Creativity that crosses borders

Internationally recognized as a visionary creative talent who spent the past nine years at All3Media-owned IDTV and the last four as the Dutch prodco's creative director, Hoogendoorn co-created the format sensation The Traitors, which has become a global phenomenon with adaptations in more than 30 countries and has claimed an Emmy and a Rose d'Or award. He also created the psychological social-experiment format The Unknown and spearheaded the successful production of multiple All3Media formats, including Race Across the World, Lingo and Sort Your Life Out in the Netherlands.

In January of 2025, Hoogendoorn was brought on by Talpa Studios, the creative production house founded by formats giant John de Mol, to be the company's new chief creative officer. JA

What made you want to enter the unscripted/non-fiction content business?

"I really love stories, games, puzzles and the authenticity and emotions of real people which all come together in good formats. But the funny thing is that I remember being an eight-year-old kid who watched a lot of TV. At that age I was a big fan of a Dutch kids show where the host tries to make dreams come true for kids. I sent him a letter to become a contestant in the show and my dream was making a TV show about my favorite adventure books which I always read. My role in that dream was to become the director and create that adventurous TV show. That dream never came true (at that kids show), but maybe from that day on I started to dream bigger to create my own unscripted formats and make them come alive."