The survival of Khalid & Sophie has been hanging by a thread for months now: do they already know when Eva Jinek will drive them off the air? Combative: “We want to continue!”
It was more than three months ago that it was leaked that the NPO had ordered no fewer than 140 (!) episodes of a cultural talk show with Eva Jinek for the next TV season. That can only mean one thing: she will go every day again after her departure from RTL. And then, given her motherhood, there is only one conceivable time slot: 7 p.m., the old DWDD slot.
‘Very restless’
And that is exactly the time slot when Khalid & Sophie are doing their hobby. A few days after that leaked news, Khalid Kasem and Sophie Hilbrand are very irritated in front of the camera of RTL Boulevard. They are interviewed at the NPO season presentation and are pissed off: “There are names floating above the market, very unsettled.”
Which names? Well, ‘Eva’ and ‘Jinek’. After the summer it will simply take Khalid & Sophie’s place. In fact, parties such as Angela de Jong and Today Inside are calling for her maternity leave to be shortened and for her to take the place of the little-loved talk show duo after New Year’s Eve.
Update from Sophie
So it’s now three months later and Sophie is still in uncertainty. The VARA guide explains to her: “Eva Jinek is coming to the public broadcaster where she will make a program with ‘current affairs and culture’ for AvroTros. Your season runs until May 2024, but after that it is unclear to you what will happen.”
Yes, Sophie agrees. And that eats at her. “That lack of clarity is annoying. I would really think it would be a shame if we had to stop now. From the start I arrived at the editorial office skipping and since this season I have felt: yes, it is falling apart. We built, built and built. And now we want to continue.”
Do we want to continue?
Sophie wants to continue, but does the viewer want that? A poll vote on this website shows that 93 percent of people prefer to watch Eva Jinek than Khalid & Sophie. And 94 percent indicate that Khalid & Sophie is too far away from people.
Wouldn’t it be a nice option to have Eva Jinek alternate with Khalid & Sophie? No, 84 percent of voters would rather see the BNNVARA program disappear from the TV completely.