EXCLUSIVE: AVROTROS Confirms New Details Around Eurovision 2025
The Dutch national broadcaster, AVROTROS, has confirmed further details of their plans after announcing they will participate at Eurovision 2025 in Basel, Switzerland.
In an interview held today at the broadcaster’s headquarters, AVROTROS’ General Director Taco Zimmermann confirmed that the new Head of Delegation for the Netherlands will be Claudia van der Pas. Van der Pas served as the broadcaster’s Assistant Head of Delegation at Eurovision 2024 in Malmö and Eurovision 2023 in Liverpool.
During our interview, Zimmermann also discussed several other topics, including his experience of the events of Eurovision 2024. The entire 16 minute interview will run tomorrow in Ding-a-Dong the Dutch Eurovision Podcast.
Zimmermann said on Claudia’s appointment:
“She knows the ropes. She has experienced it several times. So that gives confidence. And Claudia has done well for years. And now we have given her the confidence to become the boss herself.”
Van der Pas succeeds Twan van der Nieuwenhuijzen, who left the role following the tumultuous events of Eurovision 2024 in Malmö, Sweden. After the fallout from the disqualification of Joost Klein over a backstage incident with a videographer, the Dutch broadcaster agreed an extension to the participation deadline with contest organisers the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) over concerns about the disqualification and how the contest was being managed.
CHANGES TO BEHIND THE SCENES POLICIES
Among the issues that the Dutch broadcaster raised in talks with the EBU was over backstage filming. We previously revealed that the two sides had clashed over whether arrangements were made to prevent Klein from being filmed behind the scenes, with the EBU denying a written agreement was made while AVROTROS claimed to have evidence of one.
During our interview, AVROTROS confirmed that there will be changes to filming rules at the contest moving forward. While yesterday’s statement confirmed the EBU would be “severely reducing behind-the-scenes filming”, the broadcaster has clarified that artists will no longer be allowed to be filmed in backstage areas and dressing rooms without permission.
A press spokesperson for AVROTROS explained:
“[Filming] is now a lot more restricted and it is also really forbidden for people to just approach artists behind the scenes. That must first go through a Head of Media who then has to give permission. So no one can be unexpectedly confronted with a camera anymore.”
Anyone who wants to film artists behind the scenes - including the EBU themselves - will now have to obtain express permission from the Head of Press/Media of the artists’ respective delegations. This includes embedded media, who travel to the contest as part of the national delegations competing at the contest.
NEW DETAILS ABOUT MALMÖ
The way that the situation in Malmö surrounding Joost’s participation spiralled surprised the entire AVROTROS team. When we asked Zimmermann about his experience of the events that weekend, he said that he and others within AVROTROS were “taken aback” when Joost did not perform his song “Europapa” during the first Grand Final rehearsal on Friday May 10.
“We were there ready for the day to start. I got a cup of coffee and walked around. We wanted to go and see Joost's performance. And he didn't appear on stage. And then we immediately raised the alarm and said, wait a minute, what's going on here? I want to speak to the highest official now...and then it was announced: "Yes, something happened yesterday. We have now taken Joost out.”"
EXCLUSIVE REVEAL: SCRIPT SHOWS EARLY DECISION
We can exclusively reveal that the decision to remove Joost’s performance from the first dress rehearsal had already been made by the EBU more than half an hour before it began, at 12:56 local time. The EBU has not responded to previous requests for comment on why he subsequently took part as normal in the flag parade at the start of this rehearsal.
We have obtained, through multiple sources, a script update sent to national commentators at 12:56 local time on Friday 10 May. The Dress Rehearsal started at 13:30 local time with the Netherlands scheduled to perform their entry at 14:05 local time. The update already displayed the entire Dutch performance sequence as "deleted".
While this change was communicated in the updated document to all delegations 60 minutes before the Netherlands’ scheduled performance slot, it appears that delegations were not told specifically about Joost’s removal. And the high volume of script updates means that it’s plausible this wasn’t widely deducted from the updated script before the rehearsal took place.
Klein himself said that he spent 8 hours backstage on Friday, in an interview with Dutch talk show host Eva Jinek last night before receiving any further update regarding his status in the competition.
NEGOTIATIONS AND RESULTS
Zimmermann detailed how the broadcaster tried to negotiate with the EBU to resolve the situation, asking them to “let him perform at least at the end of the afternoon” as they attempted to find a solution. He expressed regret that this was not possible:
“Of course you saw a huge frustration from us about how that process went. Of course you want to sit down as adults. And we were only given that opportunity to a very limited extent.”
But despite this, Zimmermann says that AVROTROS is very happy with the measures that the EBU has taken to improve the contest. He says that, when it comes to Eurovision, “I actually mainly feel like looking ahead now”, and he wants fans to “focus on the fun” of Eurovision again:
“I would like to say: Let's all enjoy it a little bit again. And put the preconditions and the things around it a little bit into perspective. And especially focus on the joy of the contest. The connection and a damn good song. That's what I would wish for the upcoming Eurovision Song Contest.”
REPORTED BY:
GJ Kooijman
Sem Anne van Dijk
Marco Dreijer
