Valerio Zeno is back on television. After five years out of the spotlight, he will make his return on Monday as the presenter of a new series Real girls in the jungle. In conversation with NU.nl, Zeno tells what he has done in recent years and why he was no longer seen on TV.
“I’ve seen my phone explode before,” says Zeno. “For example, when Dennis Storm and I during guinea pigs eat each other’s flesh. But when it became known that I real girls was going to present… I never got so many messages before.”
For fifteen years Zeno was a regular face on television. He started his career in the night program 6 pack, then switched to music channel TMF and was then active for BNNVARA for almost ten years. There he presented programs such as You will have it, Dennis vs Valerio and Over my dead body. In 2018 he said goodbye to BNNVARA.
It was reported in the media that Zeno had been fired from BNNVARA. Not true, says the presenter now. “At BNNVARA I enjoyed working for nine years. I neatly finished my contract. And then I suddenly read that I was fired. Or that I no longer wanted to have anything to do with the TV world, or that I wanted to focus on my DJ career.”
All of that has never been the case. “When my contract with BNNVARA expired after nine years, I thought: I’m going to do nothing for a year.” Still, new projects came his way, such as making a podcast and a Videoland series about sneakers (his great hobby).
The presenter was therefore busy and did not miss the attention he received during his BNNVARA time. “I’ve been working in the TV world since I was seventeen and it’s been going on since then,” says Zeno. “I actually liked having it a bit quieter. If something comes along, that’s nice, but I’m not the type to grab everything out of panic. I don’t go on game shows or movie premieres to get into the picture to come.”
‘I’m not necessarily a jungle boy’
From Monday we will see Zeno again weekly on television, because then the game show will start Real girls in the jungle. Twelve female contestants, all known from the reality or influencer world, compete in a series of games in the jungle of Laos.
The program was also shown between 2011 and 2013, with Britt Dekker, among others, as the winner. Gaby Blaaser, Michella Kox and Janice Blok are among the participants this year.
Zeno says that the program makers immediately thought of him when they decided that the program would return. “They already saw that I was chasing those girls with my snow-white sneakers. That also seemed like a funny idea to me: I’m not necessarily a jungle boy.”
As a presenter, Zeno keeps the contestants in line and explains the rules of games. “I’m known for not talking fast and the candidates have a 20-second attention span, so that was another challenge.”
The presenter himself is not competitive at all. “When I play a game, I don’t care who wins. Those girls, on the other hand: when the game starts, they get black in the eyes. They do everything to win. Their talent is to open the meshes of the game during the game. looking up the law. I loved them all equally.”
Tastes Real girls to the next season? “I have to say, three weeks in the jungle is really long. I don’t think I’ve ever been abroad that long. But I certainly wouldn’t have wanted to miss it.”
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05 dec 2022 om 18:14
Valerio Zeno na vier jaar terug op tv als presentator Echte Meisjes in de Jungle
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