The very last episode of Massa is Kassa can be seen tonight. Peter Gillis doesn’t want to talk about it anymore. And that is new. “I think it was a bit of a rude awakening.”
For years, SBS 6 viewers watched as Peter Gillis performed his dubious antics in front of the camera, was convicted of tax fraud and abused his ex-girlfriend, and yet remained on TV. Talpa persevered, Peter persevered, and the ratings held up. They were not sky high, but they were stable. But it’s really over now.
For goodness sake
Peter has been convicted, including for assaulting Nicol Kremers, and as long as there is an appeal, no new recordings will take place, according to Talpa. Tonight is the final episode. And for the first time in five years, Peter Gillis himself no longer wants to say anything about it.
TV critic Rob Goossens at the desk of RTL Boulevard: “There was actually no other option than for it to really stop. We have of course been wondering for two years why on earth things were going crazy, but now at least there has been a conviction in the first instance, so now it is finally over for the time being.”
Jan de Hoop
What will Peter do now? “I can even imagine – because Peter has got a taste for it – that he himself buys a vlogging camera and drone à la Jan de Hoop and thinks: then I will continue on the internet myself,” says Rob.
Colleague Luuk Ikink: “I think it came as a bit of a shock to him that Talpa has now really stopped, because he no longer wants to speak to us. He used to answer the phone, but he now says: ‘I don’t want to say anything more about it. I’ve already said everything.’ Previously he always wanted to talk in more detail.”
Open mind
Rob thinks it’s strange that Peter is so quiet. “In that respect: he is of course accused of horrible things and has been convicted of horrible things, but he has always been open-minded. He was always willing to provide explanations, even up to the moment that the program was stopped.”
“He kept saying: ‘Yes, but John de Mol has always said: unless I am irrevocably convicted, we will continue as usual.’ That has now changed a bit, because he is still on appeal, it is not yet an irrevocable conviction, so that will not have gone down very well in the Gillis household.”