This number caused a stir.
Already in the first edition of “Stars in der Manege” last week things got hot in the truest sense of the word: “Let’s Dance” professional dancer Massimo Sinató (42) suffered several burns during rehearsals for a risky fire-eating performance, but could still occur. In the second show on Friday night, however, not all celebs were so lucky.
Paralympics star Mathias Mester (36) had just caused a standing ovation with a rope performance when moderator Jörg Pilawa had to make a sad announcement. He greeted Natascha Ochsenknecht (58) in the audience and explained: “Actually, I wanted to announce a Natascha Ochsenknecht here, who has rehearsed a great number with plate juggling. But then she took the phrase ‘a broken leg’ too literally.”
Mathias Mester (above) during his rope performance
Ochsenknecht reported on the samples that had left their mark on her: “I didn’t know that a plate weighs half a kilo. If you throw it up a hundred times, to the left and to the right, they somehow become a UFO.”
Natascha Ochsenknecht injured herself during training (archive photo)
When pictures were displayed, you could see the extent of the injuries: the presenter’s entire arm was green and blue. She even had to wear a cuff. But that wasn’t all – blood was spilled during the rehearsal! A trained dog was supposed to snatch a plate from the amateur artiste and painfully tore an earring out of her ear, which began to bleed. Ochsenknecht finally gave up, but Pilawa promised to invite her to the next edition.
A replacement for plate juggling was found in “Let’s Dance” presenter Victoria Swarovski (29). She had just one day to rehearse the number. Nevertheless, Swarovski put up a good fight and mastered the performance in the ring with flying colors. After Swarovski then hugged her colleague Natascha Ochsenknecht relieved, she revealed that she too had suffered injuries: “I also have endless bruises.”
Jana Ina Zarrella and Jörg Pilawa hosted the evening
So not for the faint of heart – DSDS star Sarah Engels (30) also had to struggle with panic during her performance at a height of ten meters: “It’s really super dangerous.”
Sarah Engels as an acrobat
Sports climber Moritz Hans (27) was also nervous about his high-wire number. Reality asterisk Evelyn Burdecki (34) in particular went crazy when she appeared: she was shot at with darts, which just passed her by a hair’s breadth. It was almost too much for the otherwise happy blonde: “Please, please help me. He’s playing with my life!” It was happier with Tagesschau spokesman Jens Riewa (59) and singer Joey Heindle (29): They both performed as circus clowns.
At the end of the evening, however, only one person was allowed to take the coveted “Stars in the Manege” trophy home. The hard training paid off for Moritz Hans: the spectators in the circus tent voted his high-wire performance the best performance of the evening.
