Robert ten Brink earns more money with his pub in Amsterdam than with his contract with RTL. According to the presenter, Café Heuvel’s turnover is enormous. “1.3 million euros per year.”
For years, Robert ten Brink was an absolute A-star, but he is no longer as big as before. Although All You Need Is Love is still a great ratings success, he has long since stopped being called for other projects. And that of course ensures that there are no longer sky-high amounts on his contract with RTL.
1.3 million euros
Wages in the TV world are certainly under pressure, says Robert. “Certainly in my case. I am of course not the top anymore. I have been for a long time, but of course I now hardly do any programs anymore and you are still judged on the number of programs you do in the package,” he says in the podcast Go-getters.
Fortunately, his Amsterdam pub Café Heuvel, which he took over from friends in 2019, is making up for a lot. “We are above average. Last year we paid 1.3 million euros for an area of 35 meters. That is the highest beer turnover per square meter in the Netherlands.”
Low point
Robert is happy that he is still somewhat involved on TV. “The absolute low point in my career? Well, there was one moment when I thought: now my career is ending. That was about fifteen years ago. Then you have a conversation like that. Then everyone looks at you very pityingly, like: ‘Yes, Robert, you will have to understand blah blah blah.'”
He continues: “Something had to be earned and of course I had a good contract at the time, but that suddenly became a lot less. That’s when you get that hassle. And then I did a program that I still wonder why I had to do that. That was an absolute humiliation. The program was called BN’ers in het Park.”
Candid camera
Celebrities in the Park was a sponsorship thing with C-stars like Ferri Somogyi. “There are more flops that I have ever done that no one knows about anymore and we will keep it that way. It was totally sponsored and there were candid cameras and jokes, but I also had to promote that park all the time and I did that. RTL broadcast it.”
Robert was once brought in by RTL with much fanfare. “I have been at SBS for ten years and that had to do with Miljonairs going to RTL or something like that. There was a fuss again and I assume that John de Mol was working on deals in the background, so Robert ten Brinkje suddenly found himself there without any programs.”
Very intense
Robert then secretly entered into negotiations with RTL. “It was also the time that Fons van Westerloo had just switched from SBS to RTL. I had experienced them for ten years, so I thought: maybe they have a place for me. There was a meeting in the evening at RTL. It was really very intense, it really hit me.”
He continues: “There were about twenty people, all lawyers and situations. Fons and Bart were there, and I had brought my media lawyer Jaap Versteegh. There we were and Jaap had discovered something in the contract that made it all possible. Finally Fons came back and he said: ‘Boy, we’re doing it. Welcome.’”
Shit talk
How did that arrive at SBS? Not nice, Robert decides. “I took Jaap back home to Amsterdam in the car and then I had to call Eric van Stade, the then boss of SBS. He was at a dinner party and that was just such an incredibly shitty conversation. He had not seen it coming and he was not happy at all.”
“I think it was just when Tina Nijkamp had started at SBS and I sometimes taste it in little side notes from her too… Not the aggression, but a nasty aftertaste that everyone still has in the back of their mouth.”
