Catherine Keyl refuses to present the talk show Sophie & Jeroen when she is asked to become Khalid Kasem’s permanent replacement, she says. “It’s so partisan.”
The talk show Khalid & Sophie has been renamed Sophie & Jeroen now that the fallen presenter Khalid Kasem is forced to stay at home because it has been discovered that he is not a pure coffee. After the summer, the intention is for the talk show to move to the late evening of NPO 1, but Jeroen Pauw has indicated that he does not want to remain involved.
Within the lines
Who will alternate with Sophie Hilbrand? Has Catherine Keyl perhaps already been contacted for this position? No, she says in conversation with Story. “But I certainly could. Two days a week is just right.”
What’s holding Catherine back? “I don’t know if I would want it. From what I understand, as a talk show host at BNNVARA you are not allowed to ask everything you want. The content is so incredibly partisan. I don’t think that’s possible. You have to color within the lines, so to speak.”
Pre-produced
Sophie & Jeroen is almost completely scripted, according to Catherine. “Everything is pre-produced, it goes exactly the way the editors want it. I refuse that. I have never done that and I never will. Then the role of sidekick is much more fun, because then you can interfere as you want.”
Why doesn’t Catherine have her own program? Her age, she says, but: “They won’t say to my face that I’m too old. Because then they discriminate.”
Frustrating
At the end of her life, doesn’t 77-year-old Catherine regret being passed over like this? “I have sometimes asked why people think I don’t have a program. Then I get a vague answer that they don’t know whether I appeal to their target group. What nonsense.”
She concludes: “It’s a shame, but not frustrating. Because I have a very nice life.”