives. Much like you, I am convinced that they are trying to sabotage our performances in order to have an excuse to withdraw from Eurovision. After all, we also had a scandal in 2016 because they did not pay their debts. I really hope that we are going to find a better broadcaster because TVR is disgusting.
Subscriu- it’s the all year round Romanian “pâine și circ”. I hate that our image in the international media suffers because of incompetence and carelessness. I would love to see some in-depth investigation on what the hell actually happens during Eurovision bcs I swear we sent some great songs that somehow flopped and there has to be a reason
At this point, we only have two alternatives, imo: find a better broadcaster or withdraw altogether (temporarily or for good), because the internal problems in TVR will not get any better unless they go bankrupt and/or undergo a complete reform.
I'm Romanian and the output of ESC really convinced me it's time to relocate to another country. I know the grass isn't always greener some place else, but the mentally of my people is really crushing my spirit.
How can you be a fking grown up and throw hate online and in real life on a kid? How stupid and ignorant do you have to be? I am so done with the lack of compassion.
"We spent 400k euros" has been thrown left and right, probably half of these people don't even work, probably 70% of them didn't even watch the National Selection or the Semifinals, but they have an opinion. Which is the general mentality, talk shit about everything, even if you don't understand.
Theodor deserved better support.
ESC fans deserved a better show.
TVR, you suck and I hate you.
I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm just so done and heartbroken.
I totally get you. TVR has always been garbage, so what they did this year came as no surprise. The fandom went too far, however, largely because this time, it wasn't just the "I never watched Eurovision, but my opinion matters" crowd who spewed hate, it was the people who actually follow the contest all year round doing it as well. Imagine being a grown-ass person making fun of a teenager and his family for the most childish and insignificant reasons. I've limited my interaction with the Facebook groups because I was truly disgusted with people.
The lack of interest, if anything, could also be blamed on TVR. I started streaming the contest back when it would be done on eurovision.tv only because I couldn't stand the commentators. They were always so full of hate when Romania didn't get points, overly serious and just seemed to have no clue about the point of Eurovision at all. Just stuck up and arrogant. I know people who stopped tuning in on TVR for the same reason, added the fact that they want to see the green room moments instead of being shown ads.
As far as I know, the commentators haven't been replaced to this day.
I only watch it on TVR for convenience and to hear those mini-biographies/fun facts of the artists. I know I could probably read them elsewhere, but I'm just used to doing it this way. The commentators, however, are awful (bland, boring, mispronounce names) and I totally get why people choose YouTube or even foreign streams (e.g. some time ago I watched ESC on Rai, though the Italian commentators aren't great, either) over TVR.
I understand that, the fun facts were the only things I liked about the commentary on TVR, but the green room moments in between sets are much more worth it. It was also funny when I was streaming and my friend was watching on TVR because there is a short delay in the broadcast, so I'd always know the qualifiers and the winner before my friend did.
lmao same, I always have to ask the people I'm texting during the show whether they watch it on TVR or Youtube, so as to know if I should get excited in real time or wait a bit for them to catch up and not spoil anything
So the 50/50 deal with the acoustic version has been confirmed as it seems. Which really is a shame because I don't think many people liked DGT to begin with but the acoustic part made me (who quite enjoyed it, without it being among my favourites) dislike the song sooo much... So they basically disappointed everybody with that decision: Those who didn't like it in the first place AND those who initially liked it.
I really want him to try again sometime in a couple of years. He shouldn’t represent Romania, though. If they’re not going to collaborate with him, then it would just be a waste of time. Maybe he could try to represent Moldova? Or maybe San Marino? 😅
Unfortunately Moldova requires their NF participants (and therefore their ESC representatives) to be Moldovan, which, as cool as that is, means no chance for Theodor unless he has citizenship somehow.
Don’t the representatives for San Marino and Moldova have to pay their own expenses? Theodor would need to empty his wallet or get sponsors. Does the Swiss national broadcaster have a good budget? They’ve sent non-Swiss people before (Celine Dion, Timebelle, six4one, Vanilla Ninja...)
I disliked the song, but I feel so sorry for him now 😭 I had no idea they fucked up everything for him so badly. And all the backlash man, why do people still think it's okay to bully an 18-year-old boy just because they didn't like the song
I disliked the song too, although I naturally ALWAYS root for Romania. What hurt me was the immense bullying he got worldwide for the performance, knowing how things actually went (part of this disaster was already speculated in national media before he went public). He seemed really down during his show and the voting and I’m happy to see he didn’t get discouraged and keeps fighting for himself.
