John de Mol and Ruud de Wild have spoken again after years of silence. The radio DJ wanted to be personally persuaded to participate in the celebrity crying show on SBS 6.
The new season of the celebrity crying show Het Weren 2 Fantastische Dagen will be opened tonight by the trio Caroline van der Plas, Estelle Gullit and… Ruud Gullit. The radio maker of NPO Radio 2 had to cross a threshold to participate in this program on SBS 6, the TV channel of his former boss John de Mol.
Talpa’s tube
Ruud was already enthusiastic when he saw the first series. “When this came along and I saw the first series, I thought: brilliant television. I was really jealous that the NPO did not make that. It is something new,” he says in the A.D.
“I was surprised that it came from Talpa. With all due respect and I’m not going to make things complicated about that. I was sceptical. With Talpa you expect life-size balls, marbles rolling and people falling into swimming pools. But this is bizarrely beautiful television. Very refreshing. I also let John de Mol know.”
Talk to John
How did he let John know? “Tapped. That it was ‘honest, beautiful, stimulating, exciting and emotional’. I wanted to have coffee with him first before I said yes.”
“As you may know, I worked for John for five years, at Radio 538. After I left there, I never spoke to him again. We did not always agree with each other. Maybe also because our birthday is on the same day. We are equally stubborn.”
Shit and gossip
How did the conversation with John go? Good, says Ruud. “Great fun. He told me what kind of program this was. That he was interested in me as a person and not in all the shit, gossip and backbiting. He said: ‘You have been through a lot, from the death of Pim Fortuyn to cancer. I think it would be nice if I heard you about that sometime.'”
“Maybe this was the nicest thing for me. That he was proudly promoting this program. So charming. I thought: it’s great that you have become so rich, but in the end you are of course just a TV maker, and a very good one. I think he is an artist in that. John also showed himself. That’s why I said yes.”
