John de Mol is behaving very spitefully by taking away all the TV work from Gerard Ekdom, says Angela de Jong. “A trip like that once a year… Yes, I find it very resentful.”
The all-powerful media billionaire John de Mol hates it when people turn their backs on him. Yet Gerard Ekdom has now jumped ship. Spoiler alert: the water is cold. He will lose all his television work now that he has decided to exchange Talpa’s largest radio station, Radio 10, for the competing Radio Veronica.
‘Very spiteful’
The company behind Radio Veronica, Mediahuis, has no TV stations and, according to media journalist Dennis Jansen, would have been fine if Gerard continued to make TV for Talpa. He can currently be seen there as presenter of the SBS 6 hit The Tribute: Battle of the Bands. But John? He feels very betrayed.
Angela de Jong finds it ‘very vindictive’, she says in the AD Media podcast. Colleague Marcus den Blanken objects: “Yes, but understandable. He was the showpiece of the station that is doing well – of course 538 is also in a bit of trouble. And yes, he will then switch.”
Typical John de Mol
It makes sense that it stings John, says Marcus. “I can imagine that you don’t say: ‘Yes, that remains the presenter of our program, Tribute: Battle of the Bands, which is really defining the image of SBS at the moment.’”
Dennis Jansen then: “You never see John de Mol approving that, do you?”
It is typical John de Mol, he wants to say. Angela: “Well, there’s a lot of resentment there. If you just look at it from a purely business perspective… He is like a fish to water at The Tribute.”
TV excursion
Angela doesn’t understand much of it. “Look, it seems very logical to me that he can no longer present the Top 4000 Quiz, because he no longer presents the Top 4000. But a trip like that once a year… Well, I find that very resentful.”
Dennis emphasizes that Mediahuis does not find it a problem. “I was on the phone with the boss and he said: ‘Fine.’”
All in all, Gerard now loses his TV work. Angela: “Apparently he didn’t think it was important enough to stick with it, which makes perfect sense.”