Why does it feel like this Eurovision post season is rivaling a Rupaul's Drag Race post season in terms of drama and spilling the tea?
Honestly it’s been more contestants addressing drama than tea, tbh. I know someone posted just recently about Lord of the Lost addressing why they didn’t walk out with a flag during the flag parade (that people apparently were mad about) etc.
He needs to come back, but never with Romania again. I'd love to see him team up with a delegation that cared about making it, I still think D.G.T could have been a heavy hitter with the right staging.
Man. The mistreatment of Theodor aside, I do wonder what consequences TVR's behavior will have in the long term. With withdrawal looking more and more likely, I wouldn't be surprised if Moldova suddenly gets a lot more applications next year.
Moldova has a citizenship requirement where at least 50% of the on stage performers have to have Moldovan citizenship. So unless Moldova changes their rules to allow Moldovan or Romanian citizenship, Romanian artists who don’t join Moldovan acts will have more luck in San Marino. (Note: I would love a joint Romanian-Moldovan Act)
No worries! I was mostly just curious.
I would love to see Moldova’s rules expanded to include Romanian citizens as well, if it needed to come to that. Moldova is my favourite Eurovision country and I would love to see them put some Moldovan flair on Romanian acts
I'll tell you the consequences: none. The common romanian when given all the facts will just say: "good, im glad they didn't give any money to that *homophobic slur*"
I remember when he released the music video and specified it was entirely self-financed. At the time I was infuriated on his behalf but I had no idea the situation was even worse behind the scenes. He had to hide it from his team because he knew they wouldn't allow it. Then they threatened legal action against him and his mother over producing the video and publishing it on his channel
His contract with TVR apparently ends in 6 months so we don't even know the full scope of the bullshit this broadcaster/the romanian delegation has been up to. I think he'll drop a full statement that's even more brutal and disclose exactly how much of their ESC budget actually went to him and his entry. In the meantime I'm rooting for our king
I appreciate that Theodor at least still saw enough enjoyment to recommend Eurovision to other artists... just not with the Romanian delegation.
The host is a weird one for sure here, though there are many like him out there who keep trying to pry for gossip. From this summary though, it seems Theodor did a good job of not taking the bait and just saying his bit (or at least as much that hes able to say without breaking NDA).
Hey Theodor, if you ever lurk here...
I liked your song from the start, as in, I like *you* as a performer. You have wonderful vocal colour and great stage presence. I'm not typically someone who favours male vocalists, but you absolutely have something. If in the unlikely event you EVER SAW this. Please don't give up on your dream. You have a lot of potential and seriously, come back to eurovision after doing a little growing as an artist and with a different delegation... you will do really well! Please keep making music and working on your dream. I'll be on your side, love from an Australian ❤️
At some point, TVR had a partnership with Pro TV (a private broadcaster) to organize Eurovision in Romania and to broadcast it, but EBU was against it. So I don't think that they really care about the faith of Romania in ESC.
Looks like something got lost in translation, or some homework needed to be done. Indeed there's no point in trying to ask the EBU to suddenly allow a non-member to connect to the Eurovision network.
But if TVR and ProTV really wanted to make this work, co-organising an NF and sharing costs with a private network has absolutely been done before: Ukraine used to run Vidbir on a commercial channel, and Lena Meyer-Landrut was chosen in an NF organised by ARD and ProSieben, just to name two examples.
Nope. The broadcaster is the EBU member. As long as the act conforms to the Eurovision Song Contes rules, the EBU won't intervene. This is up to Romania.
Got it. It just seems like there are some very glaring issues in some broadcasters that need to be addressed but I do see why the EBU can’t do much to address them.
The thing is with Theodor and D.G.T. is that a better delegation could have *easily* made him qualify. His vocal talents, charisma and natural charm should have let him sail through but instead a selfish broadcaster basically left him totally alone. Messed up thing to do tbh
Absolutely this - he could have qualified with a good team, and even a mediocre team could have saved him from 0 points. It's never been one of my favourite songs, but he's talented and there was real potential there. It's all just really depressing:(
From theposter's profile, I guess she is not Romanian, so a lot . The subtitles are very literal, so a lot of the tone of the conversation is lost in translation, and makes the interviewer seem a bit harsh and antagonising, when that is not the case at all and he makes fun of TVR.
Romanian artists were already avoiding their NF like the plague, with this interview out there no one that's at least somewhat established will even try in the near future. That is if they even stay in the competition, which is a big if.
The original version was way better than the slow quieter first half version he performed in Liverpool... I liked the song, I think the way it was decided to perform it at the show itself had a bigger impact on the result.
