Ten years of “Grill den Henssler”
Exciting facts about the cooking show
Steffen Henssler’s winning percentage at “Grill den Henssler” is impressive.
© RTL / Philipp Rathmer
“Grill den Henssler” is celebrating its anniversary. A look back at ten years full of exciting cooking duels.
The anniversary season of “Grill den Henssler” is in the starting blocks. From Sunday, October 22nd (8:15 p.m., too on RTL+), VOX is showing four new episodes of the cooking show that has been flickering across the screen for ten years. How many celebrities were there, how often, and how many defeats has Steffen Henssler (51) suffered so far? An overview of exciting facts about the VOX format.
Victories and defeats
“Grill den Henssler” went on air in 2013. The cooking show is a revision of the formats “Die Kocharena” and “Celebrity Kocharena”. Three celebrities compete in cooking duels against professional Steffen Henssler and get tips from professional chefs. After cooking, each course is evaluated by a jury without them knowing which plate came from whom.
Both Henssler and the celebrities earn points one course at a time, and at the end a winner is chosen. Henssler left “Grill den Henssler” in 2017, but returned to the delight of fans in 2019 (in the meantime, the “Grill den Profi” format was shown). The chef’s winning percentage across the seasons is quite impressive. According to the station, out of a total of 142 programs broadcast, he won 101 editions and only suffered 34 defeats. There was a draw six times. This corresponds to a win rate of 71 percent.
Points, points, points
Henssler’s highest score to date is 111. He achieved this in season ten, in which he competed against Ben Blümel, the Ehrlich Brothers and Vanessa Mai in the fourth episode of the “Kids Special” in 2019, and in season 18, in which he competed in the spring 2023 in the fourth episode of the “Mother’s Day Special” against Sabine and Aminata Belli, Anna and Riccardo Simonetti and Elke and Larissa Marolt.
The largest margin by which Henssler was able to win against a celebrity team was 32 points. He achieved this in 2013 in season one, episode five, with opponents Jana Ina Zarrella, Thomas Rath and Regina Halmich (95:63) and in 2021 in season 14, episode three with celebrity guests Frank “Froonck” Matthée and Désirée Nick and Barbara Becker (96:64). The professional chef’s longest winning streak spanned 13 episodes from episodes 76 to 88.
Henssler suffered the biggest defeat with the lowest number of points (64) in 2015 in the fourth season (episode four) of the “Mother’s Day Special” against Evdokia and Panagiota Petridou, Lilli and Dana Schweiger and Nicole and Detlef Steves. However, Henssler had the lowest possible score for a single course at a different time. In 2017 he scored 0 points because he only gave each juror a clove of garlic in protest. The ingredients of the improv course, including a piece of cold Margherita pizza, beer, quark, onion sausage, garlic, chicory and tube horseradish, had not previously appealed to him.
The celebrities, judges, cooking coaches and the presenters
A total of 270 celebrities have already been guests at “Grill den Henssler”. Detlef Steves (54) took part most often with 18, Verona Pooth (55) with seven and Mario Barth (50), Panagiota Petridou (44) and Oliver Pocher (45) with six appearances each. In an interview with spot on news in mid-October, Henssler explained about regular guest Steves: “He was there in the first season and we quickly realized that we were on the same wavelength. It’s very funny with him because he’s like him is, always straight out, always full on twelve.” Ali Güngörmüs (47) holds the record for cooking coaches with 20 visits; Henssler describes him as a “fighter and competitive type”. Christian Lohse (56) was there 16 times, Stefan Marquard (59) has already given the celebrities tips ten times.
Reiner Calmund (74) is the veteran of the jury; he has been there since season one. There have already been several changes in the chairs next to him. Heinz Horrmann (80) was followed by Gerhard Retter (50) and Christian Rach (66), who is still giving his ratings. Enie van de Meiklokjes (49), Mirja Boes (52) and, since 2022, Jana Ina Zarrella (46) have already sat in the third chair. The Sunday show was once moderated by Jochen Schropp (44), Ruth Moschner (47) and Annie Hoffmann (39), and Laura Wontorra (34) has presented the cooking format since 2020.
What will happen to the show after the anniversary? “I don’t set any limits for myself and don’t give a number,” revealed Henssler in the interview. “If I noticed that I was losing interest in the show and that I no longer felt comfortable, then I would simply stop. At the moment it doesn’t feel like it at all.”