Arūnas Valinskas (born 28 November 1966 in

Lazdijai Lazdijai () is a small town in Lithuania located about east of the border with Poland. History It was established by Sigismund II Augustus in 1570 and granted Magdeburg Rights by Sigismund III Vasa in 1587. During World War II, Lazdijai was unde ...

) is a

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

showman Showman can have a variety of meanings, usually by context and depending on the country. Australia Travelling showmen are people who run amusement and side show equipment at regional shows, state capital shows, events and festivals througho ...

TV producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of video production on a television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon a ...

, TV show host and politician. As the leader of the

National Resurrection Party National Resurrection Party ( lt, Tautos prisikėlimo partija; sometimes translated as ''Rising Nation Party'' or ''National Revival Party'') was a centre-right political party in Lithuania. History Founded in 2008. The party was headed by a form ...

, he was elected to the

Seimas The Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Seimas), or simply the Seimas (), is the unicameral parliament of Lithuania. The Seimas constitutes the legislative branch of government in Lithuania, enacting laws and amendmen ...

, Lithuanian parliament, in the 2008 Lithuanian parliamentary election. Valinskas is married to a Lithuanian singer and TV show host Inga Valinskienė and has two sons Arūnas and Šarūnas. In 2002 he was granted a master's degree in law at

Vilnius University Vilnius University ( lt, Vilniaus universitetas) is a public research university, oldest in the Baltic states and in Northern Europe outside the United Kingdom (or 6th overall following foundations of Oxford, Cambridge, St. Andrews, Glasgow and ...

Career as entertainer

In the 1990s, Valinskas began his acting and hosting career. He is the creator of several famous TV shows in

such as ''Taip ir Ne'' ( Litpolinter TV), ''Arena'' ( BTV), ''Dviračio šou'' (both BTV and LNK), and popular reality-competition shows such as ''

Miss Captivity Pageant The Miss Captivity Pageant was a Lithuanian television program produced by Arūnas Valinskas that aired in 2002, the program was a beauty contest A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physic ...

'' ( LNK) and ''Kelias į žvaigždes'' ( LNK) and ''Žvaigždžių vartai'' ( TV3). He has hosted many concerts and shows including ''Šeši nuliai – milijonas'' ( LNK). In 2012 he came back to

show business Show business, sometimes shortened to show biz or showbiz (since 1945), is a vernacular term for all aspects of the entertainment industry.''Oxford English Dictionary'' 2nd Ed. (1989) From the business side (including managers, agents, produc ...

with restored TV show ''Taip ir Ne''. Many Litnuanian stars, including Radži, Berneen, Vilija Matačiūnaitė, Vudis became known after appearing in his shows.

Political career

Valinskas founded the

in 2008 before the election to the Seimas. He was the

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the

from 17 November 2008 to 15 September 2009. Valinskas declared as a candidate for the

2009 Lithuanian presidential election Presidential elections were held in Lithuania on 17 May 2009. A run-off would have been held on 7 June 2009, but was not necessary as Dalia Grybauskaitė was elected with 69 percent of the vote, with voter turnout just over the 50% threshold for ...

s, but withdrew before the election. In 2011 National Resurrection Party merged to the

Liberal and Centre Union The Liberal and Centre Union ( lt, Liberalų ir centro sąjunga, LiCS) was a conservative-liberal political party in Lithuania active between 2003 and 2014. It was a member of the Liberal International and the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats f ...

Controversies

Feuds

Disagreements between an LNK journalist at the time Rūta Janutienė and Arūnas Valinskas originated in 2008, when during a live broadcast Janutienė openly questioned Valinskas' wealth and income declaration as well as his debt in a sarcastic demeanor, and she asked whether Valinskas is "running for

ithuanian Parliamentbecause of bankruptcy?" To this he responded by saying: "It is probably you who is going bankrupt if you're hosting such shows that don't fit you. You're short of money, perhaps?" This discussion escalated drastically between the two until the politician pointed out that Janutienė criticized his wife―Inga Valinskienė―for having "a prostitute-like image" in a magazine, and raised a rhetorical question: "Where is it worse being a prostitute―in a photo or in journalism?" Valinskas also accused her of working for the

President of Lithuania The President of the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublikos Prezidentas) is the head of state of Lithuania. The officeholder has been Gitanas Nausėda since 12 July 2019. Powers The president has somewhat more executive authority tha ...

Rolandas Paksas Rolandas Paksas (; born 10 June 1956) is a Lithuanian politician who was the sixth President of Lithuania from 2003 to 2004. He was previously Prime Minister of Lithuania in 1999 and again from 2000 to 2001, and he also served as Mayor of Vilniu ...

who faced impeachment and thus had to step down back in 2004. In 2020, a Polish-Lithuanian politician and an activist for Polish minorities Valdemar Tomaševski sued Valinskas after the latter suggested executing him and others alike by shooting, saying: "Tomaševski is an absolute

Colorado beetle The Colorado potato beetle (''Leptinotarsa decemlineata''), also known as the Colorado beetle, the ten-striped spearman, the ten-lined potato beetle, or the potato bug, is a major pest of potato crops. It is about long, with a bright yellow/o ...

pestwho is antistate despite getting financial support from the Lithuanian State Budget. Such as he should be executed by shooting, for no particular reason. One a year. Start with him omaševski" However, the Lithuanian Prosecutor's Office stated that the thoughts expressed by Valinskas are not a crime. Valinskas later responded to the outburst by saying: "This he statement about execution by shootingwas just a scenic humorous statement by using

subjunctive mood The subjunctive (also known as conjunctive in some languages) is a grammatical mood, a feature of the utterance that indicates the speaker's attitude towards it. Subjunctive forms of verbs are typically used to express various states of unreality ...

without any encouragement to take actual measures. It was a vivid expression of my opinion about this 'political figure'."

References

External links

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Valinskas, Arunas 1966 births Living people Television talk show hosts Television producers Speakers of the Seimas Kabarettists Lithuanian television presenters Vilnius University alumni People from Lazdijai 21st-century Lithuanian politicians