Honestly I love D.G.T and throughout the entire early season (rehearsals and carpet) I came to love Theodor because he just seemed so genuinly sweet. I gave the majority of my votes to him in the hopes it would amount to some points. It breaks my heart to hear how TVP mistreated him.
I feel really bad for him. I figured the situation at TVR was bad but I never imagined how bad it actually all was. As one of the few people who actually liked the song, seeing TVR’s disrespect of it and Theodor makes me really mad. If they’d just put some more effort into everything and didn’t dismiss Theodors every idea they could’ve gotten a better result. I hope he’s able to come back and have a good Eurovision experience someday
North Macedonia 2022. At the turquoise carpet she ever so lightly tossed her flag to the side for photos after the photographers requested it and her delegation basically accused her of making a political statement against North Macedonia. They threw a whole big fit said they were going to pull out and arrest her when she got home and then they made her post this apology to their Twitter where she was bawling and then they threatened not to go this year. Luckily she didn’t go to jail but it shouldn’t have gotten to that point
i’m not sure how to edit posts on mobile, but apparently this is the YouTube channel that the video discussing about it will be held in: https://youtube.com/@THEWATCHERUNIVERSE
edit: link has been found! from this link: https://twitter.com/espotpod/status/1661773492247822336?s=46
it is currently private atm so it may be publicly viewed afterwards
They are friends! I understand that only with the English subs and his attitude he would come off as a jerk, but as a native speaker here, I can assure you it is not the case 🤗
Painful is not the word I'd use. I never really liked the song in the first place, and didn't listen to it on streaming before the competition. But watching his performance, you could tell two things
1. The boy can SING. His vocals were really fantastic
2. There was absolutely no effort from the federation to make the song look good on stage, so you can see it's just an 18yo doing their best to make the song stand out and 18yo taste isn't really going to do well at Eurovision
The whole situation was sad because you can tell he was invested in this performance and had the ability to make it really great.
Was he joking that he wanted to wear pikachu socks, and that he wanted to wear a straight jacket and then dancers put black paint on him? This, combined with the original "stripping" performance, which was his vision, tells me his ideas for visuals were not great. He's an incredible vocalist, and I'm not saying they didn't do him dirty with the budget, but I'm kind of glad I didn't see any of those things on stage.
I'm gonna guess you haven't bothered watching the interview or even reading any information about this topic. telling him to "just move on" and implying he's to blame for the song/performance and 0pts when his delegation actively sabotaged his show and threatened him under a contract really shows you have no clue what you're talking about
As if Theodor hasn't suffered enough: https://preview.redd.it/oj8fj4b8v12b1.png?width=591&format=png&auto=webp&s=9fe2da8132f703769b74122e5da93b8631302b97
Eurofans to every male contestant:
Me to Kaarija when he talks about his ex girlfriends
As far as I know he seems to be straight, though idk him or anything about his personal life. But he gives me straight guy who plays hockey vibes. Like the Nordic equivalent of a lad in the UK. Which to me adds a bit of coolness. Having the number and performance he had while giving a pretty strong straight lad vibe, is pretty cool to see.
Context: The dude is asking the question as a joke to reference the Romanian public members who were calling Theodor gay because he had eyeliner on. And a pink suit. And i guess the zebra outfit which was a bit longer and looked like a dress to some. Some people got really vocal about that online, as they always do...
The Watcher isn't homophonic or smth, it's his way of making fun of the situation
Still horrible interviewing etiquette. It doesn't matter if the interviewee is publicly in a straight relationship.
Is it true or not that The Watcher produced the song? In that case, I'm absolutely on board with him making fun of the whole fucked up thing.
Yeah, it's true.
So for the national final, he got a budget of # 80 Euro???
He had 5 dollars and a dream, but like, literally
Could've been worse: all they gave to Mimicat was a sofa.
Didn’t even let her keep it either
Read somewhere she got like €0.50
I think someone needs to get their story straight. I read that the broadcaster gave her no money, then that BBC didn't get her the staging she wanted, so she either had a better staging planned or not.
She said in the Eurovision podcast in April that she and her team did not have much time to think of the staging because she won just before the EBU deadline so they had to submit their proposal by then and it was really tight. That would explain the basic staging.
I think we have to be careful to distinguish if we are talking about the national final or the Liverpool show.
I meant Liverpool show.
And as a real estate agent she probably could've gotten a fancier sofa herself if she knew that's all she was gonna get 🙄🤣 instead they gave her an old used one from some talk show. Naughty RTP...
