Can he forgive his beloved Bietigheim Steelers for this prank? Pur frontman Hartmut Engler (61) has been involved with the ice hockey club in his hometown for many years. But “Do you understand fun?” will strain the singer’s fan love to the extreme next Saturday (March 25, 8:15 p.m., the first).
Since the ice hockey team has been relegated from the German Ice Hockey League, a new sponsor is now needed. Engler is to help the club’s management and win a couple from Switzerland as sponsors. But they present the singer with unexpected challenges. So the wife serenades the singer at the beginning – but more badly than right. Engler can’t help but laugh, but spares himself a comment. “I always try to be polite, and I’ve heard much worse,” laughs the singer in an interview with spot on news.
The Steelers’ supposedly new mascot doesn’t exactly arouse his enthusiasm either. “I thought you should have a very clear word with the marketing department afterwards.” But when his headquarters in the stadium are to be auctioned with a signature at every game, things get too colorful for the singer. “There are simply no-gos, and at some point you have to object,” Engler clarifies. The commercial rewriting of Hartmut’s club anthem “Bietigheim Steelers (I love you)” is the last straw. Engler crumples up the paper with the lyrics and directs clear words to the couple.
Did it never occur to him that there might be a hidden camera lurking around here somewhere? “Of course, at some point I found it very strange and couldn’t really put my finger on what was actually going on,” he explains in retrospect. But everything was done very elaborately and very convincingly.
He doesn’t blame the club management for the prank. “We’ve known each other for years, so hopefully that’s somehow a good conversation.” However, a job as a decoy would not be an option for Engler himself. “I’m way too nice to be fooled.” In addition, he was pretty sure “that I would betray myself or that my nose would betray me.”
