“Bet
Helene Fischer and ABBA in a duet
Thomas Gottschalk’s (left) “Wetten, dass ..?” Couch was as prominent as ever: Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson from ABBA along with the pregnant Helene Fischer.
© getty / Andreas Rentz / Getty Images
He came, saw and exaggerated: Thomas Gottschalk presented “Wetten, dass ..?” – also with Frank Elstner at his side.
On February 14, 1981, a format saw the light of day that would make TV history: “Wetten, dass ..?” Show inventor and presenter Frank Elstner (79) welcomed famous sponsors from all over the world to the sounds of the Eurovision fanfare. Even more than Elstner, however, Thomas Gottschalk (71) shaped the heyday of the evening-filled show – over-dressing was a good form for him.
With a little delay, “Wetten, dass ..?” celebrated its 40th anniversary in a one-off special broadcast from Nuremberg on November 6th. In the luggage everything that the show has always stood for: wacky bets, music, lots of stars like Helene Fischer (37), Udo Lindenberg (75) and the BB from ABBA – and Gottschalk with Schalk in the eternally blond curly neck.
Standing ovations for Gottschalk
At the beginning of “Wetten, dass ..?” presents. He was allowed to enjoy standing ovations and thunderous applause for minutes. “I am happy that you are so happy!” Said Gottschalk with glassy eyes. But then he stated, not wrongly: “We haven’t done anything yet. Sit down!”
As the first guest, the entertainer got his former moderator Michelle Hunziker (44) on the couch. After a few disgusting sayings about her ex-husband Eros Ramazzotti (58) and “this gendering”, he was finally able to say the famous words again after a decade: “Great, the bet is valid!” An environmentally conscious dog should be able to properly separate plastic, paper and organic waste, claimed its owner. He can, typed Hunziker. He could.
“She performs in twos”
The first music act of the evening followed with pop star Helene Fischer. Not an easy task, after all, she “performs in pairs”, says Gottschalk. After her song “Zero to 100”, Fischer couldn’t quite get by with baby talk on the couch. But she didn’t let the old show master pull her out of her nose. “I’ll tell you that backstage, Thomas,” said Fischer’s diplomatic but certain Gossip rejection.
Of course, as a betting partner, she was awarded the children’s bet of the special consequence. The boy Emil made a bet that he could only hang around by his feet on the loops of a subway. He mastered the bet so confidently that Fischer immediately offered him a job: “I’ll take you on tour 2023!”
Rave about and with ABBA
The first male guests of the evening came in pairs. Björn Ulvaeus (76) and Benny Andersson (74) from ABBA entered the exhibition hall in Nuremberg and enchanted the audience and the other star guests alike. As agreed as they were about the joy of their comeback after 40 years, they were equally divided on their bet, in which the aim was to blindly throw darts at selected countries on a world map. . To the delight of the audience, since betting debts had to be settled in any case – a small live music performance.
And so the losing bet gave us the first ABBA-Fischer duet in world history: Together with Ulvaeus and Andersson, they smacked the world hit “SOS”. Due to this highlight, the two Swedes had to go again – “catch their plane.”
The first and last bet on the show
A men’s duo left, a men’s duo came: Joko Winterscheidt (42) and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf (38) were given the honor of being allowed to first boldly advertise their home broadcaster ProSieben, then to be sponsors of the outdoor bets. In addition, actress Svenja Jung (28) and actor Heino Ferch (58) took a seat on the couch, panic rocker Udo Lindenberg (75) earned the final musical performance.
The last accent of the show was allowed to be set by the man who set the very first 40 years ago. “Wetten, dass ..?” – Inventor Frank Elstner presented the final bet of the evening – of course a digger bet that was very close to being lost. The show ended almost 40 minutes late with another tradition of its 40 years. This time too, as so often before, it made no difference whether a bet was won or lost. And so in the end, the failed darts globetrotter could look forward to the prize money of 50,000 euros.