“Germany’s next Topmodel”: This is how the first season with men was received

In the 19th season, “Germany’s next Topmodel” has broken new ground: For the first time, men were allowed to take part – and in their own category. On June 13th, there will be another innovation: Heidi Klum (51) will be choosing a male and female winner for the first time. This of course also meant that her famous saying “Only one can be Germany’s next Topmodel” was omitted in previous episodes. How did the viewers react to the changes? There has been a lot of discussion in recent weeks, and opinions are very divided. This also applies to the question of whether the next season should be designed in a similar way…

“Never seen such a harmonious season”

Many viewers noticed that there were fewer shrill tones this time – which was met with plenty of praise. “I really like the season. Hardly any bickering and little fighting. At least it’s not shown,” said one viewer. In previous seasons, the focus was more on drama and trash. The fact that it was different now may also be due to the innovation: “The men seem to be doing the atmosphere between them good.” Another viewer emphasized: “Never seen such a harmonious season.” Another thought it was very nice to see how well the candidates got on with each other. Many also found it pleasant that – contrary to what they feared – there was no focus on any romance between them, apart from a little flirting.

But the lack of arguments and lovemaking seems to have been missed by some. There are many critical comments that the 2024 season was too boring. Even former candidate Marvin de Graft (23) shared this opinion after his elimination in twelfth place. It was “really nice” for the candidates themselves that they were “really connected”, but that may not have been an advantage for the show: “I’ll be honest, I’ve been watching it for 15 weeks and I think to myself, it’s just so boring.”

Too little debate and too little content?

In his opinion, this was not only due to the harmony, but also to something else: Compared to previous seasons, for example, the shootings were not as spectacular. He believes that the producers wanted to “start slowly” to approach a season with men. Some viewers also complained that there was not enough gripping model content. “I have never had so little desire to watch ‘GNTM’ as this year… The men could have been so exciting, especially during shootings… but no. There aren’t any.” The criticism: There were too few shootings, too few teachings and too few jobs. This even raised the question of whether the show’s budget had been cut. “Everything was so cheap.” The fact that the show was structured according to a different principle this year than before also found supporters: The “photo shoot-bitching-walk-decision” pattern was now “worn out,” was another opinion.

Another problem may have been that the participation of men meant that there were many more candidates, male and female, and the individual candidates therefore did not receive as much attention. This meant that viewers were not able to get to know the men and women as well. “There are simply twice as many candidates and the same amount of airtime,” said one Instagram comment, while other viewers wondered who the person actually was after some of the people who were thrown out, as they had hardly seen them.

While some think that men have made the casting format more interesting, others think that this has led to women being left behind. Therefore, separate seasons would be better in the future. Others, however, hope for the same format next year.

Opening episode achieved good ratings

A look at the ratings shows that the male enhancement generated a lot of interest, at least at the beginning: 2.32 million viewers watched the first episode in February. After that, however, the numbers dropped sharply. The makeover, traditionally a particularly popular episode, was also watched by 2.32 million. The third-to-last episode on June 6th had 1.55 million viewers. By comparison, the episodes of the 18th season were watched by an average of around 1.86 million people aged three and over.

Heidi Klum has been presenting “Germany’s next Topmodel” since 2006. The ProSieben show is an offshoot based on the US model. Over the years, the model search has opened up to an ever wider range of applicants. Diversity has been the motto for several years. In 2021, Alex Mariah Peter (26) became the first transgender model to win, and in 2023, Vivien Blotzki (23) became the first curvy model. In 2022, the age limit was dropped and women over 60 also vied for the title for the first time. And Heidi Klum had to get rid of her famous “girl” habit. In the summer of 2023, she announced that she would also be casting men for the 19th season.