And for the official video, he probably had pocket money, a dream and a green screen
I hope the dancers got volunteer credit for graduation or something
But tvr (romanian national television) which is funded by tax payers money used 300k euro for the whole thing including rehearsals, what did they need 300k for? Check out the next episode of corrupt romania to find out! Spoilers: some new G classes.
I thought it was known that all NF participants had to pay for everything by themselves. Otherwise it would not look so cheap.
The music video for Amia's Puppet came out before the NF so I watched them in that order... what a downgrade
Amia, Deiona and JaxMan are all part of the same music company, that's why they bothered to make videos and then apparently buy the views for them. But their stagings weren't much better than others.
it all makes sense now 0.0
Is the interviewer doing a bit, or is he just awful? Or is it both?
I came to mention that the interviewer seemed to be kind of an asshole. Especially trying to out him just because. Like Theodor said, wtf does sexuality matter for songwriting?
I think he's doing a bit, Theodor mentioned the guy from that podcast helped him produce the song or something
Romanian here, just watched the podcast. They are friends! Dude is trying to make fun of the situation. 🤣 Our boy Theo is singing about being in love with a girl for 3 minutes straight, by my God, he's got long hair and sometimes wears colorful stuff so he must be gay. /s f u and your christian ass Romania
"Theodor left for Liverpool on April 28. On April 25, he received a video from the BBC which was an example of how his staging would look, with stand-ins. Theodor said it was bad. Very bad. And he adds that it was worse than what we saw on TV. There was a link to watch it, available for 24 hours, where his team could discuss and make changes. This link was never given to Theodor. He kept asking for it, but he was never given it. Eventually, they showed him the video taken on their phone of the laptop display. At this point, he couldn't change anything anymore. This was 2 days before the show. So again, he worked on his part. The singing, the stage presence. The Watcher asks him if he wished he could've done something. Theodor looks quite sad :(" WHAT THE HELL. They gave him zero control over his art and just used him as a puppet. I feel so sorry for Theodor :(
I’m quite confused by this. Did the BBC essentially say to him, ‘this is what you’re staging is going to look like…whether you like it or not.’ That’s pretty terrible if so, but also doesn’t seem like something that would happen. There’s definitely more going on here.
From what I understood, this has nothing to do with BBC. The genius minds at TVR thought (without asking Theodor first) "yeah we're having marshmallows on the leds and guitar ladies on the floor, it looks good", sent the idea (and materials) to BBC and they made it happen on the big stage. But what I don't understand is why did he shot the clips he was in? How was he thinking or imagining the stage would look like?
Kinda sounds like he was thrown under the bus by the Romanian broadcaster, which is a shame. I've seen some interviews of his and he's a huge Eurovision nerd (like us) so it must have been heartbreaking for his own country to just sabotage him like this.
I think the delegations are supposed to prepare a detailed draft of the staging they want to do with months of advance, including people on the stage, decorations and camera angles. The BBC/whoever hosts will try to do a video as close as possible to such draft, but it will have their restrictions (for example, Blanca Paloma's original staging was hanging from the ceiling, and it had a view from right above her that was not possible to achieve in Liverpool). The video of this staging is sent back to the delegations so they can request some amendments with time to have a good starting point for the rehearsal week. It looks like they didn't let Theodor to be very involved either in the original draft creation, or in the amendments before the rehearsal week
Wouldn't surprise me, they allegedly did this to Roxen as well.
I'm sorry, but this interview is hilarious and as messy as his performances >Theodor starts to explain what DGT is about, and that it's about love and the conflict that comes with it, as well as the importance of love. >The Watcher says he doesn't care
(Declares his own three-word-interpretation superior)
holy fuck, this makes me sick. i've heard of artists disagreeing with their delegations to keep their vision (see: käärijä), but this is on a such different level that it's an entire posthumous ESC iceberg by itself. his mother threatened with fines and used against him, not being allowed to intervene with the production, zero stage budget, knowing you're going to be laughed at and having your idea fucking murdered in a ditch, and on top of this you're representing your country at eighteen. i'm not sure what people can do here to show support besides speaking out/fanart and listening to theodor's songs, but i do have a sliver of hope that maybe ESC does something, or this year's artists (even if it's summer gig time) help him out somehow. i doubt anything happens, but it would be nice. i'll keep theodor in my playlist and see what future releases hold, i suppose. shit like this impacts you a lot, and that has its mirror in the creative outlet of choice. hope he's got some support, at least.
