Television presenter Matthijs van Nieuwkerk is leaving public broadcaster BNNVARA following the weekend’s revelations in the Volkskrant newspaper about his bullying behind the scenes at television chat show De Wereld Draait Door.

BNNVARA issued a statement on Friday saying that it had held ‘probing conversations’ with Van Nieuwkerk and that it was disappointed with the presenter’s two written statements reacting to the newspaper claims.

Van Nieuwkerk told news agency ANP on Monday ‘the fact that my employer openly doubts my sincerity, makes it impossible to work together any longer.’

The presenter was the face of prize winning show DWDD from its launch in 2005 to final show in 2020 and several other programmes. Recordings for the popular year-end Top 2000 quiz have been cancelled.

Van Nieuwkerk said he was withdrawing from the public eye to make sense of what had happened and that he hoped to back at some point.