Rik van de Westelaken

In this Dutch name, the surname is van de Westelaken, not Westelaken.
Rik van de Westelaken
Born (1971-04-22) 22 April 1971
Vlaardingen, Netherlands
OccupationTelevision presenter
Known for

Rik van de Westelaken (born 22 April 1971) is a Dutch television presenter. He is known for presenting television programs which include the NOS Journaal, EenVandaag, Peking Express and Wie is de Mol?.[1] Other programs include the travel show Rik over de grens and the quiz show 5 Golden Rings.[1][2]

Career

In 1995 he started his career in journalism at AT5, the TV-station of Amsterdam. Between 1999–2016 he was one of the presenters of the NOS Journaal.[3] He switched from NOS to work for the channel Net5 in 2016.[4] He presented the first season of the quiz show 5 Golden Rings in 2017.[1][5] In the same year, Van de Westelaken and Sean Dhondt presented a season of the show Peking Express in which contestants traveled from Ha Long Bay, Vietnam to Angkor Wat, Cambodia.[6]

He appeared as news presenter in the 2008 film Summer Heat and as himself in the films Spion van Oranje (2009), Zomer zonder mama (2019), Alles op tafel (2021), Captain Nova (2021), De Grote Kerstfilm (2023) and the VPRO-tv series Techbitch (2025). [4]

As of 2018, he presents the current affairs television programme EenVandaag.[7][8]

In 2019, he succeeded Art Rooijakkers as presenter of the popular television show Wie is de Mol?.[8][9] Van de Westelaken participated as contestant in the show in 2015 and he ended up winning the show.[10][11] A year later, he presented Moltalk, the aftershow of Wie is de Mol?, together with Vivienne van den Assem.[12][13] In 2020, he presented both the 20th season of Wie is de Mol? and a special anniversary season called Wie is de Mol? Renaissance which celebrates the 20th anniversary of the show.[14] In the same year, Van de Westelaken and Merel Westrik competed as duo in a 2020 episode of the quiz show Deze quiz is voor jou.[15][16]

In 2021, he presented the 21st season of the show, which is his fourth season as host.[17][18] He also presented the 22nd season, 23rd season and 24th season of the show.[19] In 2025, he presented the 25th season and he also presented an anniversary season of the show.[20][21]

For AvroTros he also presented several editions of the Canal Parade in Amsterdam (2018-2022), the Award show Televizierring (2018 - 2022) and De Voorbeschouwing (2020 - 2024).

Van de Westelaken has been a member of various literary prize panels: de Gouden Strop (2012),[22] the jury for the Woutertje Pieterse Prijs (since 2024), an annual award for children's literature.[23] He has also been the head of the jury for het Boekenweekgeschenk 2025.[24] Since 2012, he has also narrated dozens of audiobooks. In 2022, he was rewarded the Storytel Award for best narrator. In 2025, he was part of the Dutch voice-cast for Zootopia.

Selected filmography

As presenter

As contestant

References

  1. ^ a b c "Rik van de Westelaken over 5 Golden Rings". Televizier.nl (in Dutch). 11 January 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  2. ^ "138.000 kijkers voor eerste aflevering Rik over de grens". NU.nl (in Dutch). 2 May 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  3. ^ "Laatste journaal Rik van de Westelaken: tijd voor nieuw avontuur". NOS (in Dutch). 26 August 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
  4. ^ a b "Rik van de Westelaken van NOS naar Net5". NU.nl (in Dutch). 7 July 2016. Retrieved 22 June 2025.
  5. ^ "Kim-Lian nieuwe quizmaster 5 Golden Rings". AD (in Dutch). 11 November 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  6. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken had niet door hoe populair Peking Express was". NU.nl (in Dutch). 3 April 2017. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  7. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken naar Wie is de Mol? en EenVandaag". NOS.nl (in Dutch). 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  8. ^ a b "Rik van de Westelaken gaat Wie is de Mol? én EenVandaag presenteren". Volkskrant (in Dutch). 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 10 November 2019. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  9. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken volgt Art Rooijakkers op bij Wie is de Mol?". NU.nl (in Dutch). 29 March 2018. Archived from the original on 9 November 2019. Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  10. ^ Tienhooven, Gudo (7 March 2015). "Winnaar Rik: Ik wilde de Mol niet eens zijn". AD (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  11. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken wint Wie is de Mol 2015". De Volkskrant (in Dutch). 5 March 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  12. ^ "Rik en Vivienne presenteren Moltalk" [Rik and Vivienne present Moltalk]. AD (in Dutch). 11 December 2015. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  13. ^ "MolTalk verhuist naar NPO 3". Televizier.nl (in Dutch). 24 November 2016. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  14. ^ "Ron Boszhard en Ellie Lust in jubileumseizoen Wie is de Mol?". NU.nl (in Dutch). 5 September 2020. Archived from the original on 10 September 2020. Retrieved 10 September 2020.
  15. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken en Merel Westrik halen bijna 50.000 euro op voor zieke zussen Jane en Rosa uit Naaldwijk". AD (in Dutch). 3 February 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  16. ^ "Deze quiz is voor jou: Eén tegen 100 meets De Surpriseshow". Het Parool (in Dutch). 2 February 2020. Retrieved 17 March 2026.
  17. ^ "1 miljoen kijkers voor bekendmaking kandidaten Wie is de Mol? 2021". Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch). 22 December 2020. Retrieved 22 December 2020.
  18. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken: 'Kandidaten toch wat terughoudender dit seizoen'". NU.nl (in Dutch). 2 January 2021. Archived from the original on 2 January 2021. Retrieved 5 January 2021.
  19. ^ "Kees van der Spek, Tooske Ragas en Jeroen Spitzenberger in Wie is de Mol?". NU.nl (in Dutch). 21 November 2023. Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  20. ^ Regeling, Judith (11 June 2025). "AVROTROS bevestigt de startdata van jubileumseizoen en regulier seizoen Wie Is de Mol?". Televizier.nl (in Dutch). Retrieved 23 June 2025.
  21. ^ "Loes, Merel of toch Nathan? De Mol van het Jubileumseizoen is bekend". NU.nl (in Dutch). 20 December 2025. Retrieved 20 December 2025.
  22. ^ "Nieuws: Rik van de Westelaken wordt de nieuwe juryvoorzitter van De Gouden Strop 2012". Tzum (in Dutch). 14 October 2011. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
  23. ^ "Rik van de Westelaken nieuwe juryvoorzitter Woutertje Pieterse Prijs". NU.nl (in Dutch). 28 October 2023. Retrieved 21 June 2025.
  24. ^ "Auteur van Boekenweekgeschenk 2025 wordt gekozen met schrijfwedstrijd". NOS (in Dutch). 22 March 2024. Retrieved 22 February 2026.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rik van de Westelaken.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.