Johan Derksen thinks Thomas van Groningen is an incredibly fat valve, but isn’t it incredibly hurtful for Op1’s political journalist to be described like that? He responds to it.
Thomas van Groningen is a robust man with a generous stature. Or, as Johan Derksen calls it, a ‘fat toad’. The football connoisseur spoke last Thursday in the penultimate Inside today of the season about the effect of tall people on rising healthcare costs. And so he is quite critical of that.
Eat all day
People should watch their figure, says Johan. “Financially it is of course very bad that health care has to invest a lot of money in such a thick path. That guy at Op1 should also listen very carefully to that, right?”
René van der Gijp screaming: “Hahahaha. What’s his name?”
Johan: “Yes, what’s his name again?”
René: “Thomas! Hahaha.”
Johan: “You put a quarter in and he talks for a guilder, but I don’t know what he eats all day. In any case, he can’t talk from his neck, because he no longer has it!”
Guilty feeling
Wilfred Genee felt quite guilty after the broadcast. “Thomas also has some health problems, doesn’t he?” he said afterwards in the aftertalk show. “I tried to say that a bit more, but there was no stopping it, because there was only a lot of laughter, but Thomas is not completely fit, you know.”
He continues: “It is also a bit more difficult for Thomas to lose weight really easily. I do want to say that. I found it a bit difficult, because I thought: if I try to nuance it now, Johan will say again: ‘Oh, what difference does it all make?!’ And then it gets even bigger!”
Thomas responds
What does Thomas van Groningen think about his weight being laughed at in VI? He responds The Friday Move: “I received a very sweet app from Sam Hagens, the new political face of VI, apologizing. I thought: something must have been said, so I went back to look, but I don’t mind that much.”
He continues: “There are a lot of people who say to me: ‘You have to think about that!’ Know from me that I really don’t mind that much. A, because I’ve been on the program, so I know the gentlemen a little bit. I actually think it’s more stupid that they pretend they don’t remember my name every time, but I can actually take it.”
Can’t lose weight
It just kind of belongs to VI, Thomas thinks. “The point is – and I often have to explain that, because people then think that I should get angry or something – that everyone in that program has a turn. So I can be very angry about that, but…”
Finally: is it true that Thomas cannot lose weight due to circumstances? “Well, I did a lot of it. Personal trainers, diets, I don’t know. It all failed. I’m still working on it. I would like to lose weight, yes, but I find it difficult.”