TVHave to go home after exactly one turn in the final weeks of ‘The smartest person in the world’. It was clearly not in the scenario that newcomer Jelle Cleymans had written. Everything initially seemed to go according to plan. Until Dutch flower bulbs killed the singer, deep in the final against ‘lucky bastard’ Riadh Bahri. He could think of Dendermonde as an East Flemish city within 1 second, starting with the letter D. That’s how he sent Jelle for a walk. For the sake of completeness: Kobe Ilsen won again.
Changing game picture in the penultimate episode of the first final week. For a long time, Riadh Bahri seemed to be heading for victory with his fingers in his nose, but skillfully ruined a large lead by first playing a bad photo round and then also going wrong as a VRT journalist in a relatively easy and especially well-known fragment about ‘Leuven Flemish’. It is remarkable that none of these clever finalists knew that Paul Goossens was one of the frontmen of ‘Leuven Vlaams’ in May ’68. In a particularly mediocre final, where both Jelle and Riadh were stiff with stress, the news anchor had just that little bit more luck. No fewer than 9 questions, with only 23 correct answers, were needed to ensure the verdict.
Fortunately, the cheerful trio Jan Jaap van der Wal, Amelie Albrecht and Riadh Bahri were very good in terms of the number of witty interventions. Riadh, in particular, scored highly in giving ‘flapuit answers’, for which an average VRT journalist would kindly thank them. We would therefore not be surprised if Bahri was allowed to appear as a jury member during the next edition of ‘The smartest man’.
Gym shoes
Another striking finding. Without ladies in the quiz seats, the number of cloakroom outliers dropped significantly. No designs by well-known or unknown friends. Three pairs of sneakers and some casual clothes. Even Kobe left his tailored suit and fashionable shoes in the locker room.
With the arrival of Delphine Lecompte, the first week of the finals is almost over tomorrow. It didn’t quite live up to expectations. Moreover, the really big guns – and we mainly mean Danira Boukhriss Terkessidis and Bart Cannaerts – will soon have to make the difference. It’s going to be another exciting quiz week.
The best quotes
Jelle (describes his father): “That is actually a full row in itself.”
Jan Jaap (about the candidates): “Like K3. We have a red one, we have a black one and one who can’t sing. It is fantastic that we have all three of them in the seats here.”
Jan Jaap (about ‘preppers’): “Weird that you tell people to hoard and that they come home with guinea pigs.”
Jan Jaap (gives good advice to Kobe): “Check the date on which you will die and pass it on to your friend Viktor on time. That he can be there at your funeral and not be at some gala again.”
Amelie (hugging in an hour): “I hope that’s with a happy ending…”
Erik (about the end of the quiz): “An anticlimax. That’s what it will end with for one of you.”
(Read more below the video.)
Hilarious moments
Riadh Bahri goes completely into indulgence mode and tells how he hoarded at the start of the corona crisis. “I was also one of those marginalized who sat at home with too much toilet paper and canned food. I admit that honestly. During the Ukraine crisis, I counted how long it took to drive from the VRT to my in-laws in Hasselt in case the bomb falls and whether the VRT has a bomb cellar.” To which Kobe: “The VRT has that.” And Jan Jaap: “But they haven’t told Riadh yet.”
Amelie Albrecht gives a monologue about why she would want to go to a rest home. “You have a button there for everything and finally no one looking you up. I’m counting down.”
Hilarity everywhere when the three male candidates take turns heading towards Erik Van Looy to give him a good, big hug.
Riadh is his quick self again and blurts out that ‘red wine’ is the code word for him and his husband to sneak out of a party. Well, that’s what the friends know.
Amelie starts a long chat about acting in ‘Home’. Riadh chimes in and makes it clear that he is annoyed that the world of ‘Home’ is only five days a week. To which Jan Jaap: “Can someone explain the concept of fiction to Riadh. It’s not really what’s happening there.”
Tipping moments
A mixed game play in this third final episode. Jelle Cleymans starts the best, does a fine ‘Open Door’, but kicks on the spot during the ‘Puzzle’. Kobe passes again for that ‘Puzzle’, so that he drops to last place with a considerable gap.
And then the quiz flips. Kobe quickly solves his photo question, and Jelle knows very little about TV series. Kobe is grateful for that. Riadh messes up during his photo round and only gains 11 seconds here. Kobe takes advantage again. The three candidates are a handful of seconds apart.
Everything is decided in the video round. Jelle opens strongly with his video about Olivia Newton-John, but Kobe does it even better, scoring a perfect 150 seconds. Riadh can still win perfectly, but hardly knows anything about ‘Leuven Vlaams’ and thus favors the victory to Kobe.
In a very long final, Jelle and Riadh fiddle around. “The lights went out for a while,” Riadh jokes when he can’t name countries that have the same name as their capital. Ultimately, a question about the most popular flower bulbs in the Netherlands decides about profit and loss. The gentlemen drop to a 1-1 score, whereupon Riadh wins with a quick and correct answer about an East Flemish municipality with the initial letter D.
(Read more below the video.)
The final score (for the final game)
1. Kobe Ilsen: 401 seconds
2. Jelle Cleymans: 364 seconds
3. Riadh Bahri: 293 seconds
Play the fourth final episode
1. Delphine Lecompte, 4 entries with 2 wins
2. Riadh Bahri, won 1 direct in the final weeks and survived 2 finals
3. Kobe Ilsen, in the final weeks already won 2 times directly and survived 1 final
Then re-enter in this order:
Liesbeth Van Impe, Jonas Geirnaert, Danira Bouhkriss and in the grand final Bart Cannaerts.
The final standings for the final weeks
1. Bart Cannaerts: 17 participations, 9 victories, 7 finals won, 1 final lost
2. Danira Boukhriss: 12 entries, 5 wins, 7 finals won
3. Jonas Geirnaert: 5 entries, 2 victories, won 2 finals, lost 1 final
4. Liesbeth Van Impe: 4 participations, 3 victories, 1 final lost
Delphine Lecompte: 4 entries, 2 wins, 1 final won, 1 final lost
Jelle Cleymans: 4 participations, 2 victories, 1 final won, 1 final lost
Merol: 4 entries, 1 win, won 2 finals, lost 1 final
8. Riadh Bahri: 3 entries, 1 win, 1 final won, 1 final lost
Lotte Vanwezemael: 3 participations, 1 victory, 1 final won, 1 final lost
10. Kobe Ilsen: 2 entries, 2 wins
Also watch this video about ‘The smartest person’:
Also read:
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Will Smith: does Erik Van Looy get hit by Koen De Bouw in ‘The very smartest person’?
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