Rik van de Westelaken is very clear not amused about the statements his boss Taco Zimmerman made about Wie is de Mol. He doesn’t seem to want to go to RTL or Talpa at all. “Hypothetical!”
According to AvroTros boss Taco Zimmerman, it may indeed be time to let Wie is de Mol go. This program is entertainment for entertainment’s sake and that is of course not a core task of public broadcasting. The commercial parties RTL or Talpa would immediately take over this if they get the chance. Why does the NPO continue to broadcast this?
Rik stammers
Rik van de Westelaken, the presenter of Wie is de Mol, is not happy about it. He tries to twist Taco’s statements somewhat. “Well, if you read it carefully, he says it slightly differently. What I think he wants to say is that the program… Yes, I’m not going to explain what he… Because he has already done that himself…”
He stammers in front of the camera The Telegraph: “But this program is a connecting program and the NPO also has the task of making programs for a broad audience and that is Wie is de Mol by definition. Young, old, everything in between, and also from all walks of life are watching it, so I wouldn’t think it would be smart to let this program go.”
Twilight zone
Who is the Mole is too important for the NPO to let go, Rik thinks. Still, according to Taco, the show is in a ‘twilight zone’. “Yes, those are his words and you have to ask him what he means by them, but I think the program really belongs to the NPO. Anyway, the future will tell.”
He continues: “If you wave a lot of money, you can buy anything, so maybe one day someone will want to take Wie is de Mol from the NPO. That is possible.”
Want to go to Talpa?
If the program does move, would Rik also leave for RTL or Talpa? “No idea. Those are all hypothetical questions. We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.”
For the time being, Wie is de Mol can still be seen on the NPO and a new season will start there just after New Year’s Eve. Isn’t it being milked a bit too much now? “To be honest: I agree. Yes. This is really something I have felt for a long time.”
Decrease
Rik thinks there could be some reduction. “The Belgian presenter, Gilles de Coster, once said to me: ‘You should actually do one season every two years, because then you keep people really eager.’ Well, I don’t think that’s a lot, but I would do one season a year. I think that’s the best thing for everyone.”
Finally: is Wie is de Mol affected by the cuts? “I don’t know anything about that at the moment, but it will undoubtedly be the case that budgets are being looked at. In that respect, this affects all of us at the NPO. Yes, I just hope that we can continue to make the program proportionately.”