My big, fat, embarrassing fiance
| Television series | |
|---|---|
| Original title | My big, fat, embarrassing fiance |
| Country of production | Germany |
| original language | German |
| year | 2004 |
| length | 45 minutes |
| Episodes | 7th |
| genre | Reality TV , comedy |
| German-language first broadcast |
2004 |
| occupation | |
| |
My big, fat, embarrassing fiancé is a seven-part television production commissioned by Sat.1 in 2004. It adapted the concept of the successful US format My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance for the German market and achieved high ratings .
Concept and plot
In the program Mareike, a dental student from Kiel, was introduced to "Gunnar Janßen". Her job on the show was to convince her parents that she wanted to marry him. From their point of view, “Gunnar” had the same task towards his own parents. If this succeeds, the two should receive a large sum of money.
“Gunnar”, however, was actually the actor Tetje Mierendorf , who had been hired by Sat.1 to make Mareike's job as difficult as possible. In return, he disregarded many taboos, for example by completely lacking table manners, rudeness and clumsiness. His family and friends were also embodied by actors who all deliberately behaved in a way that was shocking for Mareike and her family.
Following this broadcast, Mareike received a fee of 500,000 euros. "Gunnar" explained to her and her family only a minute before the arranged wedding that everything had been set and that he normally did not behave like that. The entire program was accompanied and commented on by the presenter Jessica Witte-Winter .
background
The series was shot by UFA Entertainment with 47 cameras in a luxury villa in the Lüneburg Heath . The final achieved an audience rating of 4.68 million viewers and a market share in the target group of 24.0 percent.
My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance was shown in the US in early 2004 on FOX ; Elementary school teacher Randi McCoy was promised a million US dollars if she could convince her family to want to marry the unpleasant "Steve Williams", played by actor Steven W. Bailey. On the whole, the show went exactly like the German counterpart.
After My Big, Fat, Embarrassing Fiance was shown on Sat.1 from September to October 2004, Kabel Eins broadcast the original series in November 2004 under the title My terrible fiance .
reception
My tall, fat, embarrassing fiancé was part of a wave of reality TV productions, many of which were also copies of British or American concepts. Although the ratings were still good compared to many other of these programs, the program was viewed by many critics as low-level and mocking marriage. Julian Miller, critics of the online magazine Quotenmeter.de held the show, however, an interesting social study and believes that she had made "an important statement about venality and media lust".
There were also discussions about the truthfulness, as many viewers doubted that Mareike and her parents had not seen through the play offered to them.
It can be assumed, however, that the € 500,000 was actually paid out: In a ruling by the Schleswig-Holstein tax court, extracts from the contract are reproduced, according to which Mareike has to tax half of her "profit" of € 250,000 as other income. Profits from a television quiz are in principle tax-free. According to the judges, the scope of the services to be provided by Mareike went far beyond participation in a television quiz.
The remaining 250,000 euros, however, were paid out directly to her family and, according to the judgment mentioned above, are not taxable because Mareike made this money, but did not receive it. Mareike appealed against this ruling to the Federal Fiscal Court (BFH). However, the appeal was rejected by the BFH as unfounded, so that the € 250,000 is ultimately to be taxed as other income according to Section 22 EStG.
In 2005, ProSieben brought out a similar show concept with the series Mein neue Freund , in which Christian Ulmen , wearing new disguises, drove the candidates to despair as a “new best friend”.
Web links
- My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- My big, fat, embarrassing fiance at crew united
- Press release from Sat.1 ( memento of March 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) via Internet Archive
- Photos of the villa ( memento from February 3, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) on the website of the security company via Internet Archive (bottom)
Individual evidence
- ↑ My big, fat, embarrassing fiance. UFA Factual , accessed on February 1, 2014 .
- ^ A b Christian Richter: The television cemetery: Money against dignity. Quotemeter.de , December 3, 2009, accessed February 1, 2014 .
- ↑ Fabian Riedner: Kabel 1 shows the original format of “My big fat embarrassing betrothed”. Quotemeter.de , October 20, 2004, accessed on February 1, 2014 .
- ↑ Jan Friday: Schadenfreude TV. the daily newspaper , September 9, 2004, accessed on February 1, 2014 .
- ↑ Schleswig-Holstein Finance Court, judgment of March 28, 2006 - 5 K 159/05 -, EFG 2006, 1328 ( online )
- ↑ BFH, judgment of November 28, 2007 - IX R 39/06 -, BFHE 220, 67, BStBl II 2008, 469 ( online )
- ↑ Daniela Kuhr: A big little tax debt. Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 17, 2010, accessed on February 1, 2014 .