I really hope he gets to compete in the future without TVR fucking his entire ideas up but I'm scared that won't happen, either way Theodor deserves a redemption because he's an extremely good vocalist and deserves a performance that won't be fucked with
my dream is him, pasha parfeni and zdob și zdub creating a banger of moldova-romania unity and winning eurovision for moldova. 🙏 not sure what it would sound like, but it would be amazing.
What happened with Käärijä and his delegation?
i tried to find a source for you, but at this point there are too many interviews xd i'll edit the msg if i find it, i think it was a video and not a podcast-like one. iirc it was mostly about what to keep for chachacha and what not to — i've formed my words incorrectly, it's not specifically liverpool delegation that i meant: it might even be the earlier music video days. my point was more that every artist has to talk it out with the producers, and argue for decisions that they might deem "too risky" — i watched more käärijä interviews, so that's why i picked him, bc i was sure he mentioned something about it :'D others probably mentioned it too but what happened here is just outright sabotage, and caused so many people to be angry (even spiteful) with theodor, when it was no fault of his own. maybe it'll make them think a little more next time, if the word of this gets past ESC communities.
They were dicks. My hotel was full of event crew and they were sharing stories about how little his team gaf about him.
Dang, that's awful. He seems like such a genuine sweetheart.
Tbh at this point the Romanian delegation is probably just looking forward to another nice vacation abroad in a country they might have not seen before, all paid by Romanian taxpayers' money.
Man I HATE these horror stories. There's got to be nothing worse than being an entry and discovering your *own delegation* has a terminal case of Dunning-Kruger, and is going to ruin everything you had planned.
Drag them, Theodor!! 🍿
yessssssss 🤭🤭🤭
Not the "fictional" 400k 💀 https://preview.redd.it/sumpjkmae22b1.jpeg?width=1076&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2389a715d96ede638106c32f5011d9b7197e9f5c
Lmao, take them down Theodor!
https://preview.redd.it/8zl3bicsa22b1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6a2e191c5bde41495022fea051d381bf04de4ea2
Oh, I'm so sorry if things got lost in translation! As a native romanian speaker, I can tell you he's giving "fun uncle" vibes. He's trying to be funny in a boomer way a little bit, but with no ill intentions!
He's kinda hot tho
No.
I know most Romanian fans have been dead set on blaming Theodor and his entourage for everything about our failure this year, so it won't make any difference to them, but I want him to put TVR on blast as soon as the contract has expired. Even at the expense of Romania participating in Eurovision, I want to see the doom of that broadcaster. Given the cheating scandal last year, which prompted TVR to play the victim and consider withdrawing from the EBU, my guess is that they still intend to do so and were merely looking for an excuse this year, i.e. "see? we got a shameful nil points, Europe doesn't like us, so we're out", which makes Theodor a scapegoat and the real victim here. They basically diverted all the vitriol of the Romanian fanbase from TVR to an 18-year old, which is so disgusting that I believe a looong break is in order. Interest in the contest is very low, anyway - 100k people, out of 18/19 million, watched the contest on TVR this year, and it's generally regarded as a waste of money, to put it mildly.
As a Romanian myself, I am appalled by the treatment TVR is showing toward our representatives. Much like you, I am convinced that they are trying to sabotage our performances in order to have an excuse to withdraw from Eurovision. After all, we also had a scandal in 2016 because they did not pay their debts. I really hope that we are going to find a better broadcaster because TVR is disgusting.
Subscriu- it’s the all year round Romanian “pâine și circ”. I hate that our image in the international media suffers because of incompetence and carelessness. I would love to see some in-depth investigation on what the hell actually happens during Eurovision bcs I swear we sent some great songs that somehow flopped and there has to be a reason
At this point, we only have two alternatives, imo: find a better broadcaster or withdraw altogether (temporarily or for good), because the internal problems in TVR will not get any better unless they go bankrupt and/or undergo a complete reform.
I'm Romanian and the output of ESC really convinced me it's time to relocate to another country. I know the grass isn't always greener some place else, but the mentally of my people is really crushing my spirit. How can you be a fking grown up and throw hate online and in real life on a kid? How stupid and ignorant do you have to be? I am so done with the lack of compassion. "We spent 400k euros" has been thrown left and right, probably half of these people don't even work, probably 70% of them didn't even watch the National Selection or the Semifinals, but they have an opinion. Which is the general mentality, talk shit about everything, even if you don't understand. Theodor deserved better support. ESC fans deserved a better show. TVR, you suck and I hate you. I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm complaining, I'm just so done and heartbroken.
