There he was again, as if he had never been away. On Saturday evening Thomas Gottschalk hosted the big anniversary show of “Wetten, dass ..?” and was greeted with a standing ovation. The first program ran 40 years ago on February 18, 1981. Inventor Frank Elstner presented himself before handing it over to Gottschalk. That stopped after competitor Samuel Koch was seriously injured in December 2010. Guests in Nuremberg on Saturday evening included Helene Fischer, Joko Winterscheidt and Klaas Heufer-Umlauf, Udo Lindenberg, ABBA members Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson and singer Zoe Wees. Many of the guests agreed that it shouldn’t be the last broadcast.