Hey, that’s striking: Wilfred Genee reacts slightly defensively when asked about the speculation about his decreased market value. “Look at our recent scores!”
You cannot deny that the market value of Wilfred Genee, Johan Derksen and René van der Gijp has fallen because their pupil Hélène Hendriks appears to achieve just as good viewing figures on SBS 6 without them. That is good news for the channel, because the station is therefore a lot less dependent on the regularly bickering VI trio.
Hélène a threat?
When the next VI bomb bursts, they will be a lot less nervous at SBS 6 than usual. Moreover, their negotiating position has also become a lot weaker: threatening to resign will not help as much as before. And according to critics, this also puts their sky-high salaries under pressure.
Does Wilfred see Hélène as a threat? “A threat? No absolutely not. I think it’s only good that she is there and that we also have a backup and she does that really well. In addition, it is of course the case that as long as we score as we have scored lately, I don’t really see it that way,” he responds RTL Boulevard.
Significant
And it is precisely Wilfred’s slightly defensive attitude that reveals a lot. You can of course answer such a question with a broad smile that you are already preparing for a significant salary drop, but apparently Wilfred still feels the need to defend himself a bit and point out to people his consistently high viewing figures.
Wilfred tries to boost his fallen market value by issuing a warning: “If it were to stop now, I would also be fine with it. I mean that in the sense of: if it ends one day… It will end one day. Johan will be 75 in three weeks, René is in his sixties, I am in my fifties and we have been doing this for a long time.”
Been nice
This way Wilfred doesn’t try too hard eager and that is always a good negotiating position. “It will end at some point. Well, we still have about a year and a half left. Then it must have been nice, right?”
What does he actually think of Hélène’s talk show? “I looked at parts of it and the parts I saw looked excellent. It was a nice atmosphere, a bit more cozy with the fireplace and all. It looked really good.”
Gordon interview
Over the past two weeks, the men of VI have missed some news, including another D66 minister resigning and the departure of Talpa boss Paul Römer, better known as Baantjer junior.
“And the interview with Gordon happened when we were not there,” says Wilfred. “Although, I actually don’t think you should pay any attention to that anymore.”