Wendler GAU in Pocher: “As if Merkel had resigned”

With three reruns of “Alarm für Cobra 11”, this Thursday night on RTL promised to be quite spectacular. The station management team led by Jörg Graf probably would have wanted to avoid being memorable. Because when an Instagram story by Michael Wendler made the rounds at 7pm, the pop singer not only said goodbye to “Germany Seeks Superstar” as a member of the jury, but also spread confusing thesis on the “alleged corona pandemic “And his home announcer is supposed to be ‘politically controlled’, he should have sounded all the alarms in Cologne-Deutz.

The fact that Oliver Pocher was behind, as some observers sometimes suspected, could be ruled out very quickly, after all, Wendler in the meantime began spreading questionable content on his new Telegram account, such as Eva Herman, Xavier Naidoo or the right-wing vegan chef. Attila Hildmann, whom Wendler once met – what a bitter irony – on RTL’s “Let’s dance” of all places. No, it wasn’t funny. And it’s certainly not good public relations.

In a short statement, RTL reacted accordingly, stunned. The broadcaster reported that it was “completely shocked” by Wendler’s remarks and conspiracy theories and stated that it would “expressly” distance itself from her. At first there was no official information from RTL. It was even more notable for what was broadcast live on the station late at night: because Michael Wendler chose a Thursday for his public announcement, Oliver Pocher was able to listen to the live show “Dangerously Honest” for just a few more hours. late in an unceremonious extended edition of his live show. respond to questionable statements from your arch enemy.

“We will all die”

And it was really difficult, because the editorial team managed to get Wendler’s visibly surprised director, Markus Krampe, onto the small studio stage. “For me he’s sick. In fact sick,” Krampe said of Wendler, speaking of a “human tragedy” with tears in his eyes. Various advertising deals, the planned live wedding, the jury work on “DSDS”, “everything went perfectly.” But suddenly Wendler is said to have telephoned Attila Hildmann all night and was enraged against wearing masks during filming. “We will all die, you will die too,” Wendler told him, Krampe told him and openly stated that the singer’s statements had become increasingly blatant in the previous weeks.

The consequences of all this: far-reaching. The manager spoke frankly on Pocher’s show that he considers the career of Michael Wendler and his partner Laura Müller to be over and that after the video was published he had already spoken with 15 lawyers who wanted to immediately terminate all contracts with their client. Not to mention the entire RTL executive suite, who he spoke to on the phone that night. And tomorrow, said the manager, quite disappointed, I would have to speak to RTL. You don’t want to be in your own skin.

The whole scene seemed surreal and terribly absurd; almost like a big accident, the sight of which simply cannot be avoided. “As if Merkel had resigned,” said Pocher and Sidekick’s wife Amira, summing up the situation. Subsequently, lawyer Christian Solmecke also came to speak about possible claims that RTL could raise for the evident breach of contract. “That can ruin you financially,” says Wendler’s bitter conclusion from Solmecke.

Pocher has the authority to interpret, not RTL

Pocher’s conversation with his guests is so special on many levels because RTL allowed internal contract matters to be discussed unfiltered on its own show. A new music program with Wendler had already been planned, he told himself. The documentary soap opera with Wendler and Laura Müller should also continue. The show’s title, “Dangerously Honest,” has never been more appropriate. Because RTL didn’t have the authority to interpret tonight, but Oliver Pocher, who presented his show as a ‘newspaper magazine’ from the start, somewhere between Bild TV, Exclusiv Weekend and ‘Pocher, dangerously honest’ “, as he put it, and only real with a red Wendler breaking news ribbon.

At some point it seemed as if RTL had degenerated into an extra on their own show. The station, which represents large-scale productions like no other, took Wendler’s absurd parallel world, which they had worked hard to build up to then, by surprise. So it fits too well into the picture that Pocher called up his friend Pietro Lombardi later in the evening and more or less awkwardly recommended him back to the “DSDS” jury. When “DSDS” needs him, he is always there, Lombardi said politely, and at that moment you could literally feel the sigh of relief from the television nation, because it became clear that the former winner of the casting show was not also in the field. of the crown deniers. has overflowed. After all.

Anyone who says that German television is no longer good for surprises learned better, especially in the first hour of the Pocher show, and to some extent one remembered the year 1996, when Sat.1 decided to stop the show. Disconnect Margarethe Schreinemakers because she wanted to make her tax procedure the subject of her own show. Even if the cases can’t be compared at all, the two nights are linked by the exciting fact that the respective stations could never be quite sure what would happen next on their show. Wendler’s group on RTL: Certainly more exciting than three reruns of “Cobra 11”.

More about the subject