The pensioner has five-year-old twins and Jauch has questions ("How does that work?"). Ultimately, he helps the 67-year-old win the main prize. But it ends with the psycho-wizard from Deutsche Bank: "Redeem us from these mental jackass."
The key biographical data on this candidate in "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" sounded unremarkable at first. Bernhard Benne from Kleinmachnow near Berlin is 67 years old, married and has three children. The former top hotelier, who managed a retirement home for 25 years, only revealed the truth after the 125,000 euros. "What do you do with so much money at the age of 67?" Günther Jauch asked the candidate on Monday evening, earning a little outraged laughter from the studio audience. Viewers weren't all that wrong. Because instead of for hobbies or a retirement home, Benne needs the money for his five-year-old twins.
Jauch apparently did not have this fact on his information card. "I'm tempted to ask: How does that work?" The moderator asked in surprise. "When you get married for the second time, many of life's questions arise all over again," explained Benne, who has a 24-year-old son from his first marriage. Unplanned, his twins were then responsible for another deep turning point in his life: retirement.
The girl and the boy were born prematurely, there were complications. "That's when I realized that life has other values than money and a career and I got out," said the father. "I have no regrets. I've seen the kids grow up every day for five years and it's just a gift."
The candidate, who used to run five-star hotels abroad, has to live with the fact that he is often mistaken for the grandfather of his twins when pushing the pram. But he had a good role model for the late blessing of children. His grandfather became a father again in his fourth marriage at the age of 65, Benne said. "Then it's genetic," said Jauch.
With 125,000 euros, Benne managed to win the highest amount of the edition of "Who wants to be a millionaire?" in excess length. He was also able to thank the moderator for this. Because the 2000 euro question would have almost ended. Benne should know after what period of time a buyer's claims for defects against the retailer usually become statute-barred. He stiffened at six months. When Jauch then asked the second time, Benne preferred to draw the 50:50 joker. He promptly eliminated his favorite (correct answer: two years). "Hello? Phew. Nobody was that close today, not even our mentalist," said Jauch.
What was meant was Benne's predecessor Daniel Dippe from Goch in North Rhine-Westphalia. The bun of the Deutsche Bank branch employee also immediately raised questions at Jauch. "Are you allowed to have your hair like that as a bank clerk?" he probed. "No one has ever complained," said the 36-year-old. In his spare time he likes to work as a magician and claims to be good at predicting people's reactions. He wanted to prove that in a duel with scissors, rock, paper against Jauch.
However, the moderator gave the supposed mentalist no chance. Before the show, he had googled tricks for the child's game and was able to easily overturn Dippe's strategy. The bank clerk was also all too self-confident when it came to his gut feeling. When the US Secretary of the Interior asked the 32,000-euro footballer's last name, he guessed Kramaric purely thanks to an intuition.
Jauch's tolerance threshold had long been reached. "God, deliver us from these mental hansels," puffed the RTL presenter. Maybe that's why he didn't lift a finger to prevent the security variant candidate from falling to 16,000 euros. The politician's name is Deb Haaland. "Practice a little more, then it will be fine," Jauch told the candidate on the way home.
Overhang candidate Johanna Jaspersen from Berlin was better off with her intuition. The trainee lawyer from the Rostock public prosecutor's office didn't take the chance and got out with 64,000 euros. She had no idea that "Tywysog Cymru" is Prince Charles' honorary Welsh title. Jaspersen would like to return to Israel with her prize and wander the length of the country for a few months.
She had completed a voluntary service in Israel through the Action Reconciliation Service for Peace. The organization sends young Germans to Eastern Europe or Israel, for example to work with Shoah survivors or to help out in care facilities. "It's a year that you don't forget," said Jaspersen and added, pointing to Jauch: "You can also do it as a pensioner." "Who do you mean?" The 66-year-old was indignant at first, but then seemed interested: "I thought you had to be young for that."
Jaspersen Jauch may have given Jauch an idea. Because the topic is close to the heart of the moderator. Years ago he was on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" tells how he spontaneously knocked on the door of Holocaust survivor Eva Erben while on vacation in Israel after she had written him a letter. In 2008 he presented Erben's children's book in Hamburg.
Benne also has concrete plans for his profit. The young/old father emphasized: "I'm not here to fill my pockets, but for fun and joy." Nevertheless, the pensioner must of course think about the future of his family. When his wife finishes her studies in Potsdam, he would like to move back to Munich or Augsburg – with the necessary capital, he would also like to buy his own home. "At my age, I can't get a building loan," said the 67-year-old. Although he brought in by far the highest profit of the evening with 125,000 euros, Jauch had to state: "That's enough in Munich for the down payment for the underground parking space."
