“That was a fantastic show, Thomas!” Cheered co-moderator Michelle Hunziker at the end of “Wetten, dass ..?” and when it comes to the question of whether this simple sentence is true or just wishful thinking, opinions will again differ. It was the first installment since last year’s revival, which was so raving and critically acclaimed that the perennial rascal of Saturday night entertainment didn’t have to ask twice to agree to a sequel.
At first it looks as if it could succeed this time: Gottschalk bathes visibly happy for two minutes in the warm rain of applause from the Friedrichshafen audience (“Ha, ha, ha – thank you, it’s just me. Sit down!”), Makes a joke about Olaf Scholz and then another one about his co-moderator (“As soon as you’re left alone for a moment, you get yourself a six-pack doc”) and then another one that leads to the first “sexist!” tweets (“No man has fallen asleep by Michelle’s side”) – so everything as always.
The fact that things are going to be different today, namely boring, is already evident from the first bet. It’s the bagger bet. The bagger bet – as the first bet. Whoever thought, ‘That’s the best idea! We put the bridle on the horse from behind, don’t bring the bagger bet to the end, but right at the beginning!’ didn’t have a good day. Of course, the digger’s bet remains great because: It’s the digger’s bet. This time, tiny holes are poked into eggs with the help of a monstrous excavator shovel.
For the first time in the long history of Baggerwetten, the excavator will be driven by a woman, Sandra Hasenauer from Austria. But 18 seasons of “Bauer sucht Frau” have brought nothing: the fact that women are also able to steer an excavator makes Michelle Hunziker gasp. That’s not all: “It’s really great that you see a woman with heels driving an excavator!” Says the 45-year-old. The two soccer players Alexandra Pop and Giulia Gwinn (whom Gottschalk calls Giuliana several times) are of course introduced by her as “power women”. Otherwise, everything else in Michelle’s moderation world is exactly as pink-colored as her dress: gorgeous, unbelievable and otherworldly!
The problem: “Everything is so great here, isn’t it?” Hunziker now moderates more than Gottschalk himself. She announces the bets and betting sponsors, interviews the guests on the couch and – that seems to be her most important task – fits Make sure Gottschalk doesn’t get too out of hand. It has something of supervised moderation. “Thomas, watch out – your pants!” Hunziker admonishes Gottschalk during a bet, as if she were his mother. You are torn between worry and being annoyed. Gottschalk mutates into a sidekick in his own show.
He no longer brings the most quick-witted sayings, but actor Christoph Maria Herbst (“Stromberg”). When singer Robbie Williams jokes about his thinning hair and enthusiastically recommends hair powder, the bald-headed Herbst replies dryly: “Better the powder on your head than in your nose,” a thoroughly crude joke at the expense of former cocaine user Robbie Williams.
US actor John Malkovich, on the other hand, has to be asked by Gottschalk whether it is true that he once went on a jello diet? Malkovich affirmed. Gottschalk: “Yes, and what did it bring? The hair didn’t grow from it anyway.” As the show progresses, Malkovich is seen sinking further and further into the couch. Apparently he doesn’t have Tom Hanks’ cell phone number, who could have warned him.
In addition, the bets have sometimes been more spectacular. A man hops up a tower of beer crates on a bicycle. Another recognizes board games by the sound they make when poured onto a table. Twins can tell 200 identical teddy bears apart by details like their nose folds. Two maxes (thrower and catcher both have the same name) try to throw mobile phones at 127 km/h on a roller coaster, but fail with a crash.
Eventually, the betting king becomes a man who squints so hard (“It’s called cross eye”) that he can recognize one fingerprint among thousands of other fingerprints that can be seen on two large screens. He wants to donate his winnings of 50,000 euros to the fight for his home town of Lützerath. The village in North Rhine-Westphalia is to be razed to the ground because the energy supplier RWE wants to mine lignite there. In the audience, “Lützi stays” is heard briefly during his performance. Gottschalk says: “You have your fans here.” When it is clear that 52 percent of the viewers have called for Marten Reiß, Gottschalk says: “Lützerath is saved.”
Herbert Grönemeyer provided the second political moment. The singer’s bet (“I dance very gracefully!”): He wants to pay the financially troubled Berliner Tafel for one month’s operating and maintenance costs. Although he wins his bet, he keeps his promise. After all, you can still rely on one.
