Albert Verlinde finds it incredible that Henri Bontenbal’s team has agreed to his inclusion in the audience of Khalid & Sophie. “Then you just say: ‘I am Bontenbal!’”
The new CDA leader Henri Bontenbal was allowed to go to Khalid & Sophie on Tuesday evening to introduce himself, but during the main topic of the broadcast – the war between Hamas and Israel – he had to sit in the audience. Who was at the table? His great political rival Frans Timmermans, the leader of GroenLinks and PvdA.
‘This is idiotic’
This is really very painful, says the well-known media expert Victor Vlam. And Albert Verlinde fully agrees with this. “I thought it was crazy. If I were Bontenbal… Timmermans sat at the table and he sat behind it as an audience. There he is, in a corner!”, says the show expert.
He continues Today Inside: “Then he comes to the table, but if you had had any balls, you would have gotten up and gone to that table, like: ‘I’ll just join you, because I can also say something about this.’”
‘I’m Bontenball!’
What does Johan Derksen think is causing this? “This is inexperience.”
Albert: “Sometimes you have to think in advance, like: isn’t this strange if I’m sitting there in the audience? I am Bontenbal!”
Johan: “Since the reserve bank was introduced, I have never been to a talk show. I’m not going to sit on the reserve bench as a backdrop.”
Reserve bank
Nowadays, many talk show guests have to sit in the audience for part of the broadcast, while in the past they often just sat at the table for an hour.
What causes that? René van der Gijp explains: “That was of course also the case, Johan, because Eva was an hour and forty minutes, so they had eight people who could not all sit at the table, so there were four behind them.”
Musical chairs
Albert likes that about Today Inside. “I am also so happy that I can stay here. At every talk show you have to get up and move around! At one point I lost the presenter! I thought: where is he?!”
Johan: “People at home don’t see it, René, but it’s a game of musical chairs all evening on talk shows.”
Albert: “You also have to take your glass with you, otherwise you will get corona.”