Johan Derksen knows that De Wereld Draait Door was not the only program with an unsafe working atmosphere. “At RTL Boulevard, girls were crying in the hallway, they were yelled at.”
There is currently a lot of controversy about the bizarre misconduct of Matthijs van Nieuwkerk as a presenter of De Wereld Draait Door, but Johan Derksen is not surprised. He has heard stories about sick work cultures on TV editorials many times in his life. One of them is about RTL Boulevard.
Hysterical whining
Johan came up with it yesterday during the broadcast of Today Inside. “I’m not surprised. Years ago, my eldest daughter did an internship at Boulevard.”
He came home with very strange stories, says Johan. “He says: ‘What kind of madhouse I’ve ended up in… In the hallway there are always girls crying who have been scolded completely because the report was not good when they came back. They are really crying hysterically.’”
John responds
RTL Boulevard star John van den Heuvel happens to be sitting at the table at VI and is asked for a response. “Do you recognize this, John, at Boulevard?” asks Wilfred Genee.
John: “No.”
Johan jokingly: “Have you never been crying in the hallway?”
John: “Yes, very often, very often. No, but that is actually what you are saying… At some point there was also a culture there, I think: if you are treated a bit harshly, they are immediately in tears.”
Having balls
So John indicates that a certain culture has prevailed at Boulevard, but apparently finds the victims – just like Johan – ‘softies’. “You also have to have a little balls now and then.”
The news about DWDD is also downplayed by John. “I can imagine that you sometimes go completely crazy. If you then notice that someone is not in focus or misses the shot, then I can also go off my plate.”
Tweet
According to critics, there is only one message for figures like John and Johan who think Matthijs’s misconduct is not too bad:
