Art Rooijakkers (44) crosses the border in ‘Rooijakkers over de Vloer’ to spend a day in the gigantic villa of Gert Verhulst (52). He lives there with his great love Ellen Callebaut (43). The couple talks candidly about Gert’s ‘romantic’ proposal at the time.
“It wasn’t really a proposal, but it was completely misinterpreted”
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When Art enters the villa, he immediately notices how big the house is. “900 square meters,” says Gert. “But I’m also big, so I like to have a lot of space.” Gert has had quite a few much-discussed relationships and fell in love with singers Josje and Karin from K3. He is now completely at home with his love Ellen and that is why they got married after eleven years. But whether that was planned? “Why are we actually married?” he wonders aloud. Ellen refreshes his memory: “Because you wanted to.”
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Eventually the monkey comes out of the sleeve and Gert appears to have been ‘quite fed up’ when the proposal took place. “It was actually misinterpreted,” says Gert. “I just said, ‘What if we got married? … And all of a sudden the whole party started to say,’ Wow, a marriage proposal. ‘ I was completely surprised. I wasn’t supposed to do it at the time. ” Fortunately, according to his wife Ellen, it was a very nice day.
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Due to his busy career, he was not home much for the children. “The upbringing was done by their mother, I have to say that. When you come home you don’t feel like having children who start to whine. You want quality time and you do all the wrong things. Giving presents.” He thinks his children were ‘way too good in the past, still by the way’. “Certainly Viktor will tell you everything. I don’t want to know any of that.” Art immediately wonders whether his son also shares his nocturnal adventures with his father: “That could be.”
Since Viktor is apparently such an open book, Art immediately takes his chance. He asks the Love Islandpresenter to his love life: “[Dat] is currently on the back burner. I have been alone for two years now and that is sometimes lonely. “
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Gert’s daughter Marie shares her father’s opinion: he was ‘not really concerned with them’, she says. “He took us to work. Then he stood on stage and I watched. We always liked everything.” It also has positive sides, because twenty years later it is daughter Marie who herself is on stage as the new owner of Samson. “When he asked me I thought it was a joke, because we had already had a glass too much to drink. But I was very honored. And if someone else outside the family had been the boss, I think I would have been sad. . “
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Large villa or not, Gert did not always have it that wide. “As a child I had a sweater and pants. I didn’t know any better. We had nothing, but I have always felt very rich. I often say to my children now: ‘What we are doing now is not normal.'”
The presenter’s resume consists of much more than Samson and Gert. He is even called the Flemish John de Mol and is at the helm of the children’s empire Studio 100, where series are made as Maya the bee, The ball in Mega Mindy.
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Rooijakkers Over de Vloer can be seen every Thursday evening on RTL 4 and can be viewed at Videoland.
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