“My generation is done for”

Thomas Gottschalk’s final episode “Wetten, dass…?” is scheduled to be broadcast on November 25th. The moderator now announced the reason for his departure. He is no longer up to date and his “generation is done,” says the entertainer. But he wouldn’t be wistful at all.

Gottschalk is aware that “the risk of being misunderstood” is “incredibly high” for him. In the past, the moderator has had to withstand some shitstorms for his problematic statements. In 2021, he was noticed in the WDR program “The Last Instance” due to formulations that some interpreted as racist. In a guest article in “Welt am Sonntag”, he then wrote that he would “no longer use certain terms”.

“Perhaps I don’t necessarily have the right mental attitudes from my past that I need to function today,” says Gottschalk in an interview with “Bild” regarding the “Wetten, dass…?” ending. He would end the show “because I say things as unfiltered as they come to me. Today you always have to build safety filters into your thoughts so that they don’t blow up in your face. And this filter also creates scope for interpretation that you don’t actually want.”

“Wetten, dass ..?” has been around since 1981. At that time it was still with its inventor Frank Elstner, until Thomas Gottschalk took over the microphone in 1987 and moderated the show for almost 25 years. Although Wolfgang Lippert was briefly employed as presenter in 1992 and Markus Lanz in 2011 and the entertainment program took a break from 2014 to 2021, Gottschalk and “Wetten,dass..?” represented the nostalgic Saturday evening program for many German households.

For his last broadcast in November 2023, the entertainer will be alone on stage. His co-host Michelle Hunziker won’t be there this time. “I did the first show in Hof alone, I can do the last one too,” says Thomas Gottschalk with certainty. It is still unclear how the show will continue after him.