sQreen on pole dancing during the Russian broadcast of TI 2026: “I’m tired of seeing the absurdity that Paragon Studios produces.”

Analyst Khaled “sQreen” El-Habbash criticized Paragon Studio on his personal Telegram channel for setting up a pole for dancing during the broadcast of The International 2026 closed qualifiers.
I’m just tired of seeing the nonsense that Paragon Studio comes up with: yes, of course, they have a very provocative approach, but it goes against the traditional cast that people actually expect to see when they tune into the tournament’s official broadcast; otherwise, they’d be watching dozens of other community casters in search of that kind of unconventional content.
I just don’t understand why people would want to watch this “rebellion against the establishment” on the official stream when Paragon’s executive producer could simply go and do a community cast that would be much more successful and win the approval of thousands of people.
And I’m not even sure if Valve is keeping an eye on this or if they even care that the official qualifiers for their biggest tournament feature half-naked girls on poles. I dread to think what will happen at the main tournament, considering that Paragon is currently a monopoly and there simply isn’t a single major studio in the Russian segment that could take over the rights from them—rights for which Winline pays them handsomely.
In League of Legends or Worlds, I simply couldn’t imagine a situation like this—not even in my wildest dreams. Although, as has long been known, Valve handed The International over to contractors ages ago and is once again doing nothing while chaos reigns on live broadcasts, with the tacit approval of those in charge. But incidents like this definitely undermine the status and respectability of one of Dota’s premier and largest tournaments—The International.
Earlier, commentator Yaroslav “NS” Kuznetsov criticized Paragon Studios for setting up a pole for pole dancing during the official broadcast of The International 2026, calling it over the top and noting that such elements look out of place at a tournament.
Photo by Khaled “sQreen” El-Habbash.


