Confusion and ambiguity about return Today Inside on TV ANP
It is unclear whether or not the Today Inside program will return to television on Monday. Johan Derksen informed the AD on Wednesday that the men would return to television after a two-week break. The program stopped after days of commotion about Derksen’s confession on TV that he had penetrated an unconscious woman with a candle half a century ago. He later revised his story and said there had been no penetration.
After two broadcasts in which Derksen evaluated the statements with Wilfred Genee and René van der Gijp, Talpa and the three men decided to stop the program immediately. However, Talpa did not confirm that VI will stop altogether. The social media channels of the program also remained on the air. According to Talpa, the company did this “for the fans”.
After Derksen’s statements in the AD, Talpa responded on Wednesday afternoon with the news that the reporting about the return of the program on SBS6 is “premature”. “We had a good conversation with the men last Sunday to look back in peace on the past weeks and what happened,” said Talpa Network. “As soon as there is more news to report, we will come back to this from SBS6.”
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In the AD, Derksen tells that he and his companions did not decide to leave because of all the angry reactions, but because they did not receive “backing” from Talpa. That would be the case now. Earlier, Talpa boss Paul Römer said that he found the reactions to the candle story in the program “astonishing”. The guests had to laugh hard at Derksen’s anecdote.
The riot shows similarities with a similar incident in June 2020. Then many people fell over a funny remark that Derksen made about Zwarte Piet and rapper Akwasi. Derksen then also said that he no longer wanted to participate in the program. However, he let it be known in his biography that John de Mol, Talpa’s boss, kept him to his contract. Until now, Talpa Network did not want to explain the question of whether this also happens after the candle riot.
VI is one of the big hits of SBS6. Veronica Inside, as the program used to be called, attracted an average of around 620,000 viewers in 2019, 2020 and 2021. Since January 2022, VI can be seen daily on SBS6 and the average number of viewing figures is between 800,000 and 900,000. The average age of the viewers has also been noticeably higher since the move to SBS6, according to the SKO spokesperson.