Resistance to criticism is built into the foundation of Germany’s next top model. Hardly any German show is flagellated more often than GNTM, not even the jungle camp that is currently running. For a long time, the allegations came mainly from outside: politicians and the media were concerned about the well-being of the viewers, for whom the show can cause eating disorders, for example.
However, more and more often and most recently from the jungle camp itself former candidates to speak, which is said to have been badly played with for entertainment purposes. they describe brazen manipulations and outright psychological terror. The pressure on the model show and her face Heidi Klum is almost three weeks before the start of the new season as great as never before.
Not a normal shitstorm: The criticism of Germany’s next top model is growing
RTL
Tessa Bergmeier in the jungle camp
A criticism of GNTM always threatens to fizzle out, precisely because the show’s reputation is so bad. At least since Roger Willemsen’s famous “Beat six kinds of shit out of her” article, the eloquent GNTM abuse has become a popular sport. One or the other shitstorm is simply taken into account.
But the GNTM backlash is becoming more and more concentrated and will probably only increase. Former participants such as Lijana Kaggwa (2020) and jungle candidate Tessa Bergmeier (2009) bring concrete insights from the show to the public. With that they pull, and that’s not so easy, that GNTM image even further down. Bergmeier and Kaggwa, partly in agreement with other ex-participants, report questionable mechanisms behind the scenes.
“Laughs little girls”: What should happen behind the GNTM scenes
1. Staged “bitches” and cat wars
Bergmeier said last week in the jungle camp: “They made fun of me! I found that unfair. I had no idea what kind of light they were trying to put me in. They portrayed me as a bitch. […] You made me a monster, I wasn’t.”
2. A manipulated or non-existent model competition
3. Provoked clumsiness of inexperienced models
Lijana Kaggwa said: “It is simply manipulated beforehand who should stumble and who shouldn’t.”. Some models would have had their feet creamed before the walks. Those who were unlucky slipped in their high heels and, in the worst case, fell
4. A “bitter” and “fake” Heidi Klum
How Heidi Klum has reacted to the criticism so far (not at all)
Even if not all ex-candidates share the representations: the negative reporting has long since got out of control. Tessa Bergmeier forced Heidi Klum’s father to interview T-Online with her jungle camp angry speech in front of an audience of millions. The GNTM broadcaster ProSieben also reacted. However, the statements either avoided or only addressed sections of Bergmeier’s statements.
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Lijana Kaggwas statement with GNTM viewed almost 3 million times even went to court last year. Kaggwa had – knowingly – breached her confidentiality clause. ProSieben responded with a cease-and-desist declaration. And only partially got away with it, as Bunte reported. For example, Kaggwa is not allowed to claim that the psychologist on the show is not a real psychologist. But the most important result is: The Hamburg Regional Court considered the Confidentiality clause as irrelevant. Theoretically, future participants now have a license to criticize.
That’s gotta make a difference on this show, right?
Heidi Klum can no longer ignore the allegations against Germany’s next top model
ProSieben
What’s next for GNTM?
Heidi Klum is persistently silent about the accusations of her ex-candidates. Lijana Kaggwa’s GNTM destruction video appeared a few days before the finale of last season. No candidate had previously denounced grievances on the show more extensively and clearly. The sharp projectiles rolled off Klum in the live broadcast: “We’ll carry on as before”she said . That sounded like a declaration of war on everyone who wants to take on her, GNTM and everything it stands for in the future.
But Heidi Klum could lose this fight and maybe she knows that herself. Because the presenter cannot hope that criticism of her format will decrease. On the contrary.
And even the most toxic reality show can only handle a certain amount of moral headwind. This is shown, for example, by the demise of Dieter Bohlen’s DSDS humiliation orgy, which GNTM survived – precisely because Heidi Klum once questioned her concept in good time.
Heidi Klum (or her production team) has proven in recent years that she doesn’t care about GNTM reporting. She made her field of participants more diverse, allowing women over 40 to take part. This brought the show a lot of praise and a new audience.
Now is the Mood around GNTM again as negative as before the necessary changes. And with her ignoring course, Heidi Klum will certainly not change tack. Because she can no longer rely on her former resistance to criticism.
*. . .