Ricardo Simonetti, the unwanted passenger

"Das Traumschiff" is a firm favourite with ZDF and its devoted audience. For almost 43 years, the love boat has been chugging through the world's oceans and TV audiences can now enjoy love stories, happiness and an illustrious celebrity crew four times a year in their own berths.

Half the workforce embarks

However, in 2024, a new appointment causes discussion on board: Presenter, author and influencer Riccardo Simonetti plays Benjamin Suresh, who runs a sanctuary for elephants, in the Easter episode. And this has met with criticism within the German Actors' Guild. The 31-year-old Simonetti has too little acting experience. Excuse me? Since when has the Traumschiff been about top acting performances? Ever since Sascha Hehn handed over the captain's hat to ratings sunshine Florian Silbereisen, the train - sorry, the ship - has long since sailed in this respect anyway.

If you don't know Mr Silbereisen (have a nice life), here's his career in a nutshell: the man has been smiling his way through the hell of the pop and folk music world for a quarter of a century. Full stop.

So if you're looking for seasoned actors and actresses, you'll be disappointed at the very top of the dreamboat. Simonetti is therefore guaranteed to do no further damage. Instead, ZDF, which has been producing the programme for four decades now, is focusing on a rejuvenation cure with the involvement of a successful and likeable influencer, both on board and in front of home receivers. Ultimately, the channel benefits from Simonetti's Community on social media, which, with over half a million followers on Instagram alone, definitely represents a broadening of horizons. Not to mention the values that the entertainer brings with him.

From celebrity chefs to footballers and boxing champs

Simonetti is not the first cast member not to come from the traditional acting world. Celebrity chef Tim Mälzer, footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger, boxer Wladimir Klitschko and influencer and entrepreneur Caro Daur have also been spotted on deck of the dream ship. In real life, cruise suppliers would go out of their way to welcome such illustrious guests on board. So please, dear actors and actresses, open your blinkers and free up part of the floating stage for people with talents that have nothing to do with a mouth and prescribed texts. You can still refer to yourselves, your acting performance and the one or other award that this has brought you. Nobody will take them away from you. And with the incredible size of cruise ships today, there is definitely room for more people. Where there was already plenty of room, by the way, was on cruise ships in the 1930s.

Non-fiction

Hitler's dream ships

German, Heinz Schön

Non-fiction

Hitler's dream ships

German, Heinz Schön

Anyway: ZDF is certainly going the right way with this and if a so-called "youngster" should ever really dispute your place on deck, there's always the jungle camp. It doesn't take place on ZDF, but it also pays a fee and leaves a lasting impression...

If this article has awakened in you the desire for a real cruise, then I suggest you start putting some small change aside. Because there's no such thing as cheap.

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Toy figure

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Hasbro Peppa's cruise ship

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Toy figure

−15%

EUR42,64 was EUR49,91

Hasbro Peppa's cruise ship

11

The episode of "Das Traumschiff - Pukhet" airs on 31 March 2024 on ZDF.