Presenter John Williams calls it a ‘very special episode’ in advance. “It’s just different than it normally goes. I’ve been presenting the program for a few years, but I’ve never experienced this,” he says. “My wife, who thinks I’m a handyman,” says Henk. “After five and a half years, nothing is finished. It’s cold. The marriage breaks up like this, because it doesn’t work like that.”
Henk and Peggy’s house in Limburg, where her daughter Engelke also lives, has been a ruin for years. “The irritation factor is now starting to play a role,” explains Henk. According to him, his wife very often shows him a YouTube video with how to do something.
Peggy would also have a lot of comments about him. “I feel slighted. It’s not good enough what I do every time and it’s amateur work. I know that too, but I can’t do more than my best.” Peggy is now threatening to end the relationship, says Henk. “She doesn’t want to be out in the cold for another winter.”
When Peggy finds out that Henk has enlisted the help of John and his team, she initially reacts sadly. “We started this together, but it’s just too much,” she says with understanding. They agree to make it a nice house so that their relationship doesn’t end. However, Peggy is not at all happy with Henk’s intervention later on. She especially has trouble with the cameras. “I want to be able to go to work without feeling ashamed,” she says. “I’m not participating.”
It’s up to John to talk to her. “I didn’t see this coming,” said the presenter. “We were going to do something nice, weren’t we? What’s going on, Peggy?” She then stops and stares straight ahead. In the end, John’s words seem to make sense. “Something really needs to be done,” Peggy admits with some reluctance.
But then the next problem has already come up and Peggy is done with it again. Hank gets tired of it. “Man, man, man, man. Here we go again, from before.” With a family hug, this problem also seems to be solved.
When John talks extensively with Henk and Peggy, the bomb explodes. Before the conversation, she sees images of Henk talking about her. “If he sees me like this, then we’ll have to talk about it,” she says. Again she doesn’t want to talk in front of cameras. “This was not the deal. I don’t want to be portrayed that way.” Henk then indicates that he only wants them to renovate ‘that hut’ in a decent way. Whatever Henk and John say, it doesn’t reach Peggy. “I didn’t ask for couples therapy,” she sneered.
In the end, even the renovations are halted, much to the disappointment of the handymen who have been hard at work for days. When they go back to work, they will be outside in no time. Peggy has changed her mind. “All out!” she calls. Then Hank gets angry. “We’re not going to play the same video again!” Then Peggy decides not to participate in the program anymore. “The relationship is very bad for a while,” says Henk. “I don’t expect anything more.”
Later, John returns with his team to find a ‘cooled’ Peggy. “I was completely fed up,” she explains. In the end, she took the plunge to finish the renovation. Weeks later there is finally an end result that Peggy and Henk are happy with. At the end of the ride, even Peggy no longer regrets participating.
Help my husband is a handyman! can be seen every Monday at 8.30 pm on RTL 4. Episode missed? You can look back at Videoland.
