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Flirt, cry, hug! The last broadcast of the World Championship on the ARD channel will be a real emotional movie. Of course, right in the middle of the “battle festival” (original commentator Tom Bartels). Argentina and England (2:1): Expert Bastian Schweinsteiger (40 years old) in his new role as horse manager and presenter Esther Sedlacek (41 years old). It must be so long: since Us Nena, no one has worn the iconic XXL hoop earrings more majestic than the Frau Wunder der Erste. For five weeks, Schweini was distracted by jokes and analysis next to her – with his last appearance, he finally got away with emotional horses…
Even the beginning of the program is fun. Or better: a compliment thrown to a bull! Esther (no draw this time) asks Schweini about the sometimes poor performances of the tournament’s two semi-final teams. He may have been airing a few bad episodes of the flirting show First Dates (Vox) during the day as a warm-up, but either way he answered her question with an awkward equine comparison and wanted to flatter her with it – no joke…
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Basti: “You have to tell both teams: the horse, a good horse, only jumps as high as necessary. You, you do it completely differently in your broadcasts. You float above these beams, just as Ludger Beerbaum did, dear Esther.”
Esther: “So your images are beautiful. Really beautiful.”
Basti: “You won’t believe what happens in your head sometimes.”
Esther: “I don’t even want to know!”
Does Esther like Bierbaum? Or even a mare? Horror! Captain Schweini is in emotional chaos. According to initial information from BILD, show jumping king Ludger Beerbaum (62 years old) immediately took his Olympic gold from Barcelona (1992/with “Classic Touch”) out of the display case for polishing due to all the loving atmosphere. If ARD ever excludes Schweini from the program: from now on, for him there will always be a job as a groom at the Beerbaum tournament stable in Riesenbeck (Steinfurt/North Rhine-Westphalia district). Tournament participant – Schweini (favorite phrase: “à la bonne heure” / in German: bravo), yes, yes.
But all this was just the beginning of Esther Basti’s big show…
ARD’s 13.7 million viewers will witness the pig of the nation, England coach Thomas Tuchel (52/”Tuchel is genius and madness rolled into one”), carve his character into one sentence. At halftime, he prepared a special joke: When Sedlacek asked about the highlights of a hard-fought first half, Schweini held up a blank white sheet of paper to the camera and joked: “I took the trouble to write down all the big highlights!” Pig humor.

ARD commentator Tom Bartels (60) was as persuasive as ever: “Today there is no Wonderwall and no Hey Jude for England, today there is only a victory lap with Leo Messi.”
Oh Britain! 60 years without a pot in hand – after Germany’s “last man standing” Tuchel crashed out of the World Cup, first Rolling Stones giant Mick Jagger (82/”(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”) shakes his head in disbelief in the stands, then a collective howl begins: Harry Kane cries. The last hero Lautaro Martinez cries in an interview. Jude Bellingham is crying. Everyone is crying. Oh yes: Messi has been crying since the break. From now on we really need to worry about Tuchel. Because the English press is pestering him about his change of defense during the second drinking break and because he is getting thinner and thinner. His new stage name: Twiggy Tuchel. Based on super-thin model Leslie Hornby (76), known as Twiggy, who became a style icon in 1960s England.
Soft TV for farewell to the World Cup
Of course, Schweini doesn’t get all that nonsense (“It hurts to see how well other countries perform compared to our team”). He’d rather start cuddling with his favorite co-star at the show’s finale. Wrapping her arms around him, Esther drove up. Nice TV for saying goodbye to the World Cup in the first…
Esther: “I’m looking forward to the upcoming tournaments. Now I will leave you with one last sentence…”
Basti: “Many thanks to the ARD team. Esther, come here! Now we can hug!”
I can already feel it: Esther Schweini’s exit will not be easy in the next few weeks. And if ARD emotion professor Florian Silbereisen (44) does not invite the amateur singer Schweini (best karaoke song: “Life is life”) and his Esther on stage for the next show (17 October / Dortmund), there will be a review of Schlagerboom TV!