“What kind of nonsense is this!”

Tijs van den Brink is pissed off at Wilfred Genee when he makes mincemeat of his crazy confession cam live on the radio. “What do you mean? Yes, hello! What kind of nonsense is that!”, exclaims the EO star.

© SBS, EO

Somewhere at a not too prominent time, Tijs van den Brink currently has a talk show, in which he suddenly walks up to a camera hidden somewhere in the set at unexpected moments. That camera is called the ‘confession cam’ and is used by Tijs to ‘spontaneously’ confess what he thinks about certain subjects.

Confession cam

It all looks quite ridiculous and Tijs and his confession cam are regularly ridiculed in Today Inside, especially by Wilfred Genee. The two gentlemen now meet in the studio of BNR.

Wilfred asks Tijs there: “Do you still have the confession cam or is that no longer necessary?”

Tijs: “Certainly. I hear you talk about that often!”

Wilfred: “Hahahaha! I like that one so much! The confession cam!”

Original

It’s a really absurd part of Tijs’ talk show, Wilfred thinks. “That suddenly out of nowhere you go to the left and say: ‘Yes, I have to say something about this now. I have had some sort of hormone problem for years.’ Then you just start confessing something out of nowhere, but who came up with that?”

Tijs dead serious: “Henk van Engen, the director. He said: ‘That’s an original way to break the third wall’, I believe that’s what it’s called. That happens sometimes in movies, like with Kevin Spacey.”

“You think it’s weird?”

According to Tijs, such a confession cam is good for marking your own position as a talk show host. “But you think it’s weird?”

Wilfred: “Yes, I find it amusing. I find it strange, but that is apparently also the intention.”

Tijs: “Yes, that is the intention.”

Wilfred: “But there is also something forced about it. Maybe I have to get used to it too.”

Tijs: “Maybe I should apply it more relaxed, I think so.”

Contrived

According to Wilfred, it is very artificial. “What I feel about it is that I have the feeling that it has already been planned in advance what you are going to say in that confession cam and when.”

Tijs: “No, no, that is not the case. For the broadcast, but we just have guests and at a certain point I make a plan for the conversation. Then I think: it would be useful here if I said something personal to the viewer.”

Wilfred: “But you have already discussed this with the director in advance?”

Tijs: “Yes, yes. I’ll think about it before the broadcast.”

‘Yes, hello!’

That is where things go wrong, says Wilfred. “Yes, but that’s why I don’t think it’s real. I think it will be real if…”

Tijs: “Why? Yes, hello! What kind of nonsense is that! Things you think about in advance…”

Wilfred: “Yes, I think so, Tijs. Am I allowed to find that or am I not allowed to find that?”

Tijs: “Well, I’d rather not.”

Too contrived

Wilfred thinks that Tijs would be better off taking his advice to heart. “I think it only works if it comes to mind in the moment. Everything I do is not thought out in advance.”

Tijs: “Yes, but I find it really strange to pretend that that is only real. All the books you read are thought out in advance. Are those real books or not?”

Wilfred: “Yes, of course they are thought out in advance and at some point you write it down, but it is true that it comes to mind.”

Forced

Wilfred hopes that Tijs will follow his example. “When I do something, it comes to me and I think it seems more spontaneous. If you know in advance that you will be using the confession cam at that moment, it will come across as a bit too forced.”

Tijs: “I agree with you that things need to be improved.”

Wilfred: “Try it without agreeing!”

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