Mano Machinek, a German TV personality, has passed away after he crashed his car into a tree in late July. He was 37 years old.
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Machinek, who appeared on the Australian reality TV show Forsthause Rampensau with his partner Maria Maksimovic in 2022, died while driving a Porsche during a commercial shoot near Italy’s Lake Maggiore on July 30.
Multiple media outlets confirmed that Machinek was driving in his rented vehicle, identified as a blue Porsche 993 RS, when he lost control. The car veered off the road and fell into a slope, coming to a stop after crashing into a tree.
Machinek was said to be trapped in the vehicle following the crash. He died as emergency personnel attempted to get him out of the car.
Machinek’s Partner and Friend Speak Out Following His Sudden Death
Following the tragedy, Machinek’s partner Maksimovic took to her Instagram to share a video of a bridal shoot the couple did.
“There was a time when Mano cried every time he saw me in a wedding dress. Even the very first one – though it wasn’t even a beautiful dress. Then the second one, too,” she wrote. “As the years went by and we shot countless bridal campaigns together, I started worrying that the magic was gone. I thought maybe he had seen me in too many wedding dresses to ever look at me the way a man looks at his bride for the first time.”
Maksimovic then opened up about the photoshoot that left Machinek in tears.
“Then came a three-day shoot. Around 70 dresses. Somewhere around the 50th or 60th dress, I walked out… and he started crying again,” she shared. “He looked at me with so much love and said, ‘I don’t know what’s happening to me… I just love you so much.’
She further shared, “In that moment, I realized the magic had never faded. It was never about the dress. It was always about the way he loved me.”
In a post on Instagram, Machinek’s friend Ahmed “Scotland” Khader also paid tribute to him.
“It’s with great pain and heartache that I’m forced to say goodbye to yet another loved one,” he wrote. “My friend, my brother, a truly good man and one of the most passionate gearheads I’ve ever known @mano_machinek.”
Khader then wrote, “My prayers are with his family and the love of his life @maria.maksimovic, someone also dear to me and even more beautiful on the inside than what she is on the out. It pains me knowing what she must endure, because for those who know me well, know that I was once in her position too and the feeling is unimaginable.”
“This is our passion and our profession,” he added. “We take risks with our job driving these machines on the limit. It’s what makes us live life and love so fiercely.”
He also shared a video of Machinek.