Justin Bieber’s performance on popular live German talk show Wetten Das was canceled over the weekend after a amateur performer was seriously injured during a dangerous stunt jumping over cars. This was big news in Germany where I live, as it’s the first time that Wetten Das, a live show that’s the most popular in the country, has ever stopped airing. The show, which translates to “Wanna Bet,” includes celebrities, musical performances and creative bets that are sometimes dangerous. A 23 year-old student named Samuel Koch was jumping over moving cars while wearing stilts with springs on them. He wasn’t just jumping – he was doing a somersault over each car and then landing on his feet. Koch did the stunt successfully twice over smaller cars before jumping and falling on his third attempt. Sadly, his father was driving the car (an Audi four door) when he fell. The show was stopped at that point, with host Thomas Gottschalk explaining that in the 29 years the show has aired nothing like that has happened before and they’ve done plenty of dangerous stunts.
A live TV game show in Dusseldorf, Germany was halted on Saturday mid-broadcast after a contestant was severely injured in a stunt.
Samuel Koch was hurt when he tried to jump over a moving car driven by his father on Wetten, Dass? (Wanna Bet?).
Canadian singer Justin Bieber was due to appear on the show after the stunt.
“Please pray for Samuel Koch and his family as we wait and hope for his health and safety,” he told his followers on Twitter.
Robbie Williams and Phil Collins had also been due to appear on the show, according to its website.
Koch, 23, underwent surgery on Sunday after he suffered multiple back injuries and fractures the previous night.
Dr Wolfgang Raab of Dusseldorf Hospital told German news agency DPAD that Koch was “in an extremely critical stage”.
Bieber, 16, added on Twitter that he was sorry he could not perform in Germany but “some things are more important than putting on a show.”
Wetten, Dass? has been running for nearly 30 years and regularly draws audiences of about 10 million.
[From BBC]
We taped Wetten Das (I didn’t watch it live, it can be a little boring as it lasts almost three hours) and after the poor kid fell they switched the cameras to the audience and didn’t show him injured or being carried away in a stretcher. It was the right thing to do, as was stopping the show after that point. It’s not like Bieber made a decision not to go on, the show was halted and they switched to archived footage for the rest of the night. Koch is in critical condition in hospital, and may be paralyzed as a result of his injuries. ZDF, the station responsible for Wetten Das, promises better attention to safety after this terrible accident. Wetten Das will go on however. You can watch footage of the accident on TheLocal.de. (Warning: it’s disturbing.)
That poor young man! I hope he recovers. He took all of the force of the fall on his head. I am saying a prayer for him.
poor thing.
Can we fit the girly boy for a pair of stilts?
“It’s not like Bieber made a decision not to go on, the show was halted…”
Thank you for emphasizing that, as many other blogs act as if it was his own decision not to perform (you know, because that’s how wonderfully awesome he is *rolls eyes*)
Not to be dismissive of the seriousness of the injury, but anything which keeps this no talent cash cow for usher off the stage and out of the limelight is a good thing. Everyone that cares about real music knows that Jbooby represents everything that’s wrong with today’s pop music.
I’ll pray for his father and him. I cannot imagine being behind the wheel of the car that very nearly killed my child, even if it was for a stunt on a stupid TV show.
And no, I didn’t watch the clip, nor will I.
I really do hope he recovers. That was a brutal landing. =( And how awful that it was his father driving the car. You know he has to feel responsible (even though he isn’t, at all) for what happened.
Watching that video made me realize how little respect American media has… They turned the cameras away when this man was hurt. But I don’t think there’s a single network here in the US that would pass up having footage to show.
I wasn’t watching it, but my best friend was and she was shocked! She called me, apparently that’s the first thing you do when you see something like that (._.) happening live and told me everything & I was like “Woa, never!” and then she said: “Watch out, in about 10 minutes some pervert as*holes will upload it on youtube.” Of course that happened and gosh, this boy.. I hope he’ll get better.
Something that REALLY pissed me off was the comment on youtube by some stupid chick: “Guess he lost this bet.” !!! -___- why didn’t she just say: “T00 B@D, N0 JUSTiiN BiiEBEr 2D@Y, LOLz”
@Patricia- OMG. That’s just *cold*. =( No respect for what the poor guy went through at all, let alone his father. I’m not much of a praying person normally, but I really will be praying for this family.
I’ve been wondering when something horrible would happen on a reality show. Some of the stunts are really crazy, I know there’s tons of precautions, but it is hard to control all contingencies. But the audience is there for it, so it was bound to happen. I just hope this poor guy recovers.
I am kind of suprised that you emphasize so much on the fact that JB’s performance has been cancelled. So have been the appearances of Cher, Cameron Diaz, Take That, Phil Collins, und Gérard Depardieu. Is JB really a bigger star than Cher these days???? Really???
On other pages people were sooooooo cruel and cold. I just dont get it. How can you comment bs like “lol” when you see footage like that?
this is why I come here.
always a lot of “mean” comments, but barely ever THAT evil.
THAT’S what I’m talking about. Instead of feeling sorry for this boy, they just feel the satisfaction of being entertained OR are making jokes about it. I don’t get how people can be like that. He could’ve been dead and all they have to say about it is, “omg, he lost.” or “woa, i wanted to see justinbieber”? It’s cruel!
Without Justin Bieber being involved, no one in the world would hear about this news, the show or that the host looks like Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. I remember when Evil Knievel was a big deal but I don’t think people really crave daredevil stunts like this. We have Jackass and Youtube for that.