It is quiet around VPRO fantasist Tim den Besten. Very quiet. How is he doing these days? Even his old buddy Nicolaas Veul doesn’t know. “Haven’t spoken to him in a year and a half.”
It was a huge shock at the end of 2023: Tim den Besten turned out to have been guilty of disgusting and possibly punishable misconduct on the gay dating app Grindr, where he made several victims. Three reports have been filed against him by men who claim that he misused their identity on the app.
Bizarre fantasy
Tim is accused of posing as the three gentlemen on Grindr for a long period of time. During nights of conversations, he is also said to have taken nude photos from potential dates. And in doing so he would have behaved like some kind of bizarre, unscrupulous fantasist. Reprehensible and very sad.
A day after Tim was confronted with this by a journalist from Het Parool, he called in sick. He did not provide a substantive response, but suddenly revealed that he was suffering from a rare form of cancer. The timing was very striking; Johan Derksen even said he hoped that the presenter would not make up his sickbed to divert attention.
Where is Tim?
It is now almost a year and a half later and we have not heard anything from 37-year-old Tim. Even his old buddy Nicolaas Veul, with whom he made programs for years, never spoke to him again.
The TV maker, who is on a promotional tour for his program 100 Days, says no Show news: “I haven’t had contact with him for a year and a half. It is confusing and terrible that he is ill, but I cannot say much about it in that sense. He has withdrawn and yes, again, I respect that.”
No contact
Nicholas was also asked about it NPO Radio 1. When asked if they were friends or colleagues, he says: “Both. We’ve also been friends and we’ve also had times when we were more like colleagues. Sometimes you are so deep into a project that you have had enough of each other for a while and then you do fun things together again.”
He also indicates that he no longer has any contact. “No. No. He has ummm… I find it difficult to talk about this. I just want to say that first, because I haven’t had contact with him for a long time. He has completely withdrawn and I respect that. I think it is sad, but no, I have no contact.”
“Is that because of you?”
Presenter Margreet Reijntjes finds this striking. “But that’s not your fault?” she asks about the abrupt contact stop. “You made an effort to get in touch?”
Nicolaas: “Yes, I really made myself heard, of course, yes.”
Margreet: “It was a shock for you too, I think, that this happened?”
Nicolaas: “Huge. No, it’s terrible, on all sides. All emotions come through and it is a very terrible, strange situation.”
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