<p>Interest and performance are important learning outcomes. However, little is known about how interest, performance and their relationship depend on students’ mathematical potential and the problems’ connection to reality. The problems’ connection to reality ranges from intramathematical problems through word problems to modelling problems. The research questions of the study are: Does the performance gap between students with high and average mathematical potential vary with problem type? Does the interest gap between students with high and average mathematical potential vary with problem type? Does the relationship between interest and performance depend on the problems’ connection to reality and the student profile? Ninth-grade students with high and average mathematical potential (<i>N</i> = 126) solved intramathematical, word and modelling problems and rated their interest regarding these problems. In modelling problems, the difference in performance between the two students’ groups tended to be smaller than in intramathematical problems. Furthermore, in modelling problems, the difference in interest is higher than in word problems. The connection between interest and performance is comparable in students with high and average mathematical potential across intramathematical, word and modelling problems. This study’s theoretical contribution to the theory of interest confirms the stability of the relationship between interest and performance across different types of problems. One practical implication is to offer students with high mathematical potential modelling problems in the classroom, as these problems, even when they can be solved by standard mathematical procedures, might be interesting for them.</p>