Dennis van der Geest has a nice mistress, but also a big viewing hangover: Million Dollar Island. Isn’t he actually just a victim of John de Mol?
You may wonder who Dennis van der Geest now has the worst nightmares about: Yvonne Coldeweijer who has revealed his secret Million Dollar Island affair or Tina Nijkamp who writes every Monday morning about how terrible his viewing figures are from the night before. Today it’s Tina’s turn again.
Very expensive, big flop
It continues to amaze Tina that such an incredibly expensive program has been continued, despite the low ratings of the first series. 373 thousand people (9 percent market share) watched it yesterday. You don’t have to send an entire TV crew to the Philippines for such a viewership, but you can also just watch a rerun of Mr. Broadcast Bean.
Tina on her this morning ratings juice channel: “The very expensive Million Dollar Island has not been able to fascinate the viewer for weeks, just like in Belgium. Invariably among the 400 thousand viewers. Even closely followed by the cheap FBI on sister channel Veronica (291 thousand viewers) and a free repeat of Floortje Dessing (349 thousand).”
Victim of John?
Is Dennis not popular as a presenter or is the former judoka just a victim of John de Mol? Million Dollar Island is a Talpa production and, as format developer Kirsten-Jan van Nieuwenhuijzen notes in his podcast Content Wars: “You notice that a lot of things that John now brings to the screen, just don’t manage to touch the viewer.”
Actually, everything on SBS 6 that comes from channel boss John does not score, he says. “If you look at what has come of John… Of the major programs, even a Million Dollar Island is no longer doing well. Well, you already mentioned Avastars. We can name whole lists…”
What does score?
What does score on his own TV channel does not come from John, Kirsten-Jan continues. “If you look at the Meilandjes, for example: scores very well. Master Visser is doing very well, Undercover in the Netherlands. All a lot from Vincent TV. Vincent ter Voert makes many things that do very well there.”
He continues: “Actually, John’s shows are all doing relatively poorly. Well, there are some ideas about why that is. Too much produced, too big, not very personal. It’s a lot about money. I think that’s a big problem.”
Inside today
Today Inside, the big hit of SBS 6, is John’s, isn’t it? “Today Inside is of course made by Talpa himself, but well, I don’t really think so… That is of course just the strength of those three men. SBS can thank God on their bare knees that they have Today Inside.”
He concludes: “It is a bit risky, of course, that you have one producer who is doing very well and that the big boss himself at SBS no longer really touch has with its programs. That would be a big problem.”
Viewing figures
The viewing figures of Sunday, June 4, 2023 (SKO):
Top 15 | Market shares (18-24h, 6+) |
|---|---|
| 01. Journal 20:00 (NPO1) 1,571,000 | 01. NPO1 / 20.7% |
| 02. Studio Sport Eredivisie (NPO1) 825,000 | 02. RTL4 / 15.8% |
| 03. One to 100 (RTL4) 805,000 | 03. SBS6 / 12.3% |
| 04. Heart of the Netherlands (SBS6) 728,000 | 04. NPO2 / 6.7% |
| 05. Story of Flanders (NPO1) 705,000 | 05. Vero / 5.9% |
| 06. Rooijakkers across the floor (RTL4) 652,000 | 06.ESPN / 5.7% |
| 07. Motorsport F1 GP (NPO1) 611,000 | 07. RTL5 / 4.4% |
| 08. Athletics FBK Games (NPO1) 602,000 | 08.NET5 / 4.0% |
| 09. Undercover in the Netherlands (SBS6) 556,000 | 09. NPO3 / 2.8% |
| 10. Renze on Sunday (RTL4) 541,000 | 10. RTL7 / 2.7% |
| 11. Nieuwsuur (NPO2) 530,000 | 11. Eurosp / 2.0% |
| 12. Half past seven news (RTL4) 517,000 | 12.BBC / 1.7% |
| 13. Show News (SBS6) 514,000 | 13. RTL8 / 1.7% |
| 14. Other Times Sports (NPO1) 498,000 | 14. Comedy / 1.1% |
| 15. RTL Boulevard (RTL4) 418,000 | 15.TLC / 0.8% |
Market shares per channel group (18-24h, 6+) | More viewing figures at: |
| 01. Public Broadcasting 30.2% |  |
| 02. RTL Netherlands 25.6% | |
| 03. Talpa TV 22.6% |
tinanProgrammes that did not reach the top 15 include College Tour (406 thousand), WNL op Zondag (330 thousand) and Buitenhof (320 thousand).