The study is a randomized (study drug assigned by chance), double-blind (neither physician nor participant knows the name of the assigned drug), placebo-controlled Phase IIb trial with TMC435 in participants with chronic, genotype 1, hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection who have failed standard treatment with pegylated interferon (Peg-INF-alfa-2a) and ribavirin (RBV). The study will compare the efficacy, tolerability and safety of different regimens with TMC435 combined with standard treatment (Peg-INF-alfa-2a and RBV) versus standard treatment alone. The trial will consist of a screening period of maximum 6 weeks, a 48-week treatment period, and a 24-week follow-up period. Participants will be eligible to enroll in the trial if they failed to respond to a prior course of standard treatment or relapsed following standard treatment. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive TMC435 with standard treatment for 12 weeks followed by standard treatment (plus placebo) for 36 weeks, TMC435 (100 mg or 150 mg once a day) with standard treatment for 24 weeks followed by standard treatment (plus placebo) for 24 weeks, TMC435 (100 mg or 150 mg once a day) with standard treatment for 48 weeks, or a placebo with standard treatment for 48 weeks.