Stefan Raab: Close to comeback! What has he been doing all these years?

On September 14, 2024, the time has come: Stefan Raab, 57, will fight in the boxing ring against Regina Halmich, 47. In his long entertainment career, the presenter was responsible for countless television hits. In December 2015, the TV star made his last television appearance in the 55th edition of “Schlag den Raab”. Since then, he has only worked in the background on TV projects.

Stefan Raab was responsible for “The Thing of the Year”

From 2018 to 2020, the inventor show “The Thing of the Year” took place on ProSieben. Stefan Raab not only came up with the idea, but was also the producer. In “The Thing of the Year”, inventors competed against each other in duels. In the final, the audience voted for the best innovation. The inventions presented were assessed by a team of experts – including Lena Gercke, 36, and Joko Winterscheidt, 45. The third and final season went on air on March 29, 2020.

Sporting events and the development of stars

In March 2020, a sporting TV event followed with “The 1st Headis Team World Cup”. It was a “header table tennis” tournament. In the sport, two opponents play a rubber ball back and forth on a table tennis table, but are only allowed to use their heads. A total of six teams, each consisting of a Headis professional and a celebrity, competed against each other. Elton, 53, acted as moderator. So far, it has remained a one-off live show.

In September 2020, “FameMaker” will be launched on ProSieben. Carolin Kebekus, 44, Luke Mockridge, 35, and Teddy Teclebrhan, 41, had to choose and coach candidates without having heard them sing beforehand. The participants performed under a soundproof glass dome. Conchita Wurst, 35, will be the moderator. After the first season in 2020, there will be no further episodes of “FameMaker”.

“Free European Song Contest” and “Freshly Roasted Daily”

In 2020, the “Eurovision Song Contest 2020” fell victim to the corona pandemic. Stefan Raab quickly put together an alternative program. In May, ProSieben broadcast the “Free European Song Contest”, or “FreeESC” for short, at prime time. Raab was on board as a producer and described the show in advance as “the birth of a new, free European song contest”.

Just two months after the “Free European Song Contest 2020”, Stefan Raab announced another TV project – but not for his long-time home channel ProSieben. The entertainer produced the late-night show “Täglich frisch geröstet” exclusively for the streaming service TVNow (now RTL+) from November 2020. After the show was even moved to linear television on RTL, the show was canceled after 40 episodes in April 2021.

“RTL Diving”, “Wok World Championship” and “Autoball World Championship”

Three shows written by Stefan Raab celebrated their comeback in 2022. While the “TV total Wok World Cup” (last broadcast in November 2023) and the “TV total Autoball World Cup” continued to be shown on Raab's former home channel ProSieben, the legendary diving event moved to RTL almost two years ago. Ten celebrities compete in individual diving and celebrity duos compete against each other in synchronized diving. The third edition of the RTL format will be released in January 2024. On September 21, 2024, it will return to ProSieben and will be relaunched as “TV Total Turmspringen 2024” and produced by Brainpool.

He also took part in the new edition of “TV total”

Among other things, Raab has been involved in the comeback of “TV total” with presenter Sebastian Pufpaff, 47, since November 2021 and in “Schlag den Star” as a producer since 2018. At the end of 2023, Stefan Raab finally withdrew from the company Brainpool and the associated production company Raab TV. The show “American Ice Football” will start in February 2024 on his behalf. Raab and Brainpool went into business together for “TV total” in 1998. Together they founded the subsidiary Raab TV. Since 2024, Brainpool has held the sole rights to famous Raab formats such as “TV total”, “Schlag den Star” and “Schlag den Besten”. While “TV total” and “Schlag den Star” are still based at ProSieben even without Raab's involvement, “Schlag den Besten” has been broadcast on RTL with an adapted concept since 2024. The now discontinued “Blamieren oder Kassieren” also moved to RTL.

But since Raab left Brainpool, he has not been idle. Together with former ProSieben boss Daniel Rosemann, 44, the TV titan has a new company: Raab Entertainment. The first project was a show during this year's European Football Championship in Germany. In “The RTL EM Studio – All Games, Goals, Emotions”, Jan Köppen, 41, and Elton report together on the highlights from the European Championship games. In addition, the game show “Eltons 12” produced by Raab Entertainment with presenter Elton is due to go into production in the autumn, with broadcasting planned for winter 24/25.

His comeback in front of the camera

Rumors of a comeback for the TV legend were fueled by Raab himself. In the spring, the entertainer and Elton announced a possible comeback in an initially enigmatic Instagram video. A little later, he dropped the bombshell: He still had a score to settle – with former boxing world champion Regina Halmich, whom he challenged to a duel again. Halmich accepted: “First the bad news: Stefan will only come back if I fight him. And now the good news: I don't have anything better planned on September 14th. We have a fight!” The 47-year-old also told the “Bild” newspaper: “He just knows that it's a kick and a huge ratings booster. He will definitely only come back for this one fight. He wants to make a name for himself.” It remains exciting to see how Raab will continue his career after his boxing match.

As the media magazine “DWDL” reported, RTL is also planning to work with Stefan Raab beyond the boxing match. “RTL Germany has promised Raab and Rosemann's production company a guaranteed production volume of at least 90 million euros.” As the “Bild” newspaper has also learned, Raab is said to have designed a new format for RTL. “The show will be broadcast for the first time on the Wednesday after the fight and will look for a show heir to follow in Raab's television footsteps,” it says about the content of the primetime show. According to “DWDL,” Raab is also said to be devoting himself to his great passion for the ESC and has plans for organizing the German preliminary round.

Sources used: dwdl.de, RTL, ProSieben

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