It was before the popular and experienced program leader in a red side coat traditionally would light the light at 3 pm as a snuff box was glimpsed under the Christmas tree in SVT's broadcast, seen by millions of TV viewers.
The sender (to the microphone, annotation) and the snuff box lay in my back pocket and the sender just pushed out the box. No one noticed it just before the broadcast began, says Mark Levengood to TT and continues:
When you think about the risks of a live broadcast, I think it wasn't that remarkable. It wasn't that dangerous.
Levengood, who has made many large productions and live broadcasts, had previously said that he wasn't nervous about the prestigious assignment as SVT's Christmas host. But when he sat in the armchair in the TV house in Stockholm, the feelings came.
300 sms
In the beginning, it was a bit thrilling. Without knowing how much it means with that light. But then I became happy when I managed to light it and became like "yeah".
The 60-year-old Levengood thinks that the broadcast was long but went well and was very pleasant to be in.
The music numbers worked great. It was wonderful to hear Miriam (Bryant) and Jill (Johnson). Wonderful with Krista (Siegfrieds) number and that children's choir (Katarina and Storkyrkans gosskörer). I think I'll look back and be satisfied and happy, actually, he says.
When he looked at his mobile phone after the live broadcast, which lasted over six hours (including recorded programs and performances), he had received around 300 sms.
The little I've had time to check has only been positive, actually. At the same time, those who have my phone number are my friends. They're probably just writing nicely, I hope.
"Will collapse unconscious"
The final hours of Christmas Eve, he will spend with his children and ex-partner Jonas Gardell.
It won't be a long sitting, but I still want to meet them, of course, since it's Christmas. Tomorrow (Christmas Day) we'll celebrate properly. I think I'll collapse unconscious in a few hours when the adrenaline starts to wear off a bit. It felt big to be the Christmas host, it did.
Age: 60.
Family: Two children with ex-partner Jonas Gardell.
Lives: Stockholm.
Background: Born in the USA and grew up in Finland with a Finnish-Swedish mother and American father. Came to Sweden at the age of 19.
Career: Made children's and youth programs and wrote drama for radio, got his TV breakthrough in "Folk" and his own program "Mark and his friends", 1992, followed by "Aha! said Mark", 1994, and "Evening in the Kingdom", 1998. Between 1995 and 1999, Levengood was the deputy program manager for SVT Drama.
Levengood has for many years worked as a conference leader for various galas and Victoria Day, led Melodifestivalen twice, summer-talked on Sveriges Radio seven times, and published several chronicle collections and a couple of children's quote books together with Unni Lindell. He has also made several notable podcasts.
In 2015, he led "Faith, Hope, and Love" (2015), a dating program for priests. Currently, he is the program leader for "Unknown Heir" in SVT. He also leads "Last Word" in Viaplay, where he interviews famous people for viewing after their death.
Levengood was named Sweden's most popular neighbor in 2015 in an opinion poll commissioned by the Tenants' Association.
Since Arne Weise retired, SVT has appointed new Christmas hosts every year. 2003: Lotta Bromé, 2004: Ernst Kirchsteiger, 2005: Blossom Tainton, 2006: Ingvar Oldsberg, 2007: Anne Lundberg, 2008: Lasse Kronér, 2009: Lisbeth Åkerman, 2010: André Pops, 2011: Kalle Moraeus, 2012: Sarah Dawn Finer, 2013: Petra Mede, 2014: Henrik Dorsin, 2015: Gina Dirawi, 2016: Sanna Nielsen, 2017: Lotta Lundgren and Erik Haag, 2018: Kattis Ahlström, 2019: Marianne Mörck, 2020: Lars Lerin, 2021: Tareq Taylor, 2022: Babben Larsson, 2023: David Batra, 2024: Mark Levengood.
