Talpa bobo Paul Römer criticizes the criticism of his boss John de Mol and his big star Peter Gillis. “The bad thing for John is that he just always has bad press. That is no different.”
It really bothers Talpa bobo Paul Römer all the criticism that comes at the media company. Yesterday he sat at the talk show table of Eva Jinek to complain about the critics and more importantly: to praise his boss John de Mol and his sister Linda de Mol all to heaven.
John a sick mind?
Paul finds it ridiculous that Het Parool wonders whether John is a visionary or a sick mind. “He is a visionary of course. The bad thing for John is that he just always has bad press. That’s no different. But he is a television producer who has been passionate about inventing new things and making TV for thirty years.”
Paul thinks we should be proud of John. “He is also the only television producer in the world to have more than one world hit to his name. Nowhere else in the world is another person who has made more than one global hit. That makes him very special.”
“He’s a visionary!”
Paul has been ignored by John for nine years, but now goes through fire for him again. He points to all his hits. “Big Brother, The Voice, but don’t forget Deal or no Deal. He also has at least five, six or seven other formats that are just not The Voice or Big Brother, but are right below it. In that sense, that man is completely unique. So I would say: visionary.”
A visionary who, according to Angela de Jong, is morally bankrupt. She refers in particular to John’s decision to simply keep SBS 6 star Peter Gillis on the channel, despite the fact that he is being prosecuted by the Public Prosecution Service for the abuse of his girlfriend Nicol Kremers.
Mepping Peter
Strange, thinks fellow table guest Francis van Broekhuizen. “But he also slaps her all the time, I understand.”
Why doesn’t Paul get it off the tube? “Because we are not guided by what is said, invented, written in the press, tabloid press and so on. We asked the people themselves what happened. We spoke with Peter and Nicol, extensively and intensely, and asked them what happened.”
They deny everything, says Paul. “They told that story. They don’t recognize themselves in all the stories that have come out and that you just quoted.”
bit of a fight
According to Paul, it was just a bit of a fight. “They’ve had a fight, a big fight, they’ve had that often. They don’t blame each other, they have also made up again and everything that has been in the press, they do not recognize themselves in. They say, ‘That just didn’t happen.’”
“Who are we then to play for judge, police or public prosecutor and take them off the tube? (…) The first episode received 700,000 viewers and an 18 percent market share. That’s really good for our channel, so there are a lot of people watching this and having a bit of a laugh about it.”
