At the beginning of this year, Rachel Hazes seriously flirted with her own real-life soap on SBS 6. Test recordings were even made, but in the end the series was not ordered. “Two reasons.”
It was an incredible surprise at the end of January: Rachel Hazes turned out to be working on her own real-life soap on SBS 6. It would be about her then newly opened brasserie in Torremolinos. Hélène Hendriks didn’t like it at all and the plan was eventually canceled. “In any case, it definitely won’t happen to us,” Talpa said.
Very sensible
Does TV authority Tina Nijkamp think it is a mistake that SBS 6 has canceled this plan? “I think it is very wise not to do a docusoap or reality soap about Rachel Hazes. That has to do with two things,” she says in the latest episode of her podcast Tina’s TV Update.
What do you mean? “One: she is alone. She only has staff around her and maybe some friends, but that’s it, because as we know, her family no longer talks to her, so those characters will not be seen in that docusoap and a docusoap about one person is much more difficult than a docu-soap about an entire family.”
Minor characters
Secondary characters are extremely important for a soap opera, according to Tina. “Because then you just have many more personalities and secondary characters. You also see this with the Bauers, where those sons suddenly also play an important role. If you have a lot of secondary characters, you will quickly have a more interesting reality soap.”
“It is also the case that if Rachel Hazes were to do a reality soap, she would naturally think: what is in it for me? What she would gain from it is that her restaurant in Spain will be better or even better – I don’t know if that thing is running – being visited. So she only wants to talk about the ins and outs of that restaurant in Spain.”
Family troubles
Tina thinks it wouldn’t have been about her family quarrels. “Of course, she doesn’t want to tell anything about all the family issues and that is exactly what people in the Netherlands would be interested in. I think it just feels very fake.”
She continues: “Like you know that Rachel plays a role in that soap and that we see her supposedly working hard in the restaurant and serving and cooking, but that’s it. And we don’t hear anything about the entire family history that we are interested in.”
One-time
How would Tina have reacted as channel boss? “I would say: if a channel is offered it, don’t do it, because I actually don’t think anyone will watch it. Maybe to episode one, but by episode two everyone has dropped out because you don’t hear anything new and you don’t hear the real story behind those family feuds.”
“Only if she wanted to do that would I, as a broadcaster, consider making a one-off documentary about it. So an entire series seems way too much to me anyway. I would say: don’t do it.”