Thomas Gottschalk celebrates his farewell to the ZDF format “Wetten,dass..?” with many stars, but without Samuel Koch. That is the reason why.
Offenburg – Thomas Gottschalk (73) and “Wetten,dass..?” kept German television audiences in suspense for decades. Spectacular bets, prominent star guests, then the cancellation, then a comeback – now the showmaster will say goodbye to the format once and for all. One person who won’t be there is Samuel Koch (36), who represents the dark side of the show like no other. Gottschalk himself now explains why he was not invited.
Star guests at the “Wetten,dass..?” farewell: These celebrities say goodbye to Gottschalk
On Saturday, November 25th, Thomas Gottschalk will host “Wetten,dass..?” for the last time. The entertainer is finally saying goodbye to the format, which will of course be celebrated with a live special broadcast. Guests include big names like Helene Fischer (39), who will perform a new version of “Atemlos” together with Shirin David (28) – in keeping with the tenth anniversary of the song.
Music icon Cher (77) is also there, singing the song “DJ Play a Christmas Song” and ringing in the Christmas season. Also a guest: the British boy band Take That, consisting of Gary Barlow (52), Mark Owen (51) and Howard Donald (55), who sing a song from their new album “This Life”. In addition to Gottschalk, Matthias Schweighöfer (42), Jan Josef Liefers (59), Bastian Schweinsteiger (39) and a few other stars also take a seat on the couch.
Samuel Koch not invited: Why “Wetten, dass…?” is saying goodbye to Gottschalk without him
However, someone else who particularly shaped the forty-year history of “Wetten,dass..?” is not there: Samuel Koch. The actor and author suffered an accident on the show as a betting candidate on December 4, 2010 and has been paralyzed from the neck down ever since. Because of this incident, Thomas Gottschalk resigned as presenter and the show was initially discontinued in 2014 before being brought back in 2021.
The showmaster explains in an interview with “Bild.de” why Koch is not part of Gottschalk’s farewell show: “We’ve already thought about that. The editorial team issues invitations, not me. Sometimes I would have preferred other guests than those sitting there. But they often had other plans or wanted too much money. Most of the time the editors ask me for my opinion. I told them about Samuel: His fate was certainly the darkest hour of my TV career. Of course, when we say goodbye, we want to say goodbye as the happy event that we always were and wanted to be.”
Speaking of which: In the last “Wetten,dass..?” edition with Thomas Gottschalk there will of course be a forklift bet. But what else can viewers expect? Sources used: ZDF.de, Bild.de