Frank Elstner about “Betting
“The uniqueness of this program has been lost”
Frank Elstner and Thomas Gottschalk on “Wetten,dass..?”.
© imago images/Future Image
Thomas Gottschalk moderates “Wetten,dass..?” one last time. Is there a sequel without him? That’s what inventor Frank Elstner says.
Frank Elstner (81) no longer wants to speculate “about the ifs and buts of ‘Wetten, dass…?'”. In an interview with the “Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung” said the show’s creator about a possible sequel: “About ‘Wetten, dass…?’ “Unfortunately, there has been so much talk and so much copying that the uniqueness of this program has been lost.”
On November 25th, Thomas Gottschalk (73) will host the show for the last time. Elstner continues to reveal in the interview that he is looking forward to the last show, which he “will most likely follow in the audience.” He hopes “that it will be a nice farewell that will be remembered for a long time.”
Thomas Gottschalk: A farewell forever
Thomas Gottschalk had previously stated in the current issue of the weekly newspaper “Die Zeit” that for him this time it was a forever farewell to “Wetten,dass..?”. The showmaster also said that with this farewell he was also “taking a bit of a break”: “Before I just create shitstorms because I grab women by the knee, I’d better stop.” Gottschalk admits that he feels “a certain fear” of going against the spirit of the times.
“I’m now considered the father of men’s jokes, which I never wanted to be. For a while now, I’ve been seen as an old, white man who hasn’t understood anything. I don’t want to draw attention to my old age. According to the motto: He said stupid things again.” Today the socialization of younger people is different.
Comeback in 2021
Originally “Bet, that…?” Discontinued in 2014. In November 2021, however, the show actually made a one-off comeback. With almost 14 million viewers, the return of the classic was so successful that ZDF planned further annual editions. The station has not yet announced what will happen next with the show.