Michael Wendler
Why is he sitting in the "DSDS" jury despite leaving?
At the beginning of the season, the jury starts with four people. From left to right: Dieter Bohlen, Maite Kelly, Mike Singer and Michael Wendler.
© TVNOW / Stefan Gregorowius
When "DSDS" starts on January 5th, Michael Wendler will also be seen as a member of the jury. Why the broadcaster decided to do it.
The 18th season of the casting show "Deutschland sucht den Superstar" (also on TVNow) starts on January 5th. Many viewers are likely to be surprised that Michael Wendler (48, "Doesn't matter") will also be a member of the jury. In October 2020, he announced his voluntary resignation from the jury in a scandalous and media-effective manner. That's why the singer is still on the show.
When the pop singer announced his exit from the format in an Instagram story on October 8 and spread conspiracy theories about the corona virus and via the RTL broadcaster, the shooting of the castings had already been completed. However, the broadcaster has apparently decided against cutting Michael Wendler out of the already wacky material.
Michael Wendler is not cut out
"Michael Wendler will be featured in the 13 casting episodes. We will not cut him out, also out of fairness to the candidates who have progressed or not because of his jury judgment," said an RTL spokeswoman when asked by the news agency spot on news. After the auditions, however, the pop star is no longer part of the show. His exit will be addressed accordingly for the audience.
Unlike after Xavier Naidoos (49) was kicked out of the jury at the beginning of 2020, when Florian Silbereisen (39) stepped in as a replacement, this time the decision was made to continue the jury with three people. From the recall onwards, only Mike Singer (20, "100,000"), Maite Kelly (41, "Tonight Forever") and Dieter Bohlen (66) will judge the candidates. According to the broadcaster, the only change as a result of Wendler's resignation was the downsizing of the desk: "This did not result in any more changes." It goes on to say: "The three of us jury worked perfectly – we have had juries with only three jurors in the past."