Monica Geuze was in the Smartest Person

I once participated in The Smartest Person and the reaction I heard most often was ‘brave’. ‘Brave that you participate.’ That doesn't express much confidence, I can tell you. I understood that Linda de Mol received the same word when she said she would be on the cover of her magazine in a bikini: brave. Believe me: you want to hear a lot in life, but not that something is ‘brave’. Actually, ‘brave’ in this context means ‘Would you really do that?’ or: ‘You rather than me’.

Something tells me that Monica Geuze has also often heard the word ‘brave’. Not because Monica isn't smart (I know few women her age who have built such an empire), but she may not be the Mulisch-devourer and the regular visitor of the Rijksmuseum. But what do we really know about that? And secondly: do you just get asked about the names of all the Teletubbies in The Smartest Person? It’s mainly about knowledge in the broadest sense of the word.

When I was there, I was in the same cohort as finalist Sanne Wallis de Vries and eventual winner Eric Smit. I told him I was afraid of messing up because I would be the silly fashion goose that would confirm the stereotype. ‘But if I lose, I'm that so-called thorough investigative journalist who doesn't even know what the capital of Malaysia is,’ was his response. Everyone sitting there has sweaty armpits and a sweat mustache.

Of course, Monica received snarky tweets. That she thought Hong Kong was in the United States. Well, I rewatched the episode and didn't see this fragment anywhere. She didn't know that K-pop came from Korea and then said United States, but that's really something different than insinuating that she would think Hong Kong is in America.

What I found ballsy? That Monica posted all the snobbish reactions cheerfully on her stories. And what a triumphant feeling she must have had when she posted the last Stories with the text: ‘see you tomorrow.’ Because yes, Monica is beautifully moving on to the next day. And there are a lot of people (me for example and Cornald Maas and Matthijs van Nieuwkerk) who can't say that.

So go, Monica. Let everyone have a whiff. With their brave. I'm ready for it!

Image: Nick van Ormondt