Romanian men’s team invited to a game show

After their history-making performance in Patras, the men’s team was invited to a weekly entertainment show, “Academia vedetelor” (The Stars’ academy), hosted by Dan Negru, who was one of the guests at Simona Amanar’s wedding. Marian Drăgulescu was the only one who competed alongside singers Rocsana Marcu and Emanuel, and actress Virginia Mirea, but he received plenty of help from teammates Ioan Suciu and Rares Orzată.

Afraid of snakes

Before the start of the show, the gymnasts thought it would be a good idea to change the show’s format and came up with a plan -after every segment on the game show, they ‘forced’ Dan Negru, the good-humored host of the show (whose profits are donated to charity) to perform a gym skill. If he refused, they threatened to withdraw Marian from the event. It was a brilliant idea, and it played a big part in making the show a big success. The only one who had a hard time smiling was the show’s host who tried as best he could do follow the gymnasts. The hardest event for Marian was the “mysterious aquarium.” Marian confessed backstage that “I’m really afraid of snakes.” And since you can run, but you can never hide from what you’re afraid of, he had to touch a snake for the first time in his life.

When it came time for the Karaoke competition, the gymnasts tried hard to sing a song of 3-rei Sud-Est, a Constanta-based band. The guys changed the song lyrics during rehearsal to pick on the show’s host some more and dedicate the song to him “When the sun rises, I wake up with Negru on my mind.” They kept trying to imitate the band’s style and not burst out laughing. The biggest surprise was Viviana, the little girl who determines the penalties for the losers on the show. "They tried to bribe me before the show," she said. She didn’t bear a grudge, though, and went up to the gymnasts after the show to get their autograph.

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