Johan Derksen, René van der Gijp and Wilfred Genee are again in conversation with John de Mol. They sat down with the media billionaire on Sunday. “So there’s just room.”
The men of Today Inside have now been off the air for a week and a half. After a 48-hour media row about Johan Derksen’s candle story, the most successful daily talk show in the Netherlands has come to an abrupt end. For a while it seemed that VI and Talpa were definitely broken, but that doesn’t seem to be the case now.
Johan speaks
Although René van der Gijp has said that Talpa has torn up their contracts one day after the last broadcast of VI and that he is completely done with Talpa bobo Paul Römer, both parties seem to be talking again.
Johan Derksen late today The Telegraph know that the gentlemen and Talpa again on speaking terms to be. “I’ve been trying to call him for weeks. He kept quiet and we kept hearing that, but this morning I finally got hold of him,” says reporter Jordi Versteegden.
Talk to John
What did John say? “He answered his phone while walking his dog and I just once asked him, ‘Johan, how are you doing?’ Then he said, ‘John, I don’t feel like having this conversation at all. Not now.’ That’s how it starts. Anyway, I think he was out for a long walk, because we had a great conversation.”
Johan had big news. “The most important thing that emerged is that he said that the three of them had a conversation at John de Mol’s office last Sunday about the future of Today Inside.”
‘Will turn out well’
It looks hopeful, according to Jordi. “I also asked Johan: ‘Is this an opening for the future?’ Well, he didn’t want to say much about that, but I could hear from his voice that a few things have been discussed there about what will turn out well.”
Johan also simply belongs on the tube, Jordi thinks. “I also said to him: ‘I think you’re just really media horny.’ I think he laughed a little then. He just thinks it’s fantastic and he also shows you how to make TV. As for me, huh? Just that real thing.”
A lot of interest
Initially Johan said that there is no more room for him on Dutch TV. “I think he will come back to that now. He also says: ‘I am only now noticing how we are positioned in the market. Over the past few weeks we have been called by various stations whether we want to come to them. That’s good for your ego.’”
Is he moving to Amazon Prime, as suggested? He denies that they called or that they are talking about it. They were some other channels, but he thought it was a bit silly for those channels to tell who they were. Maybe at RTL again, for example.”
All in all, the contract with Talpa does not seem to have been dissolved. “It has not yet been confirmed that they have actually left Talpa, so there is still room.”
