WHO İS ACUN ILICALI?

AqxB...ce4w

8 Feb 2024

Born in Edirne in 1969, he is a Turkish television producer and presenter. He is the producer of some of the most successful programs of Turkish television such as Acun Firarda, Varı? Yok musun?, Fear Factor, Survivor, Yetenek Sizsiniz Turkey.

The second child of Ergün and İlknur Ilıcalı, born in Erzurum, Ilıca district, Acun was born on May 29, 1969 in Edirne. He has an older brother named Ömer Cenker Ilıcalı. His father was a contractor and his mother was a university educated manager. He started at the age of 5 and completed his primary and secondary education at Edirne İstiklâl Primary School. Acun started his high school education at Kadıköy Maarif College in Istanbul and after graduating from Kadıköy Anatolian High School, he enrolled in the Department of English Language Teaching at Istanbul University, but his university life ended after 7 years without graduating. He lost his grandmother and grandfather, whom he expressed in every interview that he loved them very much, in a traffic accident.

At the age of 19, he married Seda Ilıcalı in 1988 and had a daughter named Banu from this marriage. He lost his parents in a traffic accident in 1990, 10 months after the birth of his daughter.

After divorcing his wife, he had a major accident with his motorcycle on Bağdat Street in 1994. His close friend sitting behind him lost his life in the accident. Acun Ilıcalı's left arm was broken and a platinum was placed in his arm after an operation with 36 stitches.
In 1995, he started to trade by opening a jeans shop, but he was not successful. After his undergraduate education, he took the university exams again and although he won the English Language Teaching department, he gave up studying the department.

A friend of his uncle's son Bekir introduced Acun Ilıcalı to İrfan Şahin, who was a financial controller at Show TV at the time. Thanks to him, Acun met İlker Yasin, and when he impressed him with his knowledge of soccer, he was hired on a trial basis. Despite being a staunch Fenerbahce fan, he became a Beşiktaş correspondent. As a Beşiktaş reporter, when he became friendly with football players and managed to conduct special interviews, his star shone in an instant and he was transferred to Şansal Büyüka's team, Show TV. He became Şansal Büyüka's favorite employee in the Televole fury.

In the years when Televole was a sports magazine, he started to present a section of his own within this program and traveled around the world within this section. Then he continued to present this episode in 2002 with a separate program called Acun Firarda. It became the most watched travel program and he traveled to 105 countries with this adventure. He took part in the cast of Dokun Bana and Biri Bizi Gözetliyor programs and worked as a co-presenter.

In 2005, he founded the production company Acun Medya. He became the producer, jury and host of Fear Factor, Survivor, Girls - Boys, Survivor Turkey - Greece, Survivor Lions - Canaries, Varısın Yok musun, Giants League, Yetenek Sizsiniz and Yok Böyle Dans. The programs Yoksa Rüya mi (Or is it a dream?) presented by Uğur Dündar and Söyle Söyabilirsen (Tell me if you can tell me) presented by Behzat Uygur were also produced by Acun Ilıcalı. He also produced and hosted the O Voice Turkey and Survivor Celebrities - Volunteers competitions.
In 2005, at the age of 36, he became one of the tax record holders.

He has performed stand-up shows in various parts of Anatolia, including universities in Turkey. In his stand-up shows, he conveyed what happened to him throughout his professional life to the audience in a funny language.
He took part in Show TV's social responsibility project called '81 Provinces 81 Schools' and the program raised 3 million 725 thousand 563 YTL.

He married Seda Ilıcalı, a friend from university, in 1988 when he was 19 years old. He had a daughter named Banu (b.1989) from this marriage. When he was 24 years old, he divorced in 1993.

Acun has two more daughters, Leyla and Yasemin, from his second marriage to Zeynep Yılmaz in 2003 and is the father of 3 daughters.

In 2010, his wife Zeynep Ilıcalı filed for divorce, claiming that he cheated on her with 20-year-old Şeyma Subaşı. Acun Ilıcalı, who agreed with lawyer Kezban Hatemi, who is the lawyer of famous names, did not accept his wife's allegations. In September 2011, they reconciled and the divorce case was dropped.

In 2005, he founded the production company Acun Medya in 2005.
In the 2011 taxation period, Acun Ilıcalı, who was accrued 2 million 836 thousand 191 lira income tax for his income from activities such as speaker and presenter, entered the list from 62nd place.

Between 2007 and 2008, he produced the current affairs program "Yoksa Rüya Mı?" presented by Uğur Dündar.
In 2008, he produced a music contest to know the lyrics of Turkish Pop Music songs, hosted by Behzat Uygur. In 2014, Murat Dalkılıç hosted the same program, which started to be broadcast on tv8 channel.

He was the producer, jury member and host of the programs Fear Factor, Survivor Girls - Boys, Survivor Turkey - Greece, Survivor Lions - Canaries, Varısın Yok musun, Giants League, Yetenek Sizsiniz, Yok Böyle Dans, Survivor Celebrities - Volunteers and O Ses Türkiye.
In 2012, Acun Ilıcalı became one of the most talked about names in the Survivor Celebrities - Volunteers competition, which was filmed in the Dominican Republic, where he was the producer and presenter.

The new Survivor series "Survivor Celebrities Volunteers 2013" prepared by Acun Medya It started on Sunday, March 17, 2013 on Star TV with the presentation of Acun Ilıcalı.
Acun Ilıcalı, who previously produced Survivor Lions Canaries (2006), Survivor Turkey Greece (2007), Survivor Girls Boys (2010) and Survivor Celebrities Volunteers (2011 and 2012), appeared with Survivor Celebrities Volunteers 3.

Acun Ilıcalı, who made a name for himself as Turkey's most prominent producer in the television industry, which he entered as a reporter, announced that he now owns his own TV channel by purchasing tv8 on November 14, 2013. He wrote on Twitter that he had agreed with Mehmet Nazif Günal, the president of MNG group and the owner of tv8 channel, and that the purchasing process had started.

In 2014, he left Star TV and produced television programs called "Ninja Warrior Turkey", "Para Bende", "Hülya Avşar Show", "Arda'nin Mutfağı", "Aileler Yarışıyor", "Ver Fırına", "Kel Alaka", "Akademi", "Ütopya"; In 2015, he produced television programs called "Rising Star Turkey", "İşte Benim Stilim".

In 2014, he launched a competition program called Utopia, which was shown on tv8 channel. In 2016, he produced the competition program called "Here's My Style Celebrities".

Rewards :

2018 45th Golden Butterfly Awards Best Male Presenter
2019 Ege University Business Community 5th Crystal Collar Business Awards Business Person of the Year
2020 46th Golden Butterfly Awards Best Male Presenter
2021 47th Golden Butterfly Awards Best Male Presenter