The former professor, who will celebrate his 80th birthday next month, is responding to the departure of colleague Philip Freriks, who announced that he will stop as presenter of the Netherlands’ most popular knowledge quiz at the end of 2024. “I knew that for two years. Even then, Philip said that he wanted to complete 25 seasons and then call it quits. But there was no special reason to make it public.”
Philip Freriks and Maarten van Rossem, who started as a new team in 2012 The smartest person, are making three more series anyway: two winter editions and a summer series in between. KRO-NCRV now has Herman van der Zandt appointed to take over from Freriks from January 2025.
Van Rossem has been called ‘seven times’ asking what he does. “But what are we talking about? This is a decision for a year and a half from now. One and a half year! Who knows what dramatic events will happen next. Then we will know whether Trump will return to power. But at the same time, everyone is dead by then. You know, I don’t have to do anything, I’ll just wait and see how things develop. But my intention is 100 years. To then perform visibly well, just like Henry Kissinger (former US Secretary of State, ed.).”
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