The Sandmännchen is an animated figure in German childrens’ television. It is shown every day on KiKa (“Kinderkanal”) just before 7pm.

The Sandmann shown today is evolved from an East-German production, as can be seen by some of the buildings and clothing in the series. The puppet arrives in the scene and introduces a short film to the children. After the film he sends the children to bed by releasing sand (“Schlafsand”) and then leaves.

To hear a simple explanation in German, listen to the podcast:

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www.sandmaennchen.de

Have you ever wondered what it would be like, if the host of “Who wants to be a Millionare?” (“Wer wird Millionär?”) was to change places a be on the hot seat himself?

Well, during a celebrity special in Germany that is exactly what happened. Host Günther Jauch changed places with his contestent, Horst Schlämmer.

You can watch it at ClipFish.de in 4 parts: 1 2 3 4 – the switch is in the 2nd part at around time index 06:00.

Another interesting scene is in part 3 around 02:40 when Horst (played by Hape Kerkeling, who speaks Spanish) notes that he could have answered the 32.000€ question himself – without a joker.

For this scene they were awarded the “Deutscher Fernsehpreis”.