On a hot summer day in June, we meet NRK presenter Emil Gukild. Sitting on a bench in the middle of Sagene in the glorious weather, he talks about a hectic winter with the Ski World Cup and winter studio on NRK.
– A highlight of my career is the month we had the Ski World Cup this winter, with 26 live broadcasts in 28 days. The fun thing about live streaming is that there is more risk and more that can go wrong. You have to be sharper. There’s probably something about the adrenaline and pulse and that you only have one chance. At first I shivered, I remember, and thought it was scary. I got very nervous, but as soon as it passed it was just fun, Gukild says to Dagbladet.
NRK PROFILE: Emil Gukild (29) has since 2018 worked as a sports anchor and program manager at NRK and has since become a well-known face to watch on the national broadcaster. Photo: Kristin Svorte / Dagbladet
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The 29-year-old sports anchor is originally from Jeløya in Moss, and is a trained journalist from Volda University College. In 2018, he started as a sports journalist at NRK and has since become a well-known face on television after leading a number of programs – such as NRK’s ”Summer Car” in 2020. According to Gukild, it is not the spotlight, but the work behind, that motivates.
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– It is strange to become a profile and have to deal with the spotlight, but it is part of the job. The advantage of the job is that it is not about me, but about the sports. I’m just the link. But it is fun to do what I have dreamed of since I was little, and what I feel I master, says Gukild.
The talk show dream
The way into NRK was not as rooted in sports as one might think.
– I have been interested in sports all my life. I have played football and tennis, engaged in sailing, cross-country skiing and running, and have always followed a lot, but it was really coincidental that it became the NRK sport. I started studying journalism in Volda just because Thomas Numme had done it. That was also why I started at NRK, because I wanted to work with television, Gukild explains and adds:
SPORTS AND HUMOR: Emil Gukild is also known from the comedy program “Emil in the Olympics” which aired on TVNorge during the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang in 2018. Photo: Kristin Svorte / Dagbladet
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– If I were to do other things than sports, it would have been a talk show. It was always the dream. It really is still there. And then there are things like “Summer Ship,” for example, that have nothing to do with the sport. There are also spices next to it, he says.
– Who would be the dream guest on your own talk show?
– Good question. It’s probably Robbie Williams, who has been my big hero ever since I was six years old, says the NRK profile.
Sailing into the summer
Now the host is looking forward to enjoying the summer days along the southern coast as one of the presenters in the program «Sommerskuta» on NRK.
– I grew up in a family with a sailboat, so I look forward to being at sea again. It’s incredibly fun. Statsraad Lehmkuhl is the largest sailing ship in Norway, so it will be an experience to just be allowed to join and sail with it. We will sail many nice places, and I look forward to working with Selma Ibrahim from NRK Super. I think she is incredibly good, says Gukild.
The NRK profile will lead the “Summer Ship” from and including Tuesday 10 August and throughout week 32. Then the ship will take the trip down to the southern coast and into the Oslo Fjord.
– Do you have any holiday plans you are looking forward to this summer?
– This summer I look forward to traveling a bit in Norway. Go to the family cabin on Tynset, sail, have time off and hope for good weather, he says.
Drove from Austria to Croatia
According to Gukild, his best summer memory is a mixture of private and professional life. In the summer of 2016, the host was to embark on a boys’ trip to Croatia, but it did not go quite as planned. The day before he was to leave, he was asked to interview the Austrian alpinist Marcel Hirscher for NRK.
– I said I could do it if I got a rental car from Annaberg-Lungötz in Austria, where he is from and was to be interviewed, to Split in Croatia where we were going on holiday. Then I was first on assignment with Marcel Hirscher for a whole day, then I drove from Austria, through Slovenia and to Croatia. I remember so well how happy I was when I sat the eight hours it took with the car. The rest of the gang flew as planned without me, with an empty seat next to them – and then we met in Croatia, he says.
Keeps private
In June, Linnea Myhre’s manager, Marte Schei, confirmed that the 31-year-old influencer had found love with Gukild.
Confirms conditions
Both Gukild and Myhre have since chosen not to comment on the matter in the press. To Dagbladet, the host justifies this choice.
– Why I do not want to talk about my love life? I have no need to talk about what is private, Gukild explains.
Looking ahead
For many, the pandemic has turned everyday life upside down. Gukild says that it is the lifestyle that has been the biggest change for him.
– Of course the job has been different, but I have been lucky to have had a job to go to at all – something to do. What has changed the most is the lifestyle, with new habits and more exercise. I have probably become a little healthier, he says.
FUTURE: Emil Gukild looks forward to going to various cultural events around the city again. Photo: Kristin Svorte / Dagbladet
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– What are you looking forward to now that Norway opens, and where are you next year?
– Now that things are opening, I look forward to going to concerts again. I look forward to going to the theater, and watching national football matches with Norway at Ullevaal. One year from now, I probably live here at Sagene, I’m fine, I still work at NRK and hopefully get new fun and challenging work assignments I can work on, Emil Gukild concludes.
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