TV audience shocked: Who knows something like that? Stay dark on Friday!

TV audience shocked: Who knows something like that? Stay dark on Friday!

Bonn, Deutschland - The popular quiz show "Who knows something like that?" Had an unexpected program change on Friday evening, which shocked fans. Instead of a new episode with actor Wolfgang Stumph and his daughter Stephanie, the spectators experienced a repetition of the show "asked, hunted". The reason for this sudden change was the political support that team captain Bernhard Hoëcker expressed for the Greens in a social media spot. In accordance with the ARD regulations that state that "program-defining personalities" who participate in the election campaign, six weeks before elections are no longer allowed to appear in the program, the comedian of ARD was deleted from the program, such as oe24.at reported.

Hoëcker, which is also known from the show "Switch", was promptly pushed aside. His political statement not only led to the deletion of the episode, but also caused discussions about the strict guidelines on political neutrality in public service broadcasting. It is not the first time that this regulation is used-only a week and a half were cabaret artist Max Uthoff was taken from the ZDF program "The Institution" after making election advertising for the left. The ZDF thus follows similar regulations to the ARD, such as Bild.de

The viewers who had been looking forward to the new episode must now wait until the Bundestag election. Despite his faux pas, Hoëcker was recently awarded the German Reading Prize 2025 for his commitment to promoting reading. He is known for working for the reading ability of children and adolescents and, as a children's book author, has launched many own reading actions. The ARD thus draws clear limits to protect its objectivity in election campaign times.