“Celebrity Big Brother” 2024: Max Kruse opens up about the escort scandal in the national team

In the “Celebrity Big Brother” container, Max Kruse reveals intimate details from his time as a professional soccer player. In episode 4 of the Sat. 1 show, the former national player spoke openly about an incident that could have permanently damaged his career. But what is behind his story and how does the DFB assess the events?

“Celebrity Big Brother” 2024: Did Max Kruse’s escort affair destroy his World Cup chances?

Max Kruse, who once played for the DFB, is currently causing a stir on “Celebrity Big Brother” 2024. In a quiet whirlpool session with his roommates, Matze Höhn, Mike Heiter and Daniel Lopes, he talks about an incident that happened in 2013 during an international match against England. As Kruse openly admits, he ordered escorts to his hotel room several times – which, in his eyes, ultimately became his downfall.

Particularly spicy: Kruse did not order the escort to another floor that evening in London, as usual, but directly to his room. “It’s like that in the national team: When you’re in a hotel, you have the whole floor to yourself. And then you just take another floor. Instead of the 6th, the 2nd floor. And then she checks in, and then you go to the other floor too,” Kruse also says on the Sat. 1website quoted about the show. But on that fateful evening he wasn’t really paying attention and was inattentive. The lady who was supposed to keep him company went to see him on the national team floor.

There he – and his companion – ran into the arms of, of all people, the then DFB assistant coach Hansi Flick. “Five minutes later there’s a knock on my door,” Kruse recalled to his roommates. Flick and the then DFB manager Oliver Bierhoff stood in front of his door and asked him to send the lady home. Despite “frustrating” about the conversation announced for the next day, Kruse shows little guilt: “But a lot of people did that. Also in the hotel and also that evening. Just on a different floor.”

The DFB and Kruse’s non-nomination: Was the escort scandal the real reason?

To this day, Kruse believes that this incident prevented him from taking part in the 2014 World Cup and thus indirectly deprived him of the title of world champion. Kruse told his roommates in the “Celebrity Big Brother” house that he found the DFB’s decision to be “sneaky” at the time.

According to Kruse, after the escort debacle he was given the choice: “Either you concentrate on football, or you don’t play the World Cup in the summer.” But despite his efforts, he was left out of the squad. Kruse reports in episode 4: “Then they really fucked me. It’s always the case at the World Cup or European Championships, there’s a press conference and then there’s a provisional squad and 30 are named. And two days before the official nomination of the 30, the DFB called me: ‘We still have to shoot a short portrait with you for the provisional squad nomination’. And when you hear that, you think yes, you are in the preliminary one. Then I thought: Cool. And then I’m sitting in the restaurant in the evening when my cell phone rings. Then the coach called me and I thought: Oh great, the lion calls me and tells me I’m there.”

But then the sudden turnaround. As he further told his roommates, the call came with an unexpected message: “‘Yes Max, we have decided that you won’t be there.’ I was blown away. That’s the only time I caught myself being in a trance. I was a different person. That was the craziest event in football for me.”

The DFB decided against him, and the tournament that crowned Germany with the world championship title took place without Kruse. A bitter experience, as the 36-year-old explains. “That would have been cool. To become world champion.”

Max Kruse and the DFB: What does Jogi Löw say?

However, Kruse’s statements during “Celebrity Big Brother” have to be viewed with a pinch of caution. The former national coach, Jogi Löw, had already commented on Max Kruse’s allegations to Bild in February 2024. In the interview, Löw made it clear that Kruse’s non-nomination was purely for sporting reasons. “He simply wasn’t good enough,” explained Löw, adding: “The pace and dynamism of his game weren’t enough.” The escort incident wasn’t the main reason why he decided against Kruse.

Löw denied Kruse’s claim that the escort scandal had ended his career at the DFB. Oliver Bierhoff, then manager of the national team, is also said to have agreed to this.

By the way: In the new season of “Celebrity Big Brother” 2024, the meeting between Mike Heiter and his ex-partner Elena Miras causes conflict in the first few days. Despite their clear announcement to focus exclusively on winning, it quickly becomes clear that the past of the two reality stars is causing tension. The two’s former relationship is the main topic of conversation in the container. Leyla Lahouar, Mike’s current girlfriend and also a participant in the show, also suspects that Mike might still have feelings for his ex.