Wetten, dass..?

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Wetten, dass..? (German for "Wanna Bet That..?") is a television show popular in German-speaking countries and the most successful TV show in Europe.

The shows are broadcast live six to seven times a year from different cities in Germany, Austria and Switzerland and can easily attract 50% and more of all German speaking viewers on that evening. There have also been five open-air summer shows, broadcast from Xanten, Palma de Mallorca, Paris, Berlin and Aspendos. Each of the shows, which are not interrupted by commercials, is usually scheduled to last for about 2 hours, but overrunning by up to 45 minutes is not uncommon. There is a common saying in the entertainment industry: "When you want to conquer the German-speaking market on one night, you have to appear on 'Wetten, Dass..?'"

Contents

[edit] History

On February 14, 1981, the German channel ZDF aired the first episode in cooperation with the Austrian broadcaster ORF and the Swiss channel SF DRS. The inventor of the show, Frank Elstner, hosted the show until its 39th episode in 1987. Wetten, dass..? has since been hosted by entertainer Thomas Gottschalk (except during a brief interval from 1992 to 1993, when the show was hosted by Wolfgang Lippert). Gottschalk hosted his 100th episode of the show on March 27, 2004.

[edit] Concept

The core gimmick of the show are the bets: ordinary people offer to perform some unusual (often bizarre) and very difficult task. Some examples, all of which were performed successfully, include:

The other major attraction of the show are the top-ranking celebrity guests, with considerable screen time given to the host greeting and chatting with them. Each of the guests must bet on the outcome of one of the performances and offer a wager, in recent years usually a humorous and/or mildly humiliating, originally more charitable, activity to be carried out if they lose. However, until 1987 each of the celebrities bet on all the performances and the most accurate one was selected to be that show's 'bet king' (Wettkönig) Ever since, one of the people performing the task is selected by a telephone vote.

Additionally, until 2001, members of the audience could offer bets against the host to find a certain number of unusual persons (e.g. 10 ladies over the age of 65 driving motorbikes). One of these was selected at the beginning of the show and had to be fulfilled by its end. Now, the host bets against the entire city where the show is held.

Between the bets and the celebrity smalltalk, there are musical performances by top-ranking artists, sometimes by the celebrity guests themselves. It is to be noted that those performances are not always live. Performing artists are given the choice to lip-sync (which most artists accept).

[edit] Partial list of guests

[edit] Other versions

Wetten, dass ...? inspired the British series You Bet!. It was produced by London Weekend Television and aired on ITV from 1988-1997. The hosts were Bruce Forsyth (from 1988-1990), Matthew Kelly (from 1991-1995), and Darren Day (from 1995-1997).

In October 2004 Wetten, dass ...? also started in the Chinese television under the title Wanna Challenge (as gambling is illegal in China). It is aired once a week and reaches 60 million viewers each show.

The show was also broadcast in Italy by Rai from 1991 to 1996 (and then in 1999, 2001 and 2003) with the title Scommettiamo che...?

In 2006 ABC signed with reality producer Phil Gurin of The Gurin Company to develop an American version of the show. This is not the first time the show has been produced for American audiences; in 1993, CBS aired a pilot called Wanna Bet?, which was not picked up as a full series.

[edit] Trivia

  • There has been an instance where Frank Elstner lost a private bet himself; he had bet with his family that his colleague Kurt Felix would never fool him. (Kurt Felix ran a show similar to Candid Camera, called "Verstehen Sie Spass" ("Can You Take A Joke"). On the 29th show (September 21, 1985), after an outdoor challenge which involved painting the ZDF logo onto the roof of a car with a paintbrush fixed to a helicopter's skid, the pilot was invited - along with the guests - for a drink of champagne. But the contents of the bottle turned out to be pure vinegar, as Elstner discovered when he was the first to take a sample, and the red-haired and bearded pilot revealed himself to the laughing audience as Kurt Felix in disguise.
  • In a special on German TV, Elstner said, Wetten Dass had the chance to have Pope John Paul II on the show, but only via video link, not direct in person. Elstner refused, because this could be precedent for future celebrities and famous people to come on the show via video link and not be in personal on the television set. Elstner regretted the once-in-a-lifetime chance to have the pope on his show and said it was the greatest mistake of his career.
  • In the 25th show on December 15th 1984 environmental activists ran in front of the cameras with a banner that read „Nicht wetten – Donauauen retten“ (Don't bet - save the Danube mead). When they were pulled out of the way by the show's security, Frank Elstner commanded, that no one is to be thrown out of his show. He let the activists tell their request and they left the show peacefully. The banner was for the then Austrian chancellor Fred Sinowatz, who was guest in this show.
  • In the 48. show on September 3rd 1988 an editor of the German satirical magazine Titanic, Bernd Fritz, snuck into the show as a candidate under the pseudonym Thomas Rautenberg. The true Thomas Rautenberg, a graphic artist from Munich, offered his bet to Wetten, dass..?, to see how the ZDF would react. He claimed to recognize the color of crayons by tasting them. Bernd Fritz took the bet to the show and won the bet. However he admitted he was cheating and the solution of how he did it could be read in the next issue of "Titanic". Gottschalk then told the audience, that he would read the magazine, and tell the trick in the next show, so that the magazine wouldn't get the publicity from this stunt. It was later explained, that the blacked ski goggles, that candidates wear if they need their vision removed for the bet, were adjusted by Fritz so he could peek through a gap along his nose to see the color of the crayon. The showmaster tested the visibility through the goggles by faking punches against Fritz eyes and seeing if he would try to dodge them, but after the test it seemed as if Fritz adjusted the goggles to a more comfortable position befor he attempted the bet. Since then, swimming goggles with a rubber sealing that sucks to the skin are used.
  • In the 102nd show on December 8, 1996 there was planned a live bet at the Russian space station Mir. The cosmonauts wanted to decorate a Christmas tree in zero gravity in two minutes. Because of technical problems the station couldn`t be contacted during the show.

[edit] External links

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