Photo Gallery A Stunt Too Far
The popular German TV show "Wetten, Dass...?" was halted on Saturday after a stunt went horribly wrong. Samuel Koch, a 23-year-old drama student and part-time stunt man from the town of Efringen-Kirchen in the state of Baden-Württemberg, seen here with the hosts of the show, fell heavily after his attempt to leap lengthways over a moving car.
Host Thomas Gottschalk tells his audience that the show will be suspended. "We have always had risky bets, whether they involved motorcycles or ski jumps. It is part of the show," Gottschalk told the daily Süddeutsche Zeitung.
Koch with the show hosts before attempting the act: Gottschalk said that, "if we had gotten the impression that he was over-reaching himself with his bet, we would have protected him from himself -- as we have done with other candidates in the past."
Koch was trying to leap lengthways over a moving car wearing spring-loaded stilts. His own father was driving the vehicle.
After the accident it was revealed that previous attempts to do the trick had not always succeeded.
Immediately after the jump, Koch landed badly and fell to the floor.
This photo shows an earlier, successful attempt at the trick.
While the cameras rolled, Koch ended up face down and unconscious on the ground. Koch was then taken to hospital where he regained consciousness but was put into an artificial coma after doctors operated on him for two-and-a-half hours.
Until he is re-awakened, there is no way of telling the extent of Koch's injuries, doctors say.
The show's hosts were visibly upset after the incident.
When host Thomas Gottschalk eventually reappeared, and the show was broadcast live again, he was still pale. "We don't want to act cheerful, when we are not cheerful," he said.
Gottschalk has generally been praised for his reaction to the on-air accident.
The show's female host Michelle Hunziker looks on, clearly upset, after Koch's accident.
Hannelore Kraft (center), the governor of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, who was in the live audience, said she was shocked and expressed her sympathy for Koch's family.
German media commentators praised the show's producers for halting the broadcast.
The prime-time show, which regularly attracts 10 million viewers, is based upon ordinary people doing strange things. This contestant said she could hula-hoop with a truck tyre, for example.