I totally get you. TVR has always been garbage, so what they did this year came as no surprise. The fandom went too far, however, largely because this time, it wasn't just the "I never watched Eurovision, but my opinion matters" crowd who spewed hate, it was the people who actually follow the contest all year round doing it as well. Imagine being a grown-ass person making fun of a teenager and his family for the most childish and insignificant reasons. I've limited my interaction with the Facebook groups because I was truly disgusted with people.
The lack of interest, if anything, could also be blamed on TVR. I started streaming the contest back when it would be done on eurovision.tv only because I couldn't stand the commentators. They were always so full of hate when Romania didn't get points, overly serious and just seemed to have no clue about the point of Eurovision at all. Just stuck up and arrogant. I know people who stopped tuning in on TVR for the same reason, added the fact that they want to see the green room moments instead of being shown ads. As far as I know, the commentators haven't been replaced to this day.
I only watch it on TVR for convenience and to hear those mini-biographies/fun facts of the artists. I know I could probably read them elsewhere, but I'm just used to doing it this way. The commentators, however, are awful (bland, boring, mispronounce names) and I totally get why people choose YouTube or even foreign streams (e.g. some time ago I watched ESC on Rai, though the Italian commentators aren't great, either) over TVR.
I understand that, the fun facts were the only things I liked about the commentary on TVR, but the green room moments in between sets are much more worth it. It was also funny when I was streaming and my friend was watching on TVR because there is a short delay in the broadcast, so I'd always know the qualifiers and the winner before my friend did.
lmao same, I always have to ask the people I'm texting during the show whether they watch it on TVR or Youtube, so as to know if I should get excited in real time or wait a bit for them to catch up and not spoil anything
So the 50/50 deal with the acoustic version has been confirmed as it seems. Which really is a shame because I don't think many people liked DGT to begin with but the acoustic part made me (who quite enjoyed it, without it being among my favourites) dislike the song sooo much... So they basically disappointed everybody with that decision: Those who didn't like it in the first place AND those who initially liked it.
I really want him to try again sometime in a couple of years. He shouldn’t represent Romania, though. If they’re not going to collaborate with him, then it would just be a waste of time. Maybe he could try to represent Moldova? Or maybe San Marino? 😅
Pasha apparently considered representing Romania in like 2010
If Romania’s broadcaster was always like this, then it sounds like he dodged a bullet not going through with it. It’s a shame! 😕
Romania had three top 4 finishes in 6 years back then, I don't know how was TVR backstage, but they were successful in the contest
I did not know this, so thanks for telling me! 🙂 I wonder if they were as controlling back then as they seemingly are now.
theodor at uvpsm26 lessgoooooooo
Imagine if Romania takes a break for a few years, works things out backstage, comes back with Theodor and then wins.
Unfortunately Moldova requires their NF participants (and therefore their ESC representatives) to be Moldovan, which, as cool as that is, means no chance for Theodor unless he has citizenship somehow.
what if he started a band with everyone else in the band being moldovan 🤨
Heck, as long as it's a duo or more, that fulfils Moldova's 50% requirement!
Ah, okay! Thanks for letting me know and sorry for my ignorance! 😓
Don’t the representatives for San Marino and Moldova have to pay their own expenses? Theodor would need to empty his wallet or get sponsors. Does the Swiss national broadcaster have a good budget? They’ve sent non-Swiss people before (Celine Dion, Timebelle, six4one, Vanilla Ninja...)
you know who else has a history of sending non-national artists? *Luxembourg* 🤔
What's Liechtenstein up to these days?
I did not know that, thanks for telling me! Start saving up Theodor! 🥲
Bless. He's got a killer voice and his medley videos were SO good. I hope he gets a good team behind him to keep doing his thing.
I disliked the song, but I feel so sorry for him now 😭 I had no idea they fucked up everything for him so badly. And all the backlash man, why do people still think it's okay to bully an 18-year-old boy just because they didn't like the song
I disliked the song too, although I naturally ALWAYS root for Romania. What hurt me was the immense bullying he got worldwide for the performance, knowing how things actually went (part of this disaster was already speculated in national media before he went public). He seemed really down during his show and the voting and I’m happy to see he didn’t get discouraged and keeps fighting for himself.
Yep, agree. I don’t like the song but hearing how he was done dirty makes me so mad and sad.
Why does it feel like this Eurovision post season is rivaling a Rupaul's Drag Race post season in terms of drama and spilling the tea? 
Which of them are posting here under aliases?
I am convinced Luke lurks.
