Breakdown in ProSieben show “Duel around the world”: Aborted after an unfair task

“The duel around the world – Team Joko against Team Klaas” has been going into its ninth season since December 4th on ProSieben. In the last episode so far, Klaas Heufer-Umlauf prevailed against his buddy and at the beginning of the new show also presented himself as a great world champion, including a take-that performance. Now it was a matter of defending the title and glaring problems quickly arose, some of which Joko Winterscheidt was responsible for. But in the show it shouldn’t just be a single mistake.

First, Joko had come up with a task for the Fanta 4 rapper Michi Beck. The rapper had to travel to Croatia and initially shoot a few scenes backwards in the style of the blockbuster “Tenet”. For Michi, however, the actual task was a tad too life-threatening.

Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, Jeannine Michaelsen and Joko Winterscheidt in “The Duel Around the World”.Image: ProSieben / Benedikt Müller

Michi Beck’s “Duel around the world” task has to be called off

After some preliminary skirmish, Michi was brought to a hole in the ground several meters deep in Croatia. The task: Jump into the hole on a rope in such a way that, when played backwards, it looks as if it is coming out of the hole.

It is common on the ProSieben show that a security team is present to ensure the physical integrity of the candidates. Here, too, a stunt expert was present – and the task should first be tested with a sack and a dummy before it was carried out. The rope construction with which Michi was supposed to be secured made a worryingly unsafe impression.

Michi Beck examines the hole in the ground into which he should jump.Image: Screenshot / ProSieben

The test bag finally broke the rope. Not a good sign for performing the stunt. The stunt expert Daniel only commented that one had to “check what went wrong”. At this point, however, Michi was already a lot more concerned: “The whole time I thought they wanted to fool me. But then I noticed that something really went wrong. The shit was really going on.”

When the rope also broke with the dummy doll, the stunt expert confirmed the emerging, bad suspicion: “I don’t know what to say, we have to check it again. After this beach we have to cancel the whole act.”

No sooner said than done, Joko admitted that “a lot went wrong”, which “shouldn’t have gone wrong.” The problem then was that the show should be about a country point that Michi Beck would have earned by passing the task for Klaas. However, Joko did not want to allow him to do this. Michi’s justified conclusion after the canceled challenge:

Michi Beck on “The Duel Around the World”.Image: Screenshot / ProSieben

In the coming season, the music star should get a new job, but the clip ended up being extremely unsatisfactory for everyone involved, including the audience. In the studio, the discussion about the impossible-to-reach country point continued. Klaas found clear words: “Shall we put on this absurd play, you pretend you’re a little stupid and pretend he doesn’t deserve this point?”

The moderator Jeannine Michaelsen then had the solution ready: Per App the audience should vote on whether Michi Beck deserves the point, even though he could not complete the life-threatening task. However, the Twitter users were not necessarily happy with this approach and some suspected that the challenge was only so unfair that the viewers download the app:

Then Michaelsen made an important note: “For the people, who are not unjustifiably shocked by television, that was the test. Our safety precautions are in place, so we check things. And in this case they didn’t work.” 83 percent of the audience awarded Michi Beck the point after the end of the vote.

Nikeata Thompson takes on suicidal challenge

After Joko won the studio game, in which the two TV faces had to drink as much water as possible from unusually large vessels, the next challenge continued. The dancer Nikeata Thompson was adopted by Klaas Mexico sent.

There she was supposed to do a tandem parachute jump, but in the jump set the parachute on fire with a flare gun. Klaas’ comment on this extremely sensitive matter:

Joko agreed: “This whole task is disproportionate” – especially when you consider that Nikeata has never skydived and it was the first time that this stunt was performed by two people at the same time.

Nikeata Thompson showed courage in skydiving.Image: Screenshot / ProSieben

Without thinking too much, Nikeata actually accepted the challenge, much to the team’s surprise. Even the stuntman who explained the procedure to her had a colleague perform the jump. But here, too, some things shouldn’t work out for the time being. Once in the air, the 41-year-old aimed at the parachute, but it did not ignite. The flare gun used was too small.

The task would have been more or less finished with just the attempt, but Nikeata showed a great deal of courage and wanted to repeat the stunt. Additionally armed with tennis balls filled with black powder, she finally managed to set fire to the parachute together with the stuntman. “If I do something, then I want to do it right”, the dance coach assured and won the moderators a lot of respect:

Nikeata Thompson managed to ignite the parachute on the second attempt.Image: Screenshot / ProSieben

Lucy Diakovska wanted to compete again right away

After another studio game, the no-angels singer Lucy Diakovska became after Sweden sent. There she initially thought that she was sharing the local delicacy surstromming, i.e. fermented fish, with a local automobile must eat. However, that would have been far too easy for a “duel around the world”.

With the car in which the fish was eaten, Lucy also had to drive into an ice hole and was only allowed to reappear when it was completely filled with water. “This is a cold, icy grave”, Klaas stated from the off. Joko added thievingly: “Only if she doesn’t make it.”

Lucy Diakovska fights her way out of a car in icy water.Image: Screenshot / ProSieben

But even after a hard impact and initial difficulties in breaking the glass of the car, Lucy finally made it out of the car. “The joy after such an experience is indescribable. I was so proud of myself to have overcome myself”the singer stated proudly. And just like Nikeata, she was so inspired that Lucy wanted to do the task again right away.

Parallels to an older “Duel um die Welt” episode that also dealt with ice water quickly became clear: Back then, Klaas was afraid to swim from one ice hole to the next. Compared to Lucy’s Challenge, that was a poor achievement.

Axel Stein has a déjà vu

Axel Stein was appointed as a celebrity candidate for the second time. Klaas had already given him a task that had to be canceled. At that time he was supposed to be shot at with the smallest weapon in the world. That didn’t happen at the last second, but Axel would have been quite ready.

Now it was back to the same place in Liechtenstein, where this time he was supposed to be shot “legally in order” by four flamethrowers for 45 seconds while he was wrapped in dough “like a dumpling”. The actor initially said skeptically about this task:

And an expert also agreed: “So if you have something on Life lie down, lie down. “ If the dough had gotten a hole in it, the flames would literally have “burned the meat off the bones”. There is one catch story even more, because stirring the dough and covering with it should only take 20 minutes. A stunt coordinator finally issued the warning that the action is life-threatening and that it should simply not be copied. Axel Stein accepted the challenge despite the warning.

Joko also emphasized once again that the task should by no means be copied, Axel for his part managed to get up from the charred dough “like a hatched stick bread”.

Axel Stein allowed himself to be shot at by flamethrowers.Image: Screenshot / ProSieben

Female celebrities shine with courage, Joko and Klaas get light TV games

Although Axel’s task was not easy, after the episode the impression prevailed that the women in “Duel um die Welt” clearly more daring and not hesitated for a second.

This became even more pronounced in the other studio games, because when Joko and Klaas had to throw objects into a convertible from a balcony, for example, Joko had problems playing because he suffered from a great fear of heights. Jeannine Michaelsen also pointed out after Lucy’s clip: “Lucy, at this point we all take off our hats. Has been another woman who has performed well.”

Klaas prevailed by force at the end of the show.Image: Screenshot / Prosieben

Klaas wins show with brute force

In the finals, a box with a key was supposed to be fetched from a high pole to get a trophy in a display case. After the whole project took forever, Klaas quickly got a stone and solved the problem with raw violence. The broadcast was already ten minutes overdrawn, so Jeannine let the approach go. “I don’t want to win like this”, Joko said in the background, but it doesn’t matter. Klaas remains world champion.

(cfl)