Monique and Mike Hansler are verbally lynched after the first episode of their reality series on SBS 6. At De Telegraaf they go to extremes. They portray her as a ‘mother-in-law’.
There is a new favorite TV character that the whole country is going crazy about: Monique Hansler, the rude and unkind mother-in-law from hell who, after her son Mike Hansler’s Winter Vol Liefde adventure, now has her own reality series on SBS 6. “Four moving vans are not enough for the ego of mother-in-law Monique,” the headline reads. The Telegraph.
Irritainment
The Hanslertjes did not just receive a time from John de Mol, but the time when Chateau Meiland was successful for years. Big shoes to fill, but do they? “The program has a high level of irritation,” is the opinion of the newspaper.
Especially the way in which Monique imitates the voice of her former daughter-in-law Denise van der Laan – it has already been finished – creates bad blood among the viewer. And also that Denise’s belongings are not welcome in the Hanslers’ moving van. “Somewhere you hope that it is a big act from Mo, but something suggests that that is not the case.”
Too dominant
TV critic Victor Vlam also watched and is not enthusiastic. “The problem with The Hanslers is that Monique is annoyingly dominant and there are no other outspoken characters to counter it. It is therefore extremely monotonous,” he says on X.
Everything is scripted, he thinks. “That feeling came over me too. A moving van that is too small and a down payment that has not been made. These are all those tricks that reality series use to artificially build tension.”
Wobble heads
Journalist Vivienne Groenewoud doesn’t like the sight of it, she says in response. “You’re looking at a tyrant with a couple wobble heads who navigate around her on eggshells.”
It’s pure irritation, Victor also believes. “That’s right. Peter Gillis does too. But the balance there is better. Monique is on screen and speaking almost all the time.”
And what does he think of voice-over Harm Edens? “He is very present. Almost as annoying as Monique.”
Nasty mother-in-law
Johan Derksen thinks that De Hanslers will remain successful. “Annoyance is entertainment,” he says Today Inside. “This is the most nasty mother-in-law you can imagine with a weakling son and a father who plays no role in the family and then a hysterical mountain goat who is his girlfriend, even though the relationship is already over.”
How Monique imitates her daughter-in-law is just mean, he thinks. “That hat is not in a position that she can imitate that girl like that. I find that very unsympathetic. I think it’s too crazy for words, but I’m so annoyed that I’ll watch it again next week. It can irritate you so much that you watch every week.”
Dirty feeling
TV columnist Alex Mazereeuw from de Volkskrant skips. “I get a bit of a bad feeling about it myself, because the relationship break is now being used as a kind of PR tool,” he says in RTL Boulevard.
He concludes: “Do we have to have fun with that? I’m already getting tired of the program before it has even started.”