Daniel Streicher Badenhorst (born 6 December 1967), better known as Daantjie Badenhorst and nicknamed Daantjie Dinamiet (Daantjie

Dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern German ...

), is a South African quiz show champion, journalist and author. He is known for winning series 24 of the long-running

Afrikaans language Afrikaans is a West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento that speaks the Patagonian dialect. It evolved from the Dutc ...

television musical quiz show, '' Noot vir Noot'', and later also won the 2005 edition of ''" Flinkdink"'', a televised Afrikaans language general knowledge quiz show.

Early life and career

Badenhorst was born in

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

in the then

Natal Province The Province of Natal (), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised int ...

on 6 December 1967. He was one of four children. Badenhorst completed

high school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., ...

Hoërskool Waterkloof Hoërskool Waterkloof (colloquially known as Klofies) is a public Afrikaans medium co-educational high school situated in the eastern suburbs of Pretoria in the Gauteng province of South Africa. It is one of the most expensive Afrikaans medium s ...

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

, in 1985 and subsequently went to work for the South African Government Printing Works. In 2004, Badenhorst entered ''Noot vir Noot'' and immediately made history during the first round when he surpassed the scoreboard's maximum of ZAR 10,000 before the end of the show. This was the first time it happened in the show's history. His winnings for the evening totalled ZAR 26,075. Badenhorst's performance on the show, and his

autism spectrum disorder Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing di ...

, drew wide interest and articles about him appeared in many

newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as poli ...

s and

magazine A magazine is a periodical literature, periodical publication, print or digital, produced on a regular schedule, that contains any of a variety of subject-oriented textual and visual content (media), content forms. Magazines are generally fin ...

s, including ''

Huisgenoot ''Huisgenoot'' (Afrikaans language, Afrikaans for ''Housemate'') is a weekly South African Afrikaans-language general-interest family magazine. It has the highest circulation figures of any South African magazine and is followed by sister magaz ...

'' and ''

YOU In Modern English, the word "''you''" is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from ...

''. His total winnings in the series was ZAR 77,200 - an all-time record. He was subsequently offered, and accepted, a sub-

editor Editing is the process of selecting and preparing written, visual, audible, or cinematic material used by a person or an entity to convey a message or information. The editing process can involve correction, condensation, organization, a ...

position at ''

Beeld ''Beeld'' (freely translated as ''Picture'' or ''Image'') is an Afrikaans-language daily newspaper that was launched on 16 September 1974. ''Beeld'' is distributed in four provinces of South Africa: Gauteng, Mpumalanga, Limpopo and North West, ...

'', South Africa's largest Afrikaans language newspaper. Since then, he has become a content editor of the internet edition of the newspaper. As a result of his performance in ''Noot vir Noot'', he was invited to take part in the 2005 edition of the ''Flinkdink'' quiz show, which he also won. Because of his increasing fame, Badenhorst also starred in the South African commercial for the

Chevrolet Aveo The Chevrolet Aveo ( ) is a five-passenger, front-drive subcompact car ( B-segment) marketed by General Motors (GM) since 2002 over two generations. Originally developed by South Korean manufacturer Daewoo Motors and marketed as the Daewoo Kalos ...

. Subsequent to that, he was invited back to ''Noot vir Noot'' for a champions of champions programme which he lost to Zelda Meyer.

Personal life

Badenhorst's native language is

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

, but he also speaks

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

and

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

fluently. His first novel, ''"Net een wenner"'' (''Only One Winner'') was published in 2005. Badenhorst is married and has two children, Dirk (born 12 July 2004) and Suzanne (born 28 May 2007). He has

Asperger syndrome Asperger syndrome (AS), also known as Asperger's syndrome or Asperger's, is a diagnostic label that has historically been used to describe a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by significant difficulties in social interaction and no ...

and campaigns for public awareness of the condition.

References

External links

Badenhorst's Personal Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Badenhorst, Daantjie 1967 births Afrikaner people Living people People from Pietermaritzburg People with Asperger syndrome Autistic writers South African people of Dutch descent South African people of German descent Alumni of Hoërskool Waterkloof