Inka Bause: That’s why she prefers singing to hosting

On September 30th, Inka Bause (55) starts her 20th season of “Bauer sucht Frau” (every Monday at 8:15 p.m. on RTL, a week before). In the anniversary season, the presenter wants to help 14 farmers find happiness in love. Six of the 20 farmers previously featured cannot be seen in the show for various reasons. Bause not only leads the popular dome show, but also contributes a song. In an interview with the news agency spot on news, she reveals whether she would like to present the format for more years and why she prefers singing to presenting.

20 seasons, 158 episodes and this year with originally 20 candidates, more than ever before – how special is this anniversary for you?

Inka Bause: Very special, of course, although I always think that every year can be the last. You always never know, people still like you, is there something else they like better? That’s why I’m happy and am constantly moving forward from season one and would never have believed that we would make it 20 years. My team and I are really proud of it and that’s why we’re really letting it rip this year. We wouldn’t have believed it, especially after the first few years, because I had to fight hard for the format and for the recognition of the farmers and their way of life. That was very unusual even back then.

You even sang a song for this year’s edition. Fans should submit photos and clips for the music video. After almost 20 years, how closely connected do you feel to the audience?

Bause: Very tight. It has been proven that we are an incredibly large community. Many of our more than 200 farmers still see each other regularly, have made friends, and visit each other at celebrations, weddings and anniversaries. I always say that it doesn’t really matter whether you get married with us and find the love of your life, even though we have an incredibly high success rate. It’s enough for me if the farmers simply say: “We were happy for a few weeks, we had a nice time” or “We were happy for a few months, a few years”.

We want to make our farmers happy, we want to give them a good time. We simply want the farmers to still have contact with us years later. A few months ago, Farmer Olaf from the first season wrote to me: “You, I have finally found my true love and I got married and I cordially invite you,” but I couldn’t. He didn’t want the television there, but after 19 years he wrote to me. These are not platitudes, it is really true that every farmer can have contact with me.

Are there any changes to the proven concept in the anniversary season?

Bause: No, the basic framework is always similar because “never change a running system”. For the first time there is a song by me that I also co-wrote and co-produced. For years I was afraid to sing anything about farmers and had already had major record deal offers. They wanted to turn me into a second DJ Ötzi, which I don’t think is bad at all. I have nothing against DJ Ötzi, Antonia from Tyrol and whatever their names are. But I didn’t want to because I would never have gotten out of the act and I like making other music. But I now treated myself to it and said: “Oh come on, if you can do 20 years, then just make a song to go with it.”

In addition to “Bauer sucht Frau”, you are celebrating another anniversary this year. 40 years ago they stood in front of TV cameras for the first time and at the same time started their singing careers. What is left of the Inka Bause from back then or what have you retained?

Bause: What remains is the love of music. There’s this incredibly good energy left in my heart, these incredible successes that I don’t like to talk about to anyone who hasn’t experienced it because it always sounds like bragging. Especially after the fall of the Wall, many East German artists told biographies that never happened. But I have to honestly say that I experienced what Tokio Hotel experienced, what Nena experienced in the 80s. It’s such an incredibly nice feeling and it gave me the ease to get through crises, but also not to take off when things started looking up again.

Now I just make music for myself, for fun. To be honest, I don’t care whether it reaches millions or only 500 people come to the concert. My concerts are flooded with such love from audiences returning to their roots. The people in my class don’t see me as a farm presenter, but rather associate me with music. This is incredibly lucky for me because my heart and soul is in the music, not in hosting. I really enjoy moderating and moderating also allows me to live the music and not have to have the pressure to be successful. That’s why I’m incredibly grateful to RTL and the formats that I’ve been able to moderate over the last 20 years. But the music is what warms my heart.

In the conversation three years ago, you said that you would like to take the show’s 20th anniversary with you and then continue watching. Have your future plans become more concrete since then?

Bause: Things are just going too well right now to say no. I think I’ll get into trouble with RTL too. (laughs) I also feel younger than ever and fresher than ever in my life. I changed a few things and cleaned up a bit. Corona has done a lot of good things for me, it has shaken me up a lot, even in my private life. I feel so good that I’m now saying that I might want to work on the 25. But then that’s enough. I don’t want to be untrue to myself and I don’t want to still be a pensioner driving around the farms and having people around me to help me out of the car. That’s the greatest art: knowing when to stop.

Are you looking forward to being on stage again soon as a musician? Do you have any highlights in mind?

Bause: I once talked to my psychologist about it. For me, the stage is the most beautiful place in the world. I don’t know why I feel so good about it. She says the stage is my portkey to my past. Only on this stage with my audience do I feel connected to my past and that’s why it makes me so incredibly happy. That’s a feeling of happiness, I wish that for every person. That he has a place on this planet to connect with himself. I always cry on stage too. There’s no other way, because of course I have to think about my husband, who passed away, and my father. There is an energy between the people who stand in front of the stage, who also know my husband as a singer, who love my father’s hits. This is really incredible.