Daniel Küblböck: New documentary reveals secrets before mysterious disappearance!

Daniel Küblböck: New documentary reveals secrets before mysterious disappearance!

On September 9, 2018, former DSDS participant Daniel Küblböck disappeared during a cruise in the North Atlantic off Newfoundland. In the hours before his disappearance, he sent a desperate voice message to his ex-partner Manuel Pilz asking for help. Küblböck expressed his wish to end the cruise on the “AIDAluna” early and travel to New York. After a surveillance camera recorded a person climbing over the ship's railing and jumping into the ocean on the morning of September 9th, an extensive search operation was launched in the following days, but was unsuccessful. Recently, Küblböck was officially declared dead, a sad end to the search for a polarizing figure who fit the deepest socio-cultural aspects of her time.

The last months of his life are discussed in the new ARD documentary “Küblböck Story – your Lana Kaiser”, which will be available in the media library on the occasion of his 40th birthday on August 27, 2025. Küblböck had undergone major personal changes during this period and increasingly appeared in a female identity as Lana Kaiser. He experimented with feminine clothing and was heavily burdened by conflicts that arose during the cruise, including homophobic comments that bothered him.

A turbulent career

Küblböck gained notoriety with his participation in the first season of “Deutschland sucht den Superstar” in 2002/2003, where he took third place. His influence extended across various artistic areas, which ensured him a polarizing figure on German television. Other experiences that weighed on him included his participation in the jungle camp in 2004. He himself said that the jungle was a terrible experience for him, and it will never be forgotten how he was showered with cockroaches in a glass coffin during a jungle test. Küblböck burst into tears at the time and had the feeling that he wasn't doing justice to the audience.

Years later, he continued to suffer from memories of this experience. The upcoming documentary series will also discuss the last voice message he sent to his ex-boyfriend and the associated challenges in his personal development. In the months before his disappearance, he was in the process of redefining himself and realizing who he really wanted to be.

The ARD documentary will be broadcast in three parts and illuminates not only Küblböck's life and career, but also the search for his identity and the deep contradictions that shaped him. A deeply moving chapter in German television history is thus prepared, encouraging the viewer to think about the complexity of a life beyond public perception and to give it individual facets.

In memory of Daniel Küblböck, we are urged to take looking and listening seriously in order to promote understanding of a person's inner struggles.