This session will be live-translated from Danish to English by Wordly.

Hotel Romantik tapped into something many had overlooked: a cast that doesn't just date, but carries a lived life with them. A dating format where the participants are not looking for someone to build a life with – but someone to share the life they have already lived, with. With all the experiences, sorrows, loves and losses that entails. But why did this particular story become a hit? And why does it speak just as strongly to young viewers as to older ones?

This session explores what happens when a segment that rarely gets to be at the centre of entertainment TV suddenly steps forward as the main characters in their own love stories. What does it add to the genre when participants bring a whole life's worth of experience? When there are fewer compromises, greater self-awareness and more palpable consequences?

At the same time, Hotel Romantik points to something bigger. The programme challenges assumptions about age, desire and representation in a media culture that often celebrates the young, the polished and the perfect. Here there are no filters and no facade – and perhaps that is precisely why viewers feel drawn to the story.

With perspectives from researchers, experts and the people behind the programme, the session dives into questions of identity, visibility and ageing. When do we actually become "old"? Why is age still surrounded by taboo? And what does it mean when older people are allowed to be romantic, vulnerable, complex and full of life on screen?

This session has been organised by David Friis and Jakob Holtet from the Programme Committee 2026.