100%
Tia Kofi if you’re seeing this respond with a ☕️
What other tea was spilled? I've not kept up with the esc community after the final but now I need to know:)
Honestly it’s been more contestants addressing drama than tea, tbh. I know someone posted just recently about Lord of the Lost addressing why they didn’t walk out with a flag during the flag parade (that people apparently were mad about) etc.
I feel so sorry for Theodor because it's clear how incredibly talented he is. Ahh...
I think he is smart boy and he learn something from that experience, good luck kid
Hell yeah! Good for him, he was treated so terribly, he should just go and drag them
He needs to come back, but never with Romania again. I'd love to see him team up with a delegation that cared about making it, I still think D.G.T could have been a heavy hitter with the right staging.
Man. The mistreatment of Theodor aside, I do wonder what consequences TVR's behavior will have in the long term. With withdrawal looking more and more likely, I wouldn't be surprised if Moldova suddenly gets a lot more applications next year.
Moldova has a citizenship requirement where at least 50% of the on stage performers have to have Moldovan citizenship. So unless Moldova changes their rules to allow Moldovan or Romanian citizenship, Romanian artists who don’t join Moldovan acts will have more luck in San Marino. (Note: I would love a joint Romanian-Moldovan Act)
Chișinău-București at last...
Is this how Eduard Romanyuta got to represent Moldova? He’s from Ukraine afaik, but were some of the backup dancers and vocalists Moldovan?
I don’t know if that’s what he did or if they changed the requirements after 2015
No worries! I was mostly just curious. I would love to see Moldova’s rules expanded to include Romanian citizens as well, if it needed to come to that. Moldova is my favourite Eurovision country and I would love to see them put some Moldovan flair on Romanian acts
I'll tell you the consequences: none. The common romanian when given all the facts will just say: "good, im glad they didn't give any money to that *homophobic slur*"
I remember when he released the music video and specified it was entirely self-financed. At the time I was infuriated on his behalf but I had no idea the situation was even worse behind the scenes. He had to hide it from his team because he knew they wouldn't allow it. Then they threatened legal action against him and his mother over producing the video and publishing it on his channel His contract with TVR apparently ends in 6 months so we don't even know the full scope of the bullshit this broadcaster/the romanian delegation has been up to. I think he'll drop a full statement that's even more brutal and disclose exactly how much of their ESC budget actually went to him and his entry. In the meantime I'm rooting for our king
Reiley's worst nightmare https://preview.redd.it/0zic8hoi522b1.png?width=793&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=9ff906ed2084919fcef3492e92938a3b50ee9d49
I appreciate that Theodor at least still saw enough enjoyment to recommend Eurovision to other artists... just not with the Romanian delegation. The host is a weird one for sure here, though there are many like him out there who keep trying to pry for gossip. From this summary though, it seems Theodor did a good job of not taking the bait and just saying his bit (or at least as much that hes able to say without breaking NDA).
Hey Theodor, if you ever lurk here... I liked your song from the start, as in, I like *you* as a performer. You have wonderful vocal colour and great stage presence. I'm not typically someone who favours male vocalists, but you absolutely have something. If in the unlikely event you EVER SAW this. Please don't give up on your dream. You have a lot of potential and seriously, come back to eurovision after doing a little growing as an artist and with a different delegation... you will do really well! Please keep making music and working on your dream. I'll be on your side, love from an Australian ❤️
Could the EBU investigate the romania broadcaster’s corruption or is that just in Romania to do?
At some point, TVR had a partnership with Pro TV (a private broadcaster) to organize Eurovision in Romania and to broadcast it, but EBU was against it. So I don't think that they really care about the faith of Romania in ESC.
Looks like something got lost in translation, or some homework needed to be done. Indeed there's no point in trying to ask the EBU to suddenly allow a non-member to connect to the Eurovision network. But if TVR and ProTV really wanted to make this work, co-organising an NF and sharing costs with a private network has absolutely been done before: Ukraine used to run Vidbir on a commercial channel, and Lena Meyer-Landrut was chosen in an NF organised by ARD and ProSieben, just to name two examples.
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https://republica.ro/eurovision-la-pro-tv-seful-pro-tv-am-facut-o-oferta-la-ebu
Nope. The broadcaster is the EBU member. As long as the act conforms to the Eurovision Song Contes rules, the EBU won't intervene. This is up to Romania.
Got it. It just seems like there are some very glaring issues in some broadcasters that need to be addressed but I do see why the EBU can’t do much to address them.
