Well, what a surprise: the Netherlands is not looking for a program in which celebrities who consider themselves successful are honored. The TV worship of Bas Smit and Sylvie Meis is a mega flop.
Antoinnette Scheulderman clearly has no idea what is going on in society. At what point did that woman have the idea that it would be a good plan to honor celebrities such as Bas Smit, Sylvie Meis and Halina Reijn on television? To deflate them about what success feels like? About what success ‘smells’? And that prime time on NPO 1.
Tickling egos
All those celebrities knew that they were being asked for a program about their enormous success, and of course they did not know how quickly they had to say yes. They think it’s wonderful that it tickles your ego. And so we can now watch Bas Smit pretending that hysterically bawling into your selfie camera is some kind of special gift.
His celebrity colleague Sylvie makes it even more colorful. It calls out to us as a people obsessed be with her. And she also gives an insight into her past at school, that she used to be such a good student geek even. Well, it’s a shame that you choose a profession for which graduating after group four would have been sufficient. Gosh, gosh…
Bas’s sacrifices
The most embarrassing moment from the first episode of The Smell of Success? Bas who talks about the ‘dark side’ of his intense celebrity life. He says he posts six to eight Instagram stories a day. “That’s two minutes a day. I might be walking the dog, having a nice date or getting an ice cream. Could be anything.”
“But you may not see that call that I received that everything we were going to do tomorrow has been canceled, that the deal is canceled, that someone wants their money back, that someone has a complaint. You don’t see that at that moment. It is sometimes overestimated, what sacrifices people, including the people you interview in the program, have made.”
Boreout
The sacrifices Bas makes are unbelievable. What that man has to go through to entertain the people. Ehh, what does he think of that detective at the vice squad? That surgeon who provides emergency care? Or that counselor at youth care? Those who dream of a life where canceling your sponsored Insta story is the biggest concern.
Antoinnette’s program mainly illustrates how egomaniac and disconnected from reality all those celebrities are. They honestly think they have a tough job. Have they ever had a burnout? “I once had a bore-out. That’s also bad,” says Bas.
Ratings flop
Obviously, Antoinnette’s entire program is a ratings drama. “Unfortunately a big disappointment: 247 thousand viewers only at 9.30 pm on NPO 1,” writes Tina Nijkamp on her analysis channel. “That is not good after the influx of 711 thousand viewers of Hunted. The program after it, Herman van Veen 80, also scored higher.”
All painful. Or, as Tina calls it: ‘ai’. “It may not have been convenient to put Sylvie in the trailer. Many Dutch people mainly know her because of her marriage to footballer Rafael van der Vaart and other love affairs.”
Ha, and our Sylvie of all people couldn’t say what success smells like exactly. Well, sweaty socks, grass and mud perhaps?