Nicky van der Gijp, the only 25-year-old son of René van der Gijp, disappoints as a football analyst on SBS 6. “I think he would have benefited from gaining a little more experience.”
The sons of René van der Gijp and Heleen van Royen are currently making a daily World Cup program together on SBS 6, namely Het Oranjecafé. They regularly interact with Linda de Mol’s daughter: Noa Vahle. This week they received the son of channel owner John de Mol, Johnny de Mol, in the studio.
Nepocafe
TV critic Victor Vlam thinks it all has a very high nepo content. “The Oranjecafé on SBS could have been better called the nepobaby café. Fortunately, they name it themselves, but this is extremely embarrassing,” he says on X.
He continues: “Hilversum’s obsession with children of celebrities comes at the expense of people with more talent who do not get opportunities because they do not have the right connections.”
Criticism of Nicky
Victor expresses it in his podcast Victor Indicates TV criticism of Nicky van der Gijp. “One of the things that has not yet completely fallen into place is the role of Nicky van der Gijp. I spent a week with him in Curaçao and I think he is a really nice guy and I think he knows a lot about football.”
He continues: “Nicky certainly has a great passion for it, but I also think that he is not quite ready for that role at the head of the table. He sits a bit in the place of Johan Derksen, opposite the presenter, and is also the only permanent analyst. It is not so much criticism of him, because he is 25.”
25 years old
You can’t blame someone of 25 for not having any experience in this, says Victor. “But I think that the management of Talpa thought too easily of: oh, he is Van der Gijp’s son, he could do this, so just put him in that position. I think he would have benefited from gaining a little more experience.”
According to him, a few more flying hours wouldn’t hurt. “It’s not bad what he does, but you sometimes see discomfort, you see that he just hasn’t quite found his niche yet. These are things that make me think: then it would have been better to first let him sit at the table two or three times a week and let him slowly get used to that role.”
Imitation
How is Sam van Royen, Heleen van Royen’s son, doing? “I think Sam is actually doing quite well. It’s a bit like Wilfred Genee’s style that he has adopted. Sometimes it looks like an imitation.”
“Sometimes he has to find his own style a little more, but in general I think he is doing well. He is a bit cheeky and stubborn, but that actually works quite well. The program still needs to loosen up.”