Willem van Hanegem is not a fan of Martien Meiland at all. The football analyst even finds the television star of SBS 6 a bit scary. “What kind of country are we that we all love that?”
So far they have steadfastly withstood every media storm: the Meilandjes. The accusation that they are racist has really had no influence on their viewing figures: they remain one of the biggest ratings hits of SBS 6. It leads to great incomprehension among Feyenoord icon Willem van Hanegem.
‘It’s terrible!’
Willem therefore does not understand at all that the Meilandjes are so popular, he says in the Weekend† He doesn’t even want to think about sitting out an entire episode of Chateau Meiland. “No, please don’t. That is just as bad (as Over My Dead Body, which he also denounces, ed.). That’s impossible!”
Why? “Why? I find that really terrible, it irritates me immensely. Martin’s voice and acting so scary and stuff, that’s really bad. I don’t understand, they are very popular. Then I think: what kind of country are we that we all love that? That is just too crazy for words.”
Over my dead body
What’s wrong with the widely acclaimed Over My Dead Body? “Yes, that program… The funny thing is that those people still look good, but suddenly things can go very fast. And then it ends very quickly, isn’t that terrible to see?”
He much prefers to watch Matthijs van Nieuwkerk. “Matthijs always has nice programs, now also the new knowledge quiz. I think that is a very nice and good program.”
Willem refuses Matthijs
Yet he refused an item in Matthijs’ program Matthijs goes door. “There’s an item with people over 70 or 75 and what they think about death and stuff. The editors called me and I said that I think it’s a great program and the music is great and fun.”
“So then they made an item with me on the golf course. But then I heard that the conversation was about death. I called them and said, ‘No, I’m not going to do that.’”