You Need Is Love’
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That is what Robert ten Brink tells RTL Nieuws. Of course, even though it wasthe thirtieth time, he enjoyed the recordings of this year’s program. “Yes, itis really a very nice program to make. Now I also think: this is wonderful andfantastic. But maybe I will think differently about it in a few months, andthere will come a time when I say: it was great .”
It is therefore not certain how long All You Need can be seen on television.”I don’t know if I want to continue with All You Need for years to come,that’s uncertain. But what is certain in life?”
‘Weird and wonderful moments’
Well, that tonight All You Need Is Love is still on television, a Christmashit that has been good for millions of viewers for years. “The joke is thatpeople ask me every year: what are you going to do this year? Then I say: Yes,just the same as last year. It’s not surprising, it’s always the fixed valuesof love and family happiness that come back, allowing us to experience themost bizarre and wonderful moments.”
And they ensure that hundreds of thousands of Dutch people shed a tear on thecouch every year. Also in the Ten Brink house. Because although not everyonewould expect it, the family – and therefore Robert himself – watches All YouNeed every Christmas Eve. “The last edits were on Thursday, then we quickly dothe last shopping on Friday and the family comes together on Saturday. Everyyear we eat the same thing: stew. And in the first commercial block of All YouNeed we grab the tarte tatin.”
‘Daughters don’t want to know anything in advance’
“And yes, I sometimes shout to the television that it could have been edited alittle better, very annoying. But it is especially nice to watch the completepicture on the couch with the family. My daughters never want to know inadvance what’s in the episode. They really want to let loose in the ‘ugly crymoment’.”
That moment is guaranteed tonight, says Ten Brink. And yet you never see thepresenter himself with a tear in the picture. “No, I don’t want that. I don’tmatter at that moment, so I shouldn’t stand there crying. But of course I’vehad to swallow hard in recent years. Not only me, also the camera crew,production and editors. Then you think: Jesus, this was so intense again. Orhow beautiful, how special.”
Whether Ten Brink can remember anything special from his very first episode?”Well, not really. I only remember that we had a table full of bachelors. Wereally thought of them as a special kind of breed and gave them hot soup forcomfort. But in general everything was different back then than it is now.Just look how we all looked: so clumsy and goofy with shoulder pads.”
The work on the program was also very different then, Ten Brink looks back.”We had no mobile phones, no mobile internet. On the way we always hadquarters with us to call the editors at a gas pump, how things had gone withshooting. And everyone was still smoking, everywhere. It was a completelydifferent world.”
‘Whole surprises were made’
In addition, the editors received bags full of mail, with people making thecraziest things just to get noticed. “We have received tens of thousands ofletters in the past thirty years. But we also received crafts, whole surpriseswere made in the hope of being selected. Now we receive e-mails all yearround, but it is still difficult to choose who should be in the episode comes.We always keep in mind that we are not an emergency service, but anentertainment program.”
And although Ten Brink also works on other programs every year, most stillrecognize him as Doctor Love. “Sometimes I get a bit tired of that nickname.Then I think: yes, now we know. Only take two love tablets a day, I oftenrespond standard.”
“Fortunately, most of them just call Robert to me on the street. And thatalways increases during this Christmas period, then people look at me inamazement when I cycle through Amsterdam. But hey: I also live somewhere.”
In the meantime – no doubt – many marriages have been concluded through theintervention of Ten Brink and babies born by All You Need Is Love. But itdoesn’t always go well. Because after 30 years, Ten Brink is still faced withsurprises during recordings. “But that’s not necessarily wrong, becausesomething only goes wrong if you’ve figured out how it should go in advance.And we don’t. So if someone says ‘no’ to a love request, that’s what it is.
After 30 years, that is also my greatest lesson from the All You Need life:everything always goes differently than you have planned in advance.”
The 30th Christmas special of All You Need is Love can be seen on RTL4tonight from 8 p.m.