It is of course nice to see the competitions and to get to know the participants that come from all kinds of sports but the best thing according to me and I think also many other viewers is the memory videos. They are ten minute videos of a participants career and everything surrounding it. They have two videos each episode and the first one was of the swimmer Josefin Lillhage, one of Swedens best swimmers of all time. I didn't really know much about her but I recognise everything about practise etc having competed in running so it was a joy. The second video was the one I was really excited for, Emil "HeatoN" Christensen.
He is the first e-sportsman to be invited to the program that started in 2009 and for me being an e-sportsman myself (even if at a much lower level, I have won one tournament in Stockholm, come second in one and third in one, he has won the world championship 8 times in a larger game and is argueably the best of all time) it is a huge thing to finally have someone represent in an environment where he will definately be seen.
I think the video was fairly good, especially considering the fact that many people don't even understand e-sports at all. To be honest I thought he seemed a bit too cocky in the show but what I liked is that he took every chance to use the word "we" instead of "us" when it came to talking about e-sport. He is one of the strongest front figures in the e-sport world and keeps stating that what he likes most about being in Mästarnas Mästare is the chance to advertise for e-sports and make it socially accepted. He also works towards making e-sporters be more physically active. The video also included the quote: What I'm most proud of isn't all the victories, it it that I have helped bring e-sports forward."
But apparently most viewers disagreed with me, and my impression is starting to change after reading the comments, I probably just didn't get his humour through the tv-screen. There were quite a lot of negative comments before the show started but not a single one out of the 56 after the episode. Not from teenagers but from many different people, I will translate a few of them that made me really glad here below. Some ages might be wrong as I guessed when I couldn't find it anywhere.
Woman around 40 years old: Emil was a really cool guy with self distance and tongue in cheek :) nice gang overall. This program is the most worth seeing on Swedish television. The Sundays arn't that boring anymore :)
Man in his late sixties: Great program. I was hesitant to Emil participating in the program. But what a nice guy, even if he isn't an athlete he is a sportsman.
Woman around 40 years old: Fantastic and usual - and incredibly positively surprised by Emil!! A new national sport has been born ...?"
Woman in her thirties: Long since I laughed so heartfelt, what a nice guy Emil is. So much humour and self distance.
Man around fifty: So right to include Emil, what wonderful warmth.
So how did the competition go for HeatoN so far? Well, I can't tell you that, can I? Would spoil the fun.
And what are his merits exactly?
Eight gold medals in the world championship as well as a lot of other wins.
Considered one of the best Counterstrike players of all time as well as a pioneer in his sport and won 87 straight offline competition games with his team.
The first Swede to get paid for competing in e-sports.
The first in the world to be inducted into the e-sports hall of fame by the Electronic Sports League (ESL), which is the world leading organisation for e-sport, he got inducted 2016.
The pic is from Mästarnas Mästares page on Facebook and HeatoN is the guy in the back.
Link to HeatoN on wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emil_Christensen
Link to the show, http://www.svtplay.se/video/12653524/mastarnas-mastare/mastarnas-mastare-sasong-9-avsnitt-1, Link to the memory video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHuji6zQvss Those of you not speaking Swedish might still enjoy it from 10:00.