‘The Smartest Person in the World’: Who is Melissa Depraetere and where do you know her from?

It will be a women’s meeting again tonight The Smartest Person in the World, because the seat that belonged to Hannelore Knuts yesterday will be taken tonight by Melissa Depraetere. The young politician was until recently the chairman of Vooruit and is now deputy prime minister of the Flemish government.

Actress Daphne Agten remains on course to become the best contestant ever in The Smartest Person in the World. Tonight she is already ready for her 13th episode, of which she was able to win 9. If she stays until the final weeks, she can break Ella Leyers’ record, which stands at 18 episodes. But actress Barbara Sarafian is also having a strong turn. She can be seen in the quiz for the fourth time tonight. A tough challenger awaits Daphne and Barbara, because politician Melissa Depraetere will take her chance from tonight. This is where you know her from.

Melissa overtakes

Melissa Depraetere has been active in politics for ten years. She started her political career in 2014 as a parliamentary assistant for SP.A MP Alain Top. She was responsible for defense. During this period she came to attention because she noticed irregularities in the file surrounding the replacement of the F-16 aircraft. Later it turned out to be incorrect information. In the same period she was also active as a OCMW councilor in Harelbeke. From 2019, she also became a municipal councilor and faction leader of sp.a in Harelbeke. That same year she came in second place at sp.a in West Flanders in the federal elections. She was elected with 12,601 preferential votes, after which she took a seat in the House.

When Meryame Kitir became minister in the De Croo government in 2020, Depraetere became faction leader of sp.a in the House. On November 18, 2023, she was appointed interim party chairwoman of Vooruit. This happened after the then party chairman Conner Rousseau was discredited. Depraetere remained party chairman of Vooruit until after the federal and Flemish elections of June 9, 2024. New chairman elections followed, in which Conner Rousseau was re-elected.

Since September 30, 2024, Melissa Depraetere has been Deputy Prime Minister in the Flemish government. She is Minister of Housing, Energy, Climate, Tourism and Youth within the Diependaele government.

The Smartest Person in the World can be seen every Monday to Thursday at 9:15 PM on Play4 and online via GoPlay.