From now on he only wants to say “Great, the bet is valid” in private: Thomas Gottschalk has come away from the ZDF show “Wetten, dass…?” with a lot of humor, emotional words, well-known stars and strong bets in Offenburg. adopted.
With emotional words and accompanied by lots of applause, showmaster Thomas Gottschalk from the ZDF classic “Wetten,dass..?” adopted. There was a standing ovation on Saturday evening in Offenburg for the visibly moved presenter. “We had a good time together,” the 73-year-old shouted to the around 2,000 people in the Baden Arena.
Gottschalk also explained that it was not a sad event. “I’m not desperate, my life goes on and I’m looking forward to everything that comes,” he added before he was driven out of the hall with an excavator. The surprise guest on the excavator was comedian Mike Krüger, a companion of Gottschalk in past TV decades.
Gottschalk is worried about shitstorms
Two main reasons motivated him to write “Wetten, dass…?” to finally put an end to it, said Gottschalk. It’s neither his physical nor his mental condition, “they were never that great.” But he would find it pointless to moderate if he no longer knew his own guests. He also has to be increasingly concerned about the so-called shitstorms on social networks: he used to talk on TV like he did at home. “Now I talk differently at home than I do on TV, and that’s not nice either.”
It was Gottschalk’s 154th broadcast – which he ended unusually on time. Normally, decent overdrafts are a trademark of his. What was also unusual for some viewers was that co-host Michelle Hunziker was missing this time. Gottschalk announced in the summer that he wanted to host the show alone again.
Thomas Gottschalk with guests Cher, Stefanie Stappenbeck and Jan-Josef Liefers on the betting sofa.
Guests like Schweighöfer, Helene Fischer and Cher
He welcomed the actor Matthias Schweighöfer as the first prominent guest on the famous show sofa. British boy band Take That performed their cult hit “Back for Good”. Gary Barlow, Mark Owen and Howard Donald were on stage in southwest Baden-Württemberg. The singers Helene Fischer and Shirin David also performed together. Together they performed Fischer’s hit “Atemlos”, which was first released ten years ago. Gottschalk then slid into a discussion with Shirin David on the celebrity couch about feminism and influencers. The singer countered. Knowing Gottschalk, he then made silly statements like: “Let me babble here.”
World star Cher also took a seat on the large TV couch. It wasn’t her first time on the show, and the singer and Gottschalk also know each other from Malibu. He said he once met her there in the shoe store. Gottschalk was well prepared – after the last edition there was criticism that only Hunziker had the show under control.
However, there were still mistakes – for example, Gottschalk said Schweinsteiger instead of Schweighöfer. Former professional footballer Bastian Schweinsteiger was introduced as “Bastian Schweigsteiger”. Jan-Josef Liefers, also invited as a guest, then had Gottschalk practice “Schweinsteiger, Stappenbeck, Schweighöfer” as a staff rhyme. The band Rolling Stones also said goodbye to him in a video message displayed during the show.
Nostalgia bet brings together all of the previous betting kings
The last betting queen was Julia Reichert from Munich, who was already at Gottschalk in 2005 with a children’s bet. Reichert won with a nostalgia bet, for which she converted all the betting kings from the show’s history and their bets into colorful barcodes and then successfully decoded them with the correct date and location. She was able to prevail against a candidate whose dog could recognize numbers spoken in English and against a chicken farmer who could distinguish roosters by their “kikeriki” call.
The outside bet was spectacular, in which eight men from the Swiss rope pulling club Stans-Oberdorf pulled the seven-ton Stanserhorn cable car ten meters uphill. The same bet took place 30 years ago – but unlike the Swiss candidates at the time, the men made it this time.
Thomas Gottschalk and Frank Elstner hug at the end of the show.
Farewell after 36 years
Gottschalk paid the inventor of “Wetten,dass..?” the greatest compliment. and the show’s first presenter, Frank Elstner, who sat in the audience. “I have to say to be honest, I didn’t have the feeling that I was in the last show. I had the feeling that I was invited to a show at Thomas Gottschalk’s prime,” said Elstner. The 81-year-old hugged Gottschalk and praised his work. “I’m grateful that you lasted this long,” he said. At the beginning, Elstner announced him as a “legend”.
After 36 years and with a comparatively discreet outfit – a suit in light cardinal red with velvet slippers – Thomas Gottschalk ended his career as a betting presenter. Through “Bet that…?” He became a showmaster legend and the entertainment program became probably the largest in Europe. Special moments were shown again in the credits. For example, how he allowed himself to be dipped in mustard after losing bets or how he danced on stage as the “Ballet Prince” of Swan Lake.
Gottschalk had already left the show in 2011, and in 2014 “Wetten, dass…?” set. There was a celebrated comeback in 2021, after which ZDF scheduled two more episodes with Gottschalk. The station has not yet announced what will happen after his departure.