Peter Gillis conquered the hearts of thousands of television viewers with his quirky performance in the reality series Mass is Kassa. He manages an empire of holiday parks and earns a lot of money from it, but Gillis occasionally makes the news in a less positive way. On Friday it was announced that he was arrested for assaulting his girlfriend Nicol.
Night in jail for assault
The 60-year-old Gillis is said to have recently spent a night in jail after he assaulted his girlfriend Nicol at the Prinsenmeer holiday park in Ommel. He himself says on social media that the news is not correct. Nicol also came up with a response on Instagram on Friday that “the reporting is nonsense and not true”.
Waiting for privacy settings…
A spokesperson for the Public Prosecution Service (OM) says that a 60-year-old man has been arrested for assault in Ommel and that he has been detained for a short time. The Public Prosecution Service cannot confirm whether it concerns Gillis.
Warm heart for refugees Ukraine
The moment he saw the images of the inhabitants of Ukraine fleeing en masse from the devastating war against Russia, Gillis offered his holiday park Prinsenmeer in Asten to receive refugees.
“When I saw those harrowing images on TV, it did something to me,” he said. “You shouldn’t want that, so let’s help people.”
Fine of a quarter of a million euros
The reality star has been at odds with the municipality of Asten for years about the illegal housing of hundreds of migrant workers at Holiday Park Prinsenmeer in Ommel. This came to light when the FIOD and the police carried out a large-scale raid in 2019.
He was fined 250,000 euros, but to this day Gillis has not paid. “I don’t think they are entitled to that,” he said in a brief response.
Successful but sober
The reality soap ‘Massa is Kassa’ at SBS6 is a great success, but the paterfamilias remains sober. “We have no secrets,” he previously told Omroep Brabant. “We want to show the Netherlands how things work within a family business. Hard work, just flat.”
And if they can then change some people with a negative image of the family, that’s a nice bonus, he thought. “Now they say, Peter drives a big car, but later they will see that I have always worked hard for it and that I am still working hard for it.” The eighth season of the series can be seen from September.
Investigation into alleged abuses by 5 mayors
At the beginning of June, Gillis was suddenly under fire, because five mayors were investigating alleged abuses around his holiday parks. He himself says that he does not recognize himself in the accusations, but the mayors of Valkenswaard, Cranendonck, Loon op Zand, Asten and Terneuzen see in him an entrepreneur who always flouts the rules.
According to them, Gillis is guilty of illegally housing migrant workers. He would also build, expand and operate catering without permits. The municipalities are fighting him through legal proceedings. They are supported in this by investigative agencies that investigate abuses around the parks.