Audrius Giržadas once considered a career in acting but was quickly dissuaded by a friend of his mother who worked in theater. “My mom’s friend, who worked at the Youth Theatre at the time, said, ‘What nonsense is this? In the beginning of an acting career, you’ll play children, then you’ll sit on the bench for a long time waiting for a role until you start playing old people?’” Giržadas recalled the conversation. “I tried to bring up some famous examples, like Robert De Niro. And she told me, ‘No, no, no, let’s not get carried away, let’s arrive back to Lithuania.’ Giržadas decided that if a stage career wasn’t in the cards, television would be his next step.
Now a familiar face on Lithuanian television, Audrius Giržadas remembers being incredibly nervous during his first on-camera experience. “I was sitting there and my glasses were fogging up from nerves. We had to stop filming immediately. I had a tissue and kept wiping and wiping… I was shaking all over. I couldn’t sleep at night, I’d make the editor jump through hoops, and I’d read extra material about the interviewees. I always felt like I didn’t understand enough, that I was just skimming the surface. But then you relax and realize that a show isn’t about depth, it’s just about chatting,” the well-known television personality shared.
Failed Attempt to Leave Television
Giržadas revealed on “Kamantinėjimuose” that he once attempted to leave television, even going as far as interviewing at a communications agency. “The head of the company listened to me. I thought I answered all the questions correctly because I had prepared a lot for the interview. After listening to me, he said, ‘Audrius, there’s no way I believe that if you get a big television project tomorrow, you won’t turn around and go back to television,’” the television veteran recalled.
Ryčio Šeškaičio nuotr./Audrius Giržadas tinklalaidėje
Giržadas said he genuinely believed his decision was firm and even convinced the prospective employer of the same. However, the company head remained unconvinced, repeatedly questioning his resolve. “I confidently said again that my decision was firm and that I was determined to change my life. A week later, I received an offer to host ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’” Giržadas shared his story. The promise of a life change was quickly forgotten. “And I, without even remembering that conversation, dove right in. Greetings to the director. He saw right through me,” Giržadas said about his sole attempt to leave television.
The Unpredictable Formula for Eurovision Success
When questioned by Aurimas Kamantauskas, Giržadas confessed that after so many years of working on Eurovision, he still doesn’t know the secret to sending an artist home with a win. “If anyone knew!,” the producer sighed. “It’s like asking what love is.”
However, Giržadas is very clear on what *not* to do. “I’ve been in Eurovision for fifteen years. There are only a handful of dinosaurs like me left – maybe on one, well, okay, two hands –” Giržadas stated. “And I tell everyone on every occasion: if you think Eurovision is just a continuous party and we just ‘tu-tu’ and party, think again.” According to Giržadas, country delegations no longer organize large parties, but participants do identify ways to socialize privately. “They organize participant parties, become friends, and it’s fun. But I always warn them – if you go wild the first week and think you’ll get your act together the second, it won’t happen. That’s when you’ll feel your strength give out. And that has definitely happened. Dramas happen right before going on stage almost every other year,” Giržadas cautions newcomers.
Ryčio Šeškaičio nuotr./Audrius Giržadas tinklalaidėje
Giržadas also knows from experience that internet commenters add extra pressure to performers, whose comments are read by everyone. “And that really messes with your head, causes insomnia, nervous tension, and sometimes even voice loss on stage. That’s happened too,” Giržadas recalled.
Songs Submitted at the Last Minute
Over 15 years, the organizers of the national Eurovision selections have come to expect participants to prepare for the competition at the last minute, much like students preparing for an exam. “Participants often bring songs the night before they go on stage. And not just newcomers, I can say that honestly,” Giržadas admitted. “When I’m asked why you put all the strong contenders in one semi-final, I just stay silent, biting my tongue so I don’t publicly name which of them came to rehearsal with the song on a flash drive,” Giržadas revealed.
A significant headache for Eurovision selection organizers, both in Lithuania and elsewhere, is cheating during voting. Giržadas confirms that such attempts occur.
“If you open your phone’s contact list right now, which is probably very large, how many people would have phone numbers listed one after another? Not many. When you suddenly see such columns during voting, questions naturally arise.” National selection organizers hoped that registering phone cards would significantly reduce attempts to cheat.
Ryčio Šeškaičio nuotr./Audrius Giržadas tinklalaidėje
“It turns out that the effort and desire to win are so great that it doesn’t stop people,” Giržadas said. “We looked very carefully at what was happening. We stopped announcing the votes and reviewed all the phone votes. We cut off those that clearly indicated organized voting.”
Not a Gay Christmas, But a Family Event
The established myth that Eurovision is “Gay Christmas,” according to Giržadas, has been debunked. “As international research has shown, Eurovision is a completely family event and is mostly watched by people with their families,” he told events and services group head Aurimas Kamantauskas. The impression that it’s a gay event, he suggested, may have arisen from the audience’s penchant for dressing extravagantly. “We used to go and appear at the audience coming before the final, it was such a carnival… Not just gay people – and families would come dressed in all sorts of costumes and whatever they wanted,” the Eurovision veteran said.
The tradition of extravagant dressing among the audience has faded. “You see very few impressively looking people in the audience now. It’s just a normal audience that may have more rainbow flags. But that is, as I said, the most visible part of the audience and the loudest discussing it. Sometimes it seems to me that they are more important to themselves in that process than Eurovision itself,” Giržadas ironically noted.
VIDEO: Kamantinėjimai. Apie kūrėjus ir veikėjus #70 Pokalbis su Audriumi Giržadu
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