For months, Aimée Tent (25) had to keep it to herself that she and her partner Rik van Selling (27) were the winners of Holland’s Got Talent 2023. But now that the news has been out in the wide world since Friday, the outpouring is great. “Lost my voice from the screaming.”
As an acro-gymnast (combination of dance and acrobatics), the Meppel native has been competing at top sports level for years, but she never expected to come first in a show program, she looks back. “The win actually didn’t matter at all. Rik and I just thought: we’re going to create the best version of ourselves and then we’ll see.”
Only after her last performance in the final does she realize what she is actually doing, she says. “Then we had to get on stage with all the talents and I thought: Oh, this is a competition. Then I got really nervous.” When the winner is then announced, time flies by. “Then the envelope is opened and every heartbeat seems to go in slow motion. It all took so long. Then I heard ‘Rik!’ and my name for a few seconds. That was a very bizarre moment.”
They were surprised that they won, but the act they performed that evening went exactly as it should, she says. “I was really proud that all the things we rehearsed worked out. I was so happy when it was finished.”
Participation in the RTL program took place in complete secrecy. “The audition rounds were already in April and the final was in June. But outside the recordings it was not happening at all. No one knew we were participating.” It only became more difficult when their audition was broadcast seven weeks ago, but Tent had no trouble keeping the big news to himself. “I thought it was a fun acting game.”
During her participation in the talent show, she “trained really hard,” says Tent. “Thanks also to the people around us. We created the entire act ourselves, but we needed a gym where we could train.” And that was allowed, with an acquaintance in her hometown of Meppel. “She asked us, ‘What are you training for?’ ‘Yes, for a show’, we just said.” Aimée Tent lost her vote the day after the final results. “From all the screaming,” she says, laughing.