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| Birth Name: | Valdis Pelšs |
| Birth Date: | 1967 6, df=yes |
| Birth Place: | Riga, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union |
| Occupation: | television director, presenter |
| Years Active: | 1983–present |
| Awards: | TEFI 1997 ("game show presenter") Zolotoi Grammofon 1996, 1997 (in Neschastny Sluchai band) |
| Nationality: | Russian |
| Alma Mater: | Moscow State University |
| Television: | Name That Tune |
Valdis Eyzhenovich (Yevgenyevich) Pelsh (Russian; Валдис Евгеньевич Пельш; born 5 June 1967) is a Soviet and Russian television presenter, television director, television producer and musician, winner of two TEFI awards (in 1997 and 2005). Valdis Pelšs currently works as a screen actor and manages child programs subdivision on Channel One. He hosted several popular game shows, such as Ugadai Melodiu, Russian Roulette and Rozygrysh.[1] [2] Pelšs is a former vocalist and percussion instrument player for Neschastny Sluchai, a band founded by him and Alexei Kortnev in 1983.[3] [4]
Valdis Pelšs graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University (MSU), Faculty of Philosophy. He first appeared on television as a contestant on the KVN show as part of the MSU team with his friend Alexei Kortnev (1987). Together they also participated in Oba-na. A few years earlier, in 1983, they had formed an alternative rock band called Neschastny Sluchai (the band's name meaning "unfortunate event" in Russian), which Pelšs would leave in 1997.[3] [5]
In 1995 Vladislav Listyev invited him to work on the musical game show Ugadai Melodiu, a Russian version of Name That Tune aired on Channel One. The show quickly gained popularity: it achieved a viewer share of 96%, for which Valdis Pelšs was inducted in The Guinness Book of Records as the most popular Russian television personality.[6] After the death of Sergei Suponev in 2001 Pelšs manages child programs subdivision on Channel One. For his work as a TV host he received TEFI awards in 1997 and 2005.