Tina Nijkamp, ratings authority and former channel boss of SBS 6, warns the station that a real-life soap about Rachel Hazes will really not score. “I wouldn’t buy it myself.”
Tina Nijkamp’s audience analyzes are closely monitored in Hilversum. The tube whisperer delves deep into the TV scores every day and for that reason her TV predictions are also worth something. How does she view the plans for a real-life soap about Rachel Hazes, who has taken over a brasserie on the Spanish coast?
‘Won’t score’
Test recordings are currently being made and on that basis SBS 6 will decide whether they want to order the series. In any case, Tina advises against it. “The question is of course: is that even a good idea? Will that score? Well, I don’t think the viewing figures will be very high,” she says in her new podcast Tina’s TV Update.
Why? “Because it is true – and this certainly became apparent last year – that reality soaps centered around one person simply do not do very well. Of course we had Mitchel aan de Maas, which scored very poorly on SBS 6. That was all about one person: Mitchel. Ruud & Olcay, a series about a duo, also did not go well.”
No family soap
On the other hand, family soaps are very popular, says Tina. “Like Chateau Meiland, but also the Froger family who went through England with that camper. That was a huge hit on TLC. I don’t see a very big success in it.”
And a family soap? After all that arguing, Rachel can write that on her sun-tanned belly. “It is not the first time for Rachel to participate in a reality series. In 2005, a year after André’s death, she had her own reality series on TROS. It was then called On behalf of André and it had six parts.”
‘Do not buy it!’
Rachel also made an appearance in the documentary series Kleine Jongen on AvroTros in 2021. “There was a lot of fuss about that and it was not looked at properly at all.”
No, according to Tina it won’t work out at all. “I hope for her that she sells it and for her that it has viewing figures, but if I were a channel, I would certainly not buy it.”