Rick Brandsteder is quite shocked that his admission to a rehab clinic has been leaked via Shownieuws. He first lied when the program called him about it, Bart Ettekoven reveals.
After the leak of videos showing Rick Brandsteder walking drunk through an airport, friends and family apparently urged him to let himself be helped. Yesterday it was confirmed that the presenter of Expedition Robinson has been admitted to a rehab clinic in South Africa.
“What’s he doing?”
Shownieuws received the news via a tipster, explains expert Bart Ettekoven. “At one point we received a tip that he had been spotted on the plane to South Africa. Then we did a little one-and-one-is-two, because it had been quiet around Rick for a while. We wondered, ‘What is he doing?’”
He continues in the show section on SBS 6: “Of course we knew that the recordings of Expedition Robinson had ended, but after that it was also completely silent on his social media. We thought: let’s climb on the phone and ask how our dear Rick is doing.”
Rick joke brokt
Bart says that his editors decided to give Rick a call. “Then we heard that he was indeed abroad, because you can hear that from the transition tone. Then he picked up and initially denied it because we had heard the rumor that he was in rehab and we asked him about it.”
Rick joked a bit at first, says Bart. “He said: ‘No, that’s not true’, but he later came back to his earlier answer and let us know that he was indeed there, but that he didn’t really want to say much about it and that he hoped that we would like to respect his privacy and tranquility.”
Good luck
Shownieuws simply responds to that, says Bart. “Of course we do that too, so we hung up the phone and wished him a lot of strength.”
The editors did decide to contact Rick’s management immediately, but they did not want to respond. “They didn’t want that, except to say that they are very proud that Rick is working on himself.”
Drink and drugs
What is Rick actually going into rehab for? “If we zoom in on Rick’s past, there have been some alcohol-related problems. In 2008 and 2009 there were some incidents. He once had a fight at the Toppers and once got into a fight with other guests on the Leidseplein. He was sentenced to community service for that.”
Bart concludes: “He seemed to be doing very well again. I’m not saying he’s not doing well at all now, but we think – and that’s pure speculation – that it’s an alcohol and drug problem. That is also why you usually go to South Africa.”
