Dutch creator of The Voice accused of victim-blaming over abuse claims on show

John De Mol said women could learn lessons from scandal that took The Voice of Holland off air

The Dutch creator of reality TV shows including The Voice and Big Brother has been accused of victim-blaming by his company's female employees after accusations of widespread sexual abuse of contestants on the original Dutch version of The Voice.

In a full-page advert in the Dutch newspaper Algemeen Dagblad, a group of employees at the production company Talpa Media castigated its founder, John De Mol, for suggesting that women as well as men had lessons to learn from a scandal that has gripped the country this week and prompted the broadcaster RTL to take Friday's episode of The Voice of Holland off air.