Dutch Reality Stars Insult Presenter Sophie Hilbrand – Criticism and Response

Tamara Elbaz and Maria Tailor, known from the reality show Real Housewives of Amsterdam, recently discussed the appearance of Dutch presenter Sophie Hilbrand in the podcast Geen Filter. “Every now and then I take a screenshot and send it to people,” Elbaz says in the podcast. “Why do you look like that? There’s no need to look like that, right? I may be a bit of a caricature, but I do look presentable. And Sophie Hilbrand looks like she died 20 years ago and is decomposing. I can’t make it anything better.”

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The two have already received a lot of criticism on social media, but many Dutch celebrities (well-known Dutch people) also stood up for Hilbrand and were disturbed by the two’s statements in the podcast. The presenter did not immediately respond to the statements, but decided to take a different tack. She invited Elbaz and Tailor to the talk show Sophie & Jeroen. In it she wanted to discuss the female ideal of beauty. “I escaped from death for a moment to be here,” she joked to the two.

At the table, Elbaz acknowledged that her statement was “not helpful.” “I understand now, when I look back, that it came across as quite rude,” she says. “I also receive hundreds of messages a day about my appearance. I just assume that someone else feels the same way.”

Tailor also thought they had made a mistake. “We also talked about this and I also said: ‘I don’t know whether we are supposed to lose weight to a woman.’ We like to roast each other, but I think we made a mistake talking about another woman.”