"The summer house of the stars" celebrates its finale on Sunday evening. RTL has now drawn a surprising conclusion after the turbulent season.
Blasphemy, alliances, verbal disputes and a spitting attack: this year's season of "Das Sommerhaus der Stars", which ends this Sunday (November 1st, 8:15 pm on RTL or via TVNow), made numerous headlines. In an interview with the online magazine "Übermedien", RTL entertainment director Kai Sturm has now given a possible explanation for the tense situation in the house and commented critically on the escalations in the fifth season.
Sturm uses the changed production conditions caused by the corona pandemic for a possible reason: "We quarantined all participants for two weeks beforehand. They did that very seriously." How quickly the spark ignited when the group met might have something to do with it. "We only got it afterwards: They are all very extroverted, communicative people who were just to themselves for 14 days. It was like touching something in a pressure cooker and suddenly it exploded."
The escalation of aggressiveness and the uncomfortable negative feeling that was in this season also affected the production team personally, says Sturm. "We would have liked more positive aspects in the season, more reconciliation, happy moments, relaxation, a lot more humor." Conflicts drive entertainment, but the way in which the various conflicts have rocked up is "quota poison for Sunday evening," explains the head of entertainment. Because quotas are not achieved "with purely anti-social behavior." Right now, viewers feel the need for harmony.
The happenings in the house with all its verbal derailments were partially beyond the pain threshold, says Sturm. "That was much worse. We didn't show everything. But whoever decides to present oneself publicly like this must also be aware of the responsibility. If that is not the case, we prefer to show it clearly . " Intervening was out of the question for the station. This would only have been necessary in the case of physical violence. "The production was under control at all times. The principle of the show is that there is no intervention."
Will there be another "summer house" season?
Kai Sturm is sticking to the format despite all efforts in 2020. At an initial planning meeting, they agreed that in the future they would make even more effort with the cast, prepare and speak more intensively. "We have to develop a feeling for the direction in which it could go. But in the end no one can guarantee what will happen."