The entertainer Thomas Gottschalk and the former Federal Minister of Defense Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg (CSU) led the RTL annual review together for the first time. The dominant topic in the “People, Pictures, Emotions” format on Sunday evening was Russia’s war against Ukraine. The unusual team of moderators also discussed, among other things, the protests in Iran, the nine-euro ticket and various personal fate stories.
zu Guttenberg interviewed Kiev’s mayor Vitali Klitschko, who was connected to the studio in Hürth via video, on the current situation in Ukraine. The 51-year-old thanked the humanitarian aid and arms deliveries his country had received so far, but also said: “It’s not enough.”
Amelia as the youngest studio guest
The Ukrainian Olga Okara, who had fled to Leipzig with her son from Mariupol, also reported on the war in the studio. Reporters Kavita Sharma (RTL) and Paul Ronzheimer (“Image”), who have both reported directly from Ukraine in recent months, gave further impressions. Eight-year-old Amelia also appeared as the youngest studio guest. The girl rose to fame with a million-viewed clip of her singing “Let It Go” from Disney’s Frozen in the oppressive atmosphere of a Ukrainian bunker.
The 3-hour show featured prominent guests including Marius Müller-Westernhagen, Wotan Wilke Möhring and soccer players Alexandra Popp and Lena Oberdorf. Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner (FDP) and Sahra Wagenknecht (left) looked back on political developments. The former Minister zu Guttenberg conducted the discussions with his former colleagues, while Gottschalk mainly took over the interviews with the celebrities and everyday heroes.
Sarah Connor about Gottschalk: “Old white men”
As usual, the entertainer sometimes approached his guests briskly. The fact that pop singer Sarah Connor had to cancel her appearance at short notice because of a cold and was only switched to the studio by phone, he flippantly described as “good news”. The 42-year-old initially accepted this politely on the show, but shortly afterwards expressed annoyance on her Instagram account. “Old white men,” wrote the musician and: “I don’t have to put up with it.”
The duo took over the show this year from Günther Jauch, who had previously presented the annual review for 25 years. Right at the beginning of the show, the moderators themselves referred to the unusual combination – zu Guttenberg, Gottschalk described himself as the “silverback of the German television landscape” and himself as a “former political lackey”.
The fact that the audience’s reactions to the new moderation, at least on the short message service Twitter, were mixed was apparently not ignored by the hosts. “If it’s up to Twitter, we screwed it up,” Gottschalk teased at the end of the show. Zu Guttenberg, on the other hand, stated that the evening had “made me happy”.
