Jean Paul Taffijn (45) from Zuidlaren won 30,000 euros on RTL4 on Sunday evening in the Beat The Champions quiz presented by Chantal Janzen. Among other things, he knew the answer to the most frequently asked question in the world.
Weren’t you shocked when you were asked why the bananas are crooked?
“Well no. I was not so shocked by that ‘most frequently asked question in the world’. My answer was an educated guess with some past knowledge. But I was quite nervous during Beat The Champions . But when I saw myself again on Sunday evening, I thought I managed to keep that very well hidden. I thought I looked pretty cool.”
For those who haven’t seen it, what is Beat The Champions?
,,You play against champions, or previous quiz winners or scientists. It’s kind of like the BBC TV game Coneheads . In the final round you have to answer as many questions as possible quickly. And then I did what I was advised beforehand. Look at a point on the ground and concentrate on it, that is the least distracting. I have done that. And that worked. I didn’t even realize the time was up, I thought I was only halfway there.”
How did you actually end up there?
“One time I was sitting on the couch with my sons watching this TV program. I kept shouting ‘easy, easy, easy’. Then join us, Dad, they said, and that’s how it happened. No, they weren’t. I was all alone in the studio during those recordings. They are from November last year.”
It wasn’t the first time you showed up on a TV quiz, was it?
“Yes, I have participated in a game show on TV before. The first time I remember very well, that was with The weakest link on the day of nine eleven. Bizarre. We had to answer questions while we also watched as those planes crashed into the Twin Towers.”
And did you win anything then?
“No, not then. Well at With the knife on the table , still with Joost Prinsen. I won something like 1200 euros in the first round. I was already dreaming of even more profit in a next round and I had already smashed the amount won with buddies in the bars of Amsterdam. When we came to the make-up artist the next day, he said to me. “Well, that was quite a night, wasn’t it?” Yes, I lost without a chance.”
Where did you look at yourself on Sunday?
,,I looked in the cafeteria with my water polo team from Ritola in Zuidlaren. Not everyone knew yet that I would win. There was a lot of cheering and there was a lot of beer and bitterballen.”
Oh dear. Is half of your profit already gone?
Hahaha, no, it’s not too bad this time. With the money we will go to Costa Rica with our whole family this summer. And you know that such a trip costs very ‘expensive’, so that amount of Beat The Champions works out well.
And do you already have it in your bank account?
“Immediately when I walked away from the stage, I was already asked behind the scenes to enter my bank account number somewhere. But. I have not received the money yet. I knew that, because it will only be transferred after the end of the TV season.”