Noise at Omroep MAX: the broadcaster’s biggest female star, Martine van Os, is not satisfied. She wants more free time now that ‘a lot of people’ around her are dying.
Martine van Os has not been feeling well at Omroep MAX for some time now. The presenter believes that she has to work far too much and is getting tired of presenting the talk show Time for MAX every day. Last summer she informed broadcaster Jan Slagter that she wanted to cut back, but he did not agree.
Everyone dead
It seems that Jan wants regular, recognizable faces for Time for MAX and not a presenter who pops in every now and then. “We are still finding a shape,” says Martine in the Party. “For me, the work doesn’t stop, but the fact is that you reach state pension age at 67.”
Martine doesn’t want to stop completely, but she also doesn’t want to continue in the same way, because everyone around her is dying. “If I want to do other things, I have to do them now, because it’s becoming increasingly clear that we won’t all live to be 100. A lot of people around me are dying. Life is finite and you clearly notice that.”
Two days
Martine would prefer a structure in which she only presents Time for MAX two days a week. “Yes, that would be possible. We haven’t decided yet, but we are thinking about it. The intention is that I have a little more time for other things. In my private life, but also in terms of work, I want to try to do other things.”
It makes Martine a bit irritable. “I don’t have time for anything right now. You can never say ‘yes’ to a different kind of program, different offer, or it all has to be very short-lived, crammed in between.”
Not smooth
Jan should just give her a little more time, she thinks. “What also plays a role in working less is that when you are 67 your body is no longer as flexible. Well, it is smooth, but I just get tired sooner, the energy runs out earlier, so I have to use it well.”
She concludes: “What I said: if I want to do anything else, I have to do it now. It’s a blessing, I think it’s fantastic that I’ve been able to do it all for so long, but a change in diet makes you eat.”