Out for Jelinek

ORF officially confirms end for Philipp Jelinek

After Philipp Jelinek, Armin Assinger will now be among those motivating Austrians to exercise.

(Bild: ORF, Krone KREATIV)

Now it's official. ORF has announced the final end of its cooperation with star gymnast Philipp Jelinek. Armin Assinger is one of the stars who will now follow Jelinek.

It didn't help him, not even the outcry of his quite loud fans, Philipp Jelinek has lost his show on ORF with immediate effect. Director General Roland Weißmann put his foot down in a final interview on Thursday.

The media company also confirmed the end of the "Fit mit Philipp" program in a press release on Thursday (as reported by the "Krone" on Tuesday). It thanked Jelinek "for the successful collaboration" and wished him "all the best for the future".

Explosive chats
According to Krone insiders, the case was already clear behind the scenes at Easter when chats with Jelinek emerged in the investigative committee, which could be seen in the analysis of former Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache's cell phone. In these chats, the "gymnast of the nation" had offered to pass on internal ORF information to the politician - as a thank-you for his work within the public broadcaster. In the end, all of this was the straw that broke the camel's back and ultimately made the presenter untenable and unacceptable.

Kick-off with Conny Kreuter
While it is rumored that other broadcasters are already looking for Jelinek, Weißmann and the ORF management have closed the chapter and the contract was terminated by mutual agreement (at the end of April).

From Monday, "Fit mit den Stars" will start on ORF2. In future, a different celebrity is to motivate Austrians to exercise in the morning every week. In addition to professional dancer Conny Kreuter, these will include Millionenshow presenter Armin Assinger, Andi Goldberger and Hans Knauß.