Mgr. Michal Hudák was born on 27 June 1969 in Prešov and is of Rusyn nationality. He graduated from primary school and high school in Ukrainian language. In his childhood he worked in radio and amateur theatre. In his teenage years he also performed in the Ukrainian National Theatre in Presov (today's Alexander Duchnovich Theatre).
He decided to study acting at the Academy of Performing Arts in Bratislava. In 1987 he successfully passed the entrance interviews, but eventually went to study acting at the Kiev Institute of Theatre Arts. Where his brother Sergei also studied. After four years he returned as a theatre and film actor. He got an engagement at the Alexander Duchnovich Theatre in Prešov. He also worked in Flash radio in Prešov.
He first appeared on television in the Slovak Television's competition show Správny klucz and later in the show Varím varíš varíme. Currently he prepares trailers for JOJ TV, works in dubbing and reads commentaries for documentaries. On JOJ he hosted the shows Girl for a Million and the reality show VyVolení. In RTVS he hosted the shows Phenomenon and Phenomenon Junior. He also performs with the country and bluegrass band Žobráci, where he plays mandolin. He is divorced, has sons Simon and Hugo and also a daughter Eva.
He starred in the TV series The Professionals and Panelák. Currently, he often appears in the show Incognito alongside another friend and fellow Russian, Marian Čekovský.
Source: https://sk.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michal_Hudák
Photo source: By Pavol Frešo - flickr.com, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18192226
Marcel Merčiak was born on 31 August 1975 in Prešov. After graduating from the Gymnasium on Tarasa Ševčenka Street (today's Gymnasium Jan Adam Rayman) in Prešov, he started studying journalism at the Faculty of Arts of the Charles University in Bratislava in 1993. After graduating with a Master's degree, he became an employee of Slovak Television on 1 July 1997, where he commentates on sports broadcasts (mainly football or biathlon).
From 1996 to 2024, he participated in all fifteen Olympic Games (8 Summer and 7 Winter). In his admirable professional statistics stand out the records of commentating matches at seven World Cups and seven European Championships in football, 12 times he commentated the Champions League final.
After the establishment of RTVS in January 2011, the management of Director General Václav Mika entrusted him with the management of the RTVS Sports Department. He served in this position of the Sports Editor-in-Chief for 4 years and 11 months (from 1 February 2013 to the end of 2017). In 2021, he was given the position of Programme Head of the Sport circuit in the public media.
He is a winner of the Zivot Weekly Award, winner of the Gab Zelenay Award from the Union of Slovak Journalists, 13-time winner of the OTO poll (3 times in the category of sports presenter, 8 times in the category of sports commentator and twice „Absolute OTO“). In 2014, the management of the then RTVS entrusted him with the moderation of the knowledge competition-entertainment show „What I Know“. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Sports Commission of the prestigious Crystal Wing Awards. Marcel Merciak has grown into an integrated journalistic personality, a true professional.
In addition to his television work, the great journalist has also become a freelance contributor to the online daily Standard, where he enriches readers with his commentaries, insights and interviews with famous athletes.
Source: https://www.stvr.sk/historia/osobnosti/marcel-merciak
Photo source: Author: the Bratislava County from Bratislava, Slovakia - Crystal Wing 2016, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46672694
