Frank Elstner

Timm Franz Maria Elstner (born 19 April 1942), known as Frank Elstner, is an Austrian-born German television presenter.

Early life

Elstner went to school in Rastatt in Germany and gained his first experience in broadcasting as a child when he acted in radio plays for the station then known as Südwestfunk, now as Südwestrundfunk, which served the Rhineland Palatinate and southern Baden-Württemberg.

Career

Elstner first became famous as a presenter (and later as the programme director) for the German radio broadcasting programme on Radio Luxembourg (until 1983). He started out in television with shows such as Spiel ohne Grenzen ("Game with No Limits"; the same as It's a Knockout) and Die Montagsmaler ("The Monday Sketchers"; a game similar to Pictionary).

In 1981, he invented the show Wetten, dass..? ("Wanna bet..?") which became extremely popular and was, for some time, one of the most successful shows in Europe. That year, Elstner was presented with a Bambi, the German television and media prize. In Britain the show was copied as You Bet! and ran from 1988 to 1997. Elstner presented the German show himself until 1987, appearing 39 times altogether, before handing it over to Thomas Gottschalk.

Elstner worked for ZDF television company for many years but moved to RTL when viewing figures dropped. There, he presented the German version of the quiz show Jeopardy!. He also has his own company, Elstnertainment, which develops new ideas for TV shows and sells them to both public service and private television companies.