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Animal influencer defends the birdsGünther Jauch's pigeon statement on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” outraged animal rights activists
During his career, Günther Jauch has already crowned one or two millionaires.
RTL / Stefan Gregorowius
from Camilla Koziol
“The Rats of the Air!”
Even though Günther Jauch speaks to many people's hearts with this sentence about pigeons, it doesn't just meet with approval. After the broadcast of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” on Monday (April 13) on RTL, there was a hail of criticism online. Now pigeon influencer Malte Zierden is also addressing Jauch's statements in a video on Instagram. And he finds surprising words.
Malte Zierden: “Pigeons are homeless pets”
Actually it's a completely normal question at WWM: “Which skin fungus introduced from Asia poses a deadly threat to the animals named after it in this country?”. When he reads out the possible answers: wasp hunter, rat catcher, pigeon killer and salamander eater, Günther Jauch gets stuck on “pigeon killer”. He seemed to be impressed by the pigeon answer. And he makes no secret of why he hopes that the skin fungus poses a deadly threat, especially to pigeons. “It can only be C! It has to be C! I'll buy up all the stock!”he calls into the camera.
Reading tip: “Kill what annoys you!” – is that your pigeon solution, Limburg?
Malte Zierden In October 2025, a guest on an NDR talk show. He's wearing his famous Oßkar shirt.
Tristar Media/Getty Images
This is what Malte Zierden is now bringing to the table. The influencer is an animal rights activist, regularly travels abroad to rescue dogs, and a pigeon he called Oßkar once lived in his bathroom. His clips are seen millions of times. In his video from Thursday (April 16), in which he addresses Jauch's statements in detail, he shows excerpts from the program while wearing a pigeon costume: “No, Mr. Jauch. (…) That's wrong! Pigeons were once a part of us. They delivered our love letters, were war heroes. We made them dependent. People and pigeons were 'like that' and then they were replaced and left behind. These are homeless pets.” he says movedly.
“Dove well, all is well”
And he goes further: “You are hated, starved, killed and then you spread this: 'When I see people feeding pigeons, I become… They are rats of the air'” and quotes Günther Jauch at WWM.
Malte Zierden seems sad when he repeats what Günther Jauch, who he actually finds likeable, says about pigeons. He also doesn’t assume that Jauch means “evil”. He just says out loud, “what many people think. And that's the problem.” It is important to the pigeon influencer that he does not stir up hatred towards the moderator himself because of Jauch's aversion to pigeons. He comments on his post “Please no hate. Mr. Jauch only says out loud what many people think. Unfortunately 🖤🕊️ Pigeons need our backn”.
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Malte Zierden would like to go to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?”
“Hand on heart, Mr. Jauch, I think you're really great and I'm not the only one here. And that's exactly why your words feel so wrong. I don't want anything bad here, so I have a little idea here!” Zierden continues. And what is better than participating in the WWM for the benefit of pigeons? Malte Zierden asks Günther Jauch if he would like to invite him as a candidate to “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” Win money for pigeons!
How will Jauch react? That will perhaps still become apparent. Maybe the video, which garnered almost 90,000 likes on Zierden's account after 20 hours, will reach the 69-year-old. Will there be an invitation for the influencer afterwards? Malte Zierden is confident: “Dove good, everything is good.”
“Who wants to be a millionaire?” Stream in advance on RTL+
“Who wants to be a millionaire?” missed? No problem! Because on RTL+ you can watch the entire program at your leisure up to seven days after it was broadcast on TV. And: Regular episodes of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?” with Günther Jauch is even available in full length seven days in advance on RTL+. Have fun!
Sources used: Own RTL research, Instagram
