Yesterday at 8:30 PM • Modified yesterday at 9:29 PM
Put eleven unknown Dutch people in a moving coach full of cameras and let them drive around the Netherlands for four months. That was simply the format of SBS6 reality program De Bus. The program was on TV in early 2000 and the winner was a Brabant woman: Antonette from Woudrichem.
“I was still very young and brash and did not expect that I would be selected,” Antonette Sterrenburg says laughing on Omroep Brabant Radio. She was 24 years old at the time and was up for an adventure. The hairdresser registered and before she knew it, she was on that bus. The Dutch public took Antonette to their hearts and after four months she walked away with the win. She won 1 million guilders gross.
OO’s Weekend on Omroep Brabant radio
This weekend is a celebration of recognition for everyone who sometimes thinks back to Hyves, Nokia telephones and internet via a dial-up modem. Prrrr… tuuuut… krrrr… On Omroep Brabant Radio we are going back all weekend to this decade that is secretly about 25 years behind us. With, of course, lots of music and memories, such as De Bus. During this tropical weekend, grab a cool drink, turn on the radio and join us ‘back to the zeroes’!
The Bus was the answer to Veronica’s successful Big Brother. A large double-decker bus was packed with cameras. You could live and sleep in the bus. The vehicle drove throughout the Netherlands and occasionally the ‘residents’ were allowed out of the bus to do assignments. This could earn money for the pot.
“I still have to work for my money.”
The program did not change Antonette, even though she was a famous Dutch person after four months. “I’m still that down-to-earth Brabant woman. But of course my life changed. Suddenly people wanted autographs,” she says with disbelief in her voice. With the money she won she started a hair salon, but it was not a success. “There too I had to sign autographs all the time and I didn’t get around to cutting.”
In De Bus she got into a relationship with Jop. After the program, the bartender scored another number 1 hit with You are the sun. The relationship ultimately didn’t last long, but they are still in touch. Antonette: “We speak to each other occasionally and we text a bit. We have remained friends.”
Anyone who thinks that Antonette no longer has to work is wrong. “I still have to work for my money,” she says, laughing. “I eventually ended up in education through all kinds of detours.” She works at a hairdressing school. Would she participate again if such a program were to come again? “No, definitely not. I can’t be without my family for that long.”
