How do you get dozens of people on one table? Fifty young gymnasts from Leeuwarden showed live on TV on Saturday how to do this. Via a run-up and a somersault, that is. Mandy from Groningen had the leading role and was allowed to estimate how much time they needed for this.
You start on the outside, then fill the inside and then work your way up. This is how, says gymnastics coach Chantal Vellinga, you build a human tower on a table of 1 by 2 meters.
One player against the whole of the Netherlands
At All Against 1, one candidate competes live in the studio against the entire Netherlands. Both the candidate and the players at home are instructed to estimate the outcomes of unique and special experiments.
Not looking forward to it
When she signed up for the RTL program All Against 1 , she actually didn’t know yet that this was the intention. Yes, there was a sample video in the recruitment email from TV producer Endemol, an excerpt from the German TV show Laws, thatss..? . “But I didn’t finish watching the video and just gave up on us.”
The 2019 gymnastics coach of the year thought it was a matter of a trampoline, a somersault, onto the table and then just keep walking. Until one of ‘the girls’ asked her: “Did you also see that we all have to stay on that table!?”
To focus
And so a double-decker bus full of gymnasts, from 6 to 22 years old, left Leeuwarden on Saturday morning for the studio in Amsterdam. There was still room for two dress rehearsals in the afternoon. “That was the first time that we were all really complete.”
The tension rose for a moment, after it became apparent that it was not always possible to get up the tower via a somersault. “And someone got a heel on her nose. That was a pain for a while, and then it went away again.”
But after the 4 p.m. dress rehearsal, they knew for sure. This will work. What was the trick? “They had to focus even more on the place they occupied on the table. Even more put together. Sometimes we also say: cuddle!”
Game show
And then, just after eight, the cameras start rolling. The main character of the game show today is Mandy, 31 years old, from the province of Groningen. Her first question: how long will it take before the table is filled with fifty gymnasts?
TV viewers on the couch play the game on their smartphones. If the leading player is closest to the final score, she will receive the amount of money. But if the audience is closer on average, a lucky one will be chosen from these participants.
The latter appears not to be necessary. Mandy bets 500 euros on 2 minutes and 33 seconds. That is awfully close to the target time that gymnastics coach Vellinga gave her ladies in advance.
‘Super proud’
Landing on the tower twice is not quite successful, but fortunately each run-up is allowed again. Ultimately, the gymnasts recorded a finishing time live on TV that was only three seconds above Mandy’s bet. “I am really proud of the girls. It was so exciting!”
What was perhaps the most exciting, says 9-year-old Saar Hazekamp: “Standing in line.” There were dozens of gymnasts in front of her. “And I was the first to get over it.” Not a bad position by the way. “It feels better than downstairs, you’re stuck there.”
Nente Francke (18), also from Leeuwarden, sat at the edge of the table “to keep everything together”. That sometimes involved some pushing and pulling, but it was not difficult. “We’re all doing it together.” She is far from exhausted. “We are still full of adrenaline. We are very satisfied.”
Own gymnastics hall
In the meantime, they watch the television program from the GTST room via the projector. “Their parents are still in the audience. They want to see that,” says gymnastics coach Vellinga. And then the double-decker can go home again.
What did she mainly want to achieve with the evening? “That we have put gymnastics on the map in Leeuwarden.” And, oh yes, they would love to have their own gymnastics hall. “We now have to make do with a primary school gymnasium.”
Nente complements her. “That means we can’t practice as much.” And Saar: “It is also tight.”