Philip Freriks does not think it is surprising that De Slimste Mens, led by Linda de Mol, completely flopped. “I don’t think this is a format for the commercial channels,” says the presenter.
De Slimste Mens is still one of the biggest hits on Dutch television. The acclaimed duo Philip Freriks and Maarten van Rossem will start a new season tonight. Not everyone will remember that this show ever made its debut on Dutch television with Linda de Mol at the helm.
Bad start
Linda presented two series of De Slimste Mens, namely in the spring and in the autumn of 2006. The series were broadcast on John de Mol’s then TV channel Talpa. At the time, the role of Maarten was fulfilled by Cees Geel. It was all unsuccessful; often less than 300,000 people watched.
RTL 4 also made an attempt, namely in 2009. The show was then presented by Martijn Krabbé and his ‘expertologist’ was Jan Verheyen. With less than 500 thousand, the edition did not score well enough.
Philip responds
De Slimste Mens moved to the NPO in 2012 and is now a mega hit; last year, at its peak, including delayed viewing, as many as 3.5 million people watched. These are figures that were completely unattainable for Linda and Martijn.
Philip is asked about it in Veronica Superguide by occasional interviewer Andries Tunru, former finalist of De Slimste Mens. He explains to Philip: “This program was already tried with Linda de Mol before it came to the KRO-NCRV, but it didn’t work. So apparently there is something about you and Maarten that makes it work.”
‘Belongs to the NPO’
The Smartest Man does not belong to Linda and Talpa or to Martijn and RTL, but to the NPO, Philip thinks. “I think it has a lot to do with the channel. I don’t think this is a format for the commercial channels.”
He continues: “It is not exactly a program that sets very high intellectual requirements, but it is apparently something more than an RTL game.”
For now yes
Philip is far from going to stop. He remains the presenter. “Well, for now yes. As long as they want us and as long as it runs. See, this kind of thing all depends on whether the people are watching. Once it sinks in, it’s over. But I’m not worried about that at all.”
What if the coming season were not to score anymore? “Well, then it stops. Then nothing else is wrong. That’s how things go. I don’t worry about that at all anymore. That’s the nice thing about our, I speak on behalf of Maarten and myself, situation. You are a retiree, so you don’t need anything anymore, everything is allowed.”