Viola Holt was last on television eight months ago, namely on News of the Day. She was there to comment on the death of Dieuwertje Blok. “Have a good trip.”
It was unexpected news yesterday: the sudden death of Viola Holt (76), one of the icons of Dutch afternoon television. She has hardly been seen on television in recent years, although she made an exception at the beginning of March to discuss the death of Dieuwertje Blok at News of the Day.
Lump in throat
Jordi Versteegden was also in the studio at the time and remembers that broadcast well. “I’m looking at this and realize that I was sitting here with her a while ago. Here in the studio next door, at Nieuws van de Dag, to explain the death of Dieuwertje Blok,” he says last night at the desk of Show news.
It is not surprising that Viola returned to TV just before Dieuwertje. “She obviously worked with that for a long time and she really had a lump in her throat during the entire broadcast.”
Have a nice trip
How did Jordi feel about working with Viola? “There was also someone behind the scenes here, like she did at De 5 Uur Show, who really interfered with the content of the broadcast. Ultimately she said at the end of the item: ‘Have a good trip, Dieuwertje.’ I find it really surreal that she is now following suit.”
Private boss Evert Santegoeds: “In the same year. You can also see from Tineke (de Nooij, ed.) that she is affected. She has lost a lot of people in the past period. That is part of that age, but Viola was of course only 76.”
On the couch
Viola died late that evening of cardiac arrest. The emergency services were still there, but could no longer do anything.
“Nobody saw it coming and nobody knew there was anything wrong with her. Probably not even herself. She didn’t get to say goodbye to anyone, not even her husband, who was sitting next to her on the couch.”