“Now sing for the very last time, with a lot of noise”. All those present did so on Saturday evening in the Studio 100 Pop-up Theater in Puurs. With a two-year delay due to you-know-what, Gert Verhulst (54) said goodbye to his faithful four-legged friend there. From now on, daughter Marie is really Samson’s owner.
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Desmytere Road
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In his ideal world, Gert Verhulst had already said goodbye to his role as ‘Gertje’ two years ago. However, after a first series of successful performances, the corona crisis forced him to postpone his farewell. On Saturday, Verhulst, assisted by the well-known figures de Burgemeester (Walter De Donder), Alberto (Koen Crucke), Van Leemhuyzen (Walter Baele) and of course Samson, played his very last show. He even played three of them, the last of which was for the grown-up fans of the first hour.
Besides, they had a surprise in store for him. During the second issue of the show, morning gymnastics, everyone in the audience – including James Cooke and his husband Dorian Liveyns – put on a mask with the image of Verhulst. Just before the end, he was also handed a bunch of flowers and his colleague De Donder took the floor. “This is Gert’s very last performance with Samson. Now you’re falling from the sky, aren’t you?” he joked to the audience. Gert, we are going to miss you. As an icon, as a colleague, as a person, as a friend. I hope you’ll come and give Samson a hug every now and then, but we’re sure he’s in good hands with Marie.”
Samson and Gert closed with the appropriate The very last song, after which Verhulst left the stage to thunderous applause. To which the audience continued to chant ‘Gertje, Gertje, we want more’.
During the show, the fans put on a mask with the image of Gert. — © gianni barbieux
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–James Cooke and his husband Dorian Liveyns were also in the room. — © gianni barbieux
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Missed train
And with that, the torch has officially been passed to Marie Verhulst. Although she already has a lot of television episodes, performances and two albums with Samson on her resume, she can only now really call herself Samson’s owner. “At first I thought very hard: I’m missing that train here”, she recently told this newspaper. “But I see that people are now with them. We will be in Plopsaland for three weeks in August. The bookings are also starting to come in for this summer. That is very nice.”
Koen Crucke, alias hairdresser Alberto, already looked ahead on Saturday morning at the imminent farewell. “Today is the day,” he wrote on Instagram. “The last Samson and Gert-show. Thanks, Gert. For 33 wonderful years during which you were friendly and professional in my life and career. Good luck and I hope we meet again. And we enjoy it again like all those years ago. It’s not going to be easy for me tonight around 10.45pm.”
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