Matthijs van Nieuwkerk is playing with fire if he actually considers a switch to Talpa. In any case, Youp van ‘t Hek disapproves in advance: “Do you remember Jack Spijkerman?”
There is plenty of speculation about a possible transfer from Matthijs van Nieuwkerk to Talpa, because his good friend and co-defendant in the DWDD scandal, Frans Klein, recently started working there. Angela de Jong strongly advises the television star not to go along, but John de Mol’s millions make them blind.
Lots of zeros
Youp van ‘t Hek still knows Matthijs from the canal belt and presses him into his VARA guidecolumn on the heart not to switch to the ‘wandering camping channel of John de Mol’, although he does not mention his name. “Who has been offered an amount with a lot of zeroes? The so-called offer you cannot refuse!”
The comedian subtly points out what happened to Jack Spijkerman. He was the biggest TV star in the Netherlands until he traded his BNNVARA ideals for John’s wallet.
Commercial mud
Every NPO star who wants to follow Frans Klein should think about Jack, says Youp. “Who of these fortune seekers still remembers the death blow that Jack Spijkerman made when he could not resist the financial temptation? Disappeared in the commercial muck, after which he gasped for air in a shadowy quiz for a while.”
Youp seems to avoid Matthijs’ name on purpose. “No, I’m not naming names, but I’ve made up a few by now. Names of people who once had a ruthless opinion of John and his boundless bad taste. What will they say about their switch in interviews? That they have always found SBS a challenge?”
Matthijs and Gillis
That will be something at the Christmas party, says Youp. It’s something to soon be ‘in the same stable as the Meilandjes and Peter Gillis’, he sneered.
Finally, Youp jokes that he himself has already been called by Frans Klein, but that he has said no to the offer to do the New Year’s Eve conference again in 2024. “Then he mentions the amount. I eh… I eh… you can always talk!”