While Hélène Hendriks remains cowardly silent – apparently the salary negotiations are coming up – Johan Derksen does open his mouth about the boycott of Jack van Gelder. “Located near Talpa.”
It is a big disappointment: Hélène Hendriks does not stand up for the man who helped make her talk show great. Jack van Gelder is out at De Oranjewinter. In any case, he is not welcome during the current series and the oh-so-beloved presenter? We don’t hear that. She makes her former colleague burst into tears, as if he never belonged there.
‘Talpa doesn’t want Jack’
Hélène only chuckled a little when Jack’s name came up in her program, leaving room for speculation about his departure. While the talk show host leaves her former regular guest to his fate, Johan Derksen, who can apparently afford a little more at Talpa, now stands up for him.
According to Johan, Jack is out because he doesn’t sit well with Talpa. They may be there – and TV boss Frans Klein with his BnnVara roots in particular – not happy with someone who expresses right-wing populist opinions on television every day. “I have nothing to do with De Oranjewinter, but I do think that is a dangerous trend,” says the VI mustache.
Pleasant and social
According to Johan, the Jack boycott did not come from Hélène. “I’m sure Hélène Hendriks would love to have him there and I saw things in newspapers again today that Hélène has kicked him out. What nonsense. What nonsense, Aran Bade, where do you get it from?” he says in the podcast Greetings from Grolloo.
“But Jack doesn’t suit Talpa too well, I believe, and then there is an official announcement from Talpa and they say: ‘Yes, it is a decision of the editors, because the editors decide who sits at the table.’”
Disqualification
Talpa completely ignores what Hélène wants, Johan believes. “I think that such a statement from Talpa is a disqualification of Hélène Hendriks, because the editorial team decides that, but there is one editor-in-chief in that editorial team and he knows the ropes, but the rest of the editorial team consists of fairly young people. These are not the people who make those kinds of decisions.”
“I think that if Hélène Hendriks would like him there, and she has good arguments for that, because he makes the show interesting. Not because he has a popular role, but because he knows how to provoke a very good discussion with his comments. And I find it very strange that Talpa participates in that and that they keep him away from there.”
Naive and stupid
Talpa is shooting itself in the foot with the Jack boycott, says Johan. “From a commercial point of view, I think it is very naive and stupid. (…) Look, Jack is not always pleasant and social behind the scenes. He is a difficult boy, a quick-tempered, short-tempered boy, but he was a man at the table with statements.”
He is not happy about Jack’s replacement – Rutger Castricum is currently at the table. “Jack made statements and they led to interesting discussions. Now that Jack is no longer there, there are chattering chatters. You can just fill them in. It doesn’t matter who is there. They chat happily and they all have nothing to say.”
Half as much fun
This is seriously detrimental to Hélène’s TV career, Johan believes. “When I watch it now, I find the program half as fun and interesting as when Jack was there.”
“Hélène has the ratings hanging on her ass, right, or under her blouse. I don’t know what the actual reason is, but it jumps off the screen and it is popular. Look, it is like this: Hélène is more popular than us. The sponsors also prefer to be with Hélène than with us, because she is not sensitive to riots, right?”
“But Jack van Gelder must be back at the table, because that is the man who makes the program interesting.”