On September 1, 2005, Lucille made her debut on Lingo, together with the new jury member JP. It will be nine incredible years, with many challenges and wonderful highlights. There is a great disappointment, when the programm has to stop. On October 2, 2014, Lucille hosted Lingo for the last time on public broadcasting.
Lingo had been airing on public television since 1989, and Lucille became the fourth presenter of the popular language game, following Robert ten Brink, François Boulangé and Nance Coolen. The program had since September 2005 a new broadcast time (5:30 PM) on TROS, aired on Nederland 2, and was supposed to stop by the end of the year. However, in the second week, Lingo was moved to a 7:00 PM time slot, leading to successful months and the show’s continuation. The game moved to Nederland 1 in January 2006 with a new format, and soon after, it surpassed after a long time the one million viewers.
Despite its success, Lingo faced criticism. In October 2006, a leak revealed that the network coordinator of Nederland 1, Ton F. van Dijk, planned to cancel Lingo in 2007, citing that it attracted an older audience. Lucille fought to keep the show on air, and even Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende, although not responsible for public broadcasting content, commented on the potential cancellation with the rhetorical question, “How much do we love presenter Lucille Werner?” On October 19, 2006, Lucille announced during a broadcast that Lingo would remain on air, in what became a legendary episode. A bet between Lucille and presenter Robert Jensen was settled when Jensen and Jan Paparazzi participated in Lingo, while Lucille hosted the episode in a revealing dress. This episode attracted the largest number of young viewers in the show’s history.
Lingo continued for many years with a loyal following of both young and old viewers, from language game enthusiasts to new immigrants looking to improve their Dutch. The game was accessible to everyone, featuring participants with visual and hearing impairments, people with physical disabilities, participants over 90 years old, former illiterates, twins, many students and even celebrities. Lucille, along with ‘master of language’ JP, guided them all through the game with enthusiasm.
Lucille identified strongly with Lingo and understood its societal value. Lingo partnered with the Reading and Writing Foundation and raised awareness each year about the over 1.5 million people in the Netherlands who struggled with literacy. But Lingo was also just fun. Lucille and her husband Servaas co-wrote the song Hee Hoo Lingo, sung by Robert Leroy, which was released in January 2007. In November 2009, Lucille traveled to Tanzania to explore bringing Lingo to African television. The attempt unfortunately failed.
In March 2011, Lingo made international headlines when contestant Laurens spelled the word “cumshot” during a seven-letter round. The American Huffington Post even reported on it, and the clip has since been viewed nearly two million times on YouTube. In November 2012, Lucille hosted her 1,500th episode of Lingo. In September 2013, Lingo again made news with its 5,000th episode, in which contestants Nadine and Luuk won the highest prize ever awarded on the show—€35,000—after a thrilling final round.
In January 2014, Lingo celebrated its 25th anniversary with a series of episodes featuring top-scoring contestants from all four Lingo hosts. This was the show’s first week airing on Nederland 2 at 6:30 PM, having been moved from Nederland 1 to make way for The World Keeps Turning, which had been promoted from Nederland 3 to Nederland 1. This marked the beginning of the end for Lingo. After eight years of averaging 750,000 viewers on Nederland 1, ratings halved on the new channel and time slot, which the NPO deemed insufficient. On October 2, 2014, Lucille hosted Lingo for the last time on public television after more than nine years.