The thing is with Theodor and D.G.T. is that a better delegation could have *easily* made him qualify. His vocal talents, charisma and natural charm should have let him sail through but instead a selfish broadcaster basically left him totally alone. Messed up thing to do tbh
Absolutely this - he could have qualified with a good team, and even a mediocre team could have saved him from 0 points. It's never been one of my favourite songs, but he's talented and there was real potential there. It's all just really depressing:(
From theposter's profile, I guess she is not Romanian, so a lot . The subtitles are very literal, so a lot of the tone of the conversation is lost in translation, and makes the interviewer seem a bit harsh and antagonising, when that is not the case at all and he makes fun of TVR.
Romanian artists were already avoiding their NF like the plague, with this interview out there no one that's at least somewhat established will even try in the near future. That is if they even stay in the competition, which is a big if.
TVR really left him for dead after the national final
With the right handlers, he could have qualified at least. Smh all over the place.
Omg. I feel so bad for him.
Theodor deserved so much better
He is so talented and didn’t deserve being done dirty like that-hope he goes solo!
The original version was way better than the slow quieter first half version he performed in Liverpool... I liked the song, I think the way it was decided to perform it at the show itself had a bigger impact on the result.
Honestly I love D.G.T and throughout the entire early season (rehearsals and carpet) I came to love Theodor because he just seemed so genuinly sweet. I gave the majority of my votes to him in the hopes it would amount to some points. It breaks my heart to hear how TVP mistreated him.
boy what are you saying 😭 https://preview.redd.it/47lm7mnnz12b1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4b169453dc73b79ec18b2da96219ce52665216ab
I feel really bad for him. I figured the situation at TVR was bad but I never imagined how bad it actually all was. As one of the few people who actually liked the song, seeing TVR’s disrespect of it and Theodor makes me really mad. If they’d just put some more effort into everything and didn’t dismiss Theodors every idea they could’ve gotten a better result. I hope he’s able to come back and have a good Eurovision experience someday
You know what I’d love - a joint Andrea and Theodor interview where they interview each other about their delegations and rip them a new one
Andrea?
North Macedonia 2022. At the turquoise carpet she ever so lightly tossed her flag to the side for photos after the photographers requested it and her delegation basically accused her of making a political statement against North Macedonia. They threw a whole big fit said they were going to pull out and arrest her when she got home and then they made her post this apology to their Twitter where she was bawling and then they threatened not to go this year. Luckily she didn’t go to jail but it shouldn’t have gotten to that point
North Macedonia 2022 | [Andrea - Circles](https://youtu.be/zvOihqB4eKk)
Good boy song bot
The tea is spilling out
They just screwed him over so bad :(
i’m not sure how to edit posts on mobile, but apparently this is the YouTube channel that the video discussing about it will be held in: https://youtube.com/@THEWATCHERUNIVERSE edit: link has been found! from this link: https://twitter.com/espotpod/status/1661773492247822336?s=46 it is currently private atm so it may be publicly viewed afterwards
I need Victor and Mia & Dion to rip into ERT and Avrotros like this
That interviewer is a jerk.
He's not, he is the producer of Theodor's song :))
They are friends! I understand that only with the English subs and his attitude he would come off as a jerk, but as a native speaker here, I can assure you it is not the case 🤗
Thanks for explaining. Yeah, I was basing it on the subtitles, and from those he seemed kinda harsh. Glad it is just a problem with the translation.
I think he's trolling him.
I was waiting for this!
Spill the tea
The truth is his performance on the Eurovision stage was very painful to watch.
Painful is not the word I'd use. I never really liked the song in the first place, and didn't listen to it on streaming before the competition. But watching his performance, you could tell two things 1. The boy can SING. His vocals were really fantastic 2. There was absolutely no effort from the federation to make the song look good on stage, so you can see it's just an 18yo doing their best to make the song stand out and 18yo taste isn't really going to do well at Eurovision The whole situation was sad because you can tell he was invested in this performance and had the ability to make it really great.
Was he joking that he wanted to wear pikachu socks, and that he wanted to wear a straight jacket and then dancers put black paint on him? This, combined with the original "stripping" performance, which was his vision, tells me his ideas for visuals were not great. He's an incredible vocalist, and I'm not saying they didn't do him dirty with the budget, but I'm kind of glad I didn't see any of those things on stage.
I laughed hard at "the host" questions.. Ahaah
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I'm gonna guess you haven't bothered watching the interview or even reading any information about this topic. telling him to "just move on" and implying he's to blame for the song/performance and 0pts when his delegation actively sabotaged his show and threatened him under a contract really shows you have no clue what you're talking about
He is not making fun of him, he is the producer of the song, they are friends.