The Saturday before Totensonntag is over: This year’s edition of “Wetten, dass..?” November 25th will be the last issue with Thomas Gottschalk (73). This was announced by ZDF in the evening.
The show will be “the 154th edition for showmaster Thomas Gottschalk – and at the same time his last”. According to earlier information, the program should come from Offenburg. It will take place without Michelle Hunziker as co-moderator.
“As far as Michelle is concerned, I agree with ZDF: beginning and end shake hands. I managed the first show alone, I can do it with the last one too,” said Gottschalk of the “Bunte”.
Gottschalk added to the “Bild” with a smile: “I don’t need a young, blonde woman by my side to show me where to go.” In the last issue, there were many viewers who perceived Hunziker, in her mid-forties, as speaking to Gottschalk during the course of the show.
“I would like to thank the audience, who has faithfully accompanied me through my life as a showmaster, and I am happy to host the show for the last time on this special occasion,” quoted ZDF Gottschalk in its message. “Bet that..?” was considered the biggest television show in Europe for decades.
The “Bild” gave Gottschalk a little more openly a reason for the exit: “The time for the big live entertainment on Saturday evening is just over.” However, it is not his farewell to television.
Gottschalk had “Wetten, dass…?” Taken over by show inventor Frank Elstner (81) in 1987 and moderated with a short break by Wolfgang Lippert until 2011. From autumn 2009 Hunziker was at his side.
After betting candidate Samuel Koch was seriously injured during a broadcast in December 2010, Gottschalk and Hunziker ended their “Wetten, dass..?” Moderation with a show in December 2011. Ten years ago, Hunziker once helped out the Gottschalk successor Markus Lanz, who until December 2014 moderated the show a total of 16 times.
In 2021, ZDF relaunched the TV classic as a one-off Saturday evening show with Thomas Gottschalk and Michelle Hunziker. After the great success with a good 14 million viewers, two more editions for 2022 and 2023 were announced. In 2022 more than 10 million watched.
Whether and how the format will continue after Gottschalk’s last edition, “ZDF will decide in due course after the broadcast,” said the public broadcaster in Mainz.
