Today is Mark Levengood, 59, probably one of Sweden’s most popular presenters. Over the years, he has, among other things, done the Melodifestivalen twice – in 2003 and 2005, and also took on the prestigious task of guiding the viewers through The Royal Wedding between the Crown Princess Victoria and prince Daniel year 2010.
Most recently, we saw Mark Levengood as one of the profiles in Stjärnorna på Slottet where he told more about his eventful life. Although most things have gone well in Mark Levengood’s career, he too has lost his way over the years.
When Mark Levengood guested Kristoffer Triumfs podcast Värvet, Kristoffer Triumf took up one of the biggest blunders in Mark’s career.
Christopher Triumph. Image source: Alexander Larsson Vierth/TT Bild
– You can accidentally call one of Sweden’s most popular artists fetto…, says Kristoffer Triumf.
– Hahah, that has been done, Levengood replies.
– And get away with it?, asks Triumf.
Mark Levengood. Image source: Jonas Ekströmer/TT BildMark Levengood’s frog in live broadcast – called the artist “fat”
Mark Levengood decides to tell what really happened that day when he was “working in a panic” and was “completely blocked”.
Mark Levengood says that he had been working for a couple of weeks as a reporter at Sveriges Radio when he was asked by the radio legend Ulf Elfving. Ulf really wanted to go on holiday to Mallorca, so he completely sonic dumped the presenter job into the lap of the then 27-year-old Mark Levengood.
Ulf Elfving. Image source: Ingvar Svensson/TT Bild
– So he said “You’re so talented, you can be a presenter. They just call and want some music”, so he kind of left and I was left there with a super popular program that had an audience of millions – and I was completely new and completely inexperienced , says Mark Levengood in Värvet.
But then what went wrong?
– I was so nervous about this broadcast, and the day before I was at dinner and then we talked about Per Gessle. And someone said that “he has become so thin on the cheeks. He has become a little fat”. And Per then who was now slim and very handsome, I think, so there is nothing underlying there, says Mark Levengood in the podcast.
The first call came in, and it was a little boy calling in to request a song with Per Gessle.
Per Gessle. Image source: Jessica Gow/TT Bild
– My brain is zero activity. It’s just stress, stress, stress. So I say “Per Gessle, but he’s a fatto”, says Mark Levengood.
At the same time as the words have just left Mark’s lips, he sees the show’s producer in the adjacent studio room gesticulating and shouting “No, no, no”.
Mark Levengood says that nothing more happened after his live blunder, but he is surprised that he was given renewed confidence by the channel.
– I must say that I didn’t call people fetto in my normal life back then, explains Mark Levengood The recruit.