An amateur actor who underwent a radical change of heart regarding the hard-right Alternative for Germany party (AfD) during a TV show was described as a “clerk” by German public broadcaster ARD, it has been revealed. Other “ordinary citizens” who took part in the same show have been shown to be amateur politicians affiliated with various left-wing parties.
The programme, aired on September 16, came less than a week before the regional elections in the State of Brandenburg where AfD and the Social Democrats (SPD) are competing for first place.
In the show The 100 – what moves Germany 100 people were asked to answer the question: “Is the AfD a problem for democracy?” by standing in one of six fields to indicate varying degrees of agreement or disagreement. After the participants had made their choices, two journalists gave talks presenting their arguments regarding AfD.
The participants were then asked again to choose the field they felt best reflected their positions.
Initially, 37 out of the 100 had said the AfD was no problem for democracy. After the journalists’ speeches, that was down to 28 while 68 said the AfD was indeed a problem for democracy. The rest were undecided.
In the final scene of the show, host Ingo Zamperoni asked participant Michael Schleiermacher, presented as a 54-year-old clerk from Kaiserslautern, why he had changed his view from minus 3 “no problem” to plus 3 “very much a problem”.
“That is easy to say,” replied Schleiermacher. “The AfD is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. We do not know what they are planning.” Schleiermacher added: “this show which traces everything, makes you think differently”.
It turned out Schleiermacher was not just a clerk from Kaiserslautern but also a paid amateur actor who has participated in many TV productions, including several ARD productions, as State TV watchdog ÖRR Blog revealed on X.
A video posted by Stefan Homburg, professor of finance at Hannover University, showed Schleiermacher in various other roles, including music videos. Homburg also shared a link to Schleiermacher’s page on the website of casting agency Stagepool, which provides paid amateur actors for TV productions.
Schleiermacher posted details about his appearance on The 100 on his Instagram profile.
He is apparently not the only “ordinary” participant whose identity has raised questions. A woman was found to be a prolific extra in TV productions. A third participant was shown to be a former politician for the Communist party Die Linke who is now running for the SPD. As of September 18, there were claims that 11 more of the 100 participants were either amateur actors or politicians affiliated with various left-wing parties such as SPD, the Green Party, and Die Linke.
Critics said ARD was passing off paid actors and politicians as ordinary people in an effort to manipulate public opinion. Katja Adler, member of the German parliament for the Liberal Free Democratic Party (FDP), called the affair “the high point of propaganda in the history of public broadcasting”. Klaus Gagel, an AfD politician, spoke of the “German Democratic Republic 2.0”.
Brussels Signal reached out to ARD as well as the production company behind The 100, Ansager & Schnipselmann. A spokesperson for NDR, one of the constituent TV stations of ARD, said NDR rejected the allegations. “No actors or actresses are used. The programme focuses on people from the population who freely express their opinions. Anyone can apply to take part in the show. Participants will only find out which topic will be covered shortly before the programme is recorded. NDR does not exclude people who take part as private individuals – not even because of secondary employment in the performing arts,” she continued.
Similar statements were released to German news outlets covering the story.
Brussels Signal also contacted Michael Schleiermacher with questions about his engagement, but at the time of writing had not received a response.
According to website Quotenmeter 1.8 million people tuned in to The 100 – a comparably low turnout.