Ben Geelens

Benjamin "Ben" Geelens (b. January 2, 1980) is a Filipino-Brunanter reporter and TV personality. He is best known for his documentary show Motorcycle Diaries and as the commentator of MotoGP races. A known motorcycle enthusiast, Jay has appeared in movies such as Lethal Suits and Long Trip.

Family and early years
Ben was born to Hendrik Geelens and Susan Apolinario. The two of them met while Hendrik Geelens, a marine engineer, was in the Philippines. Ben was born in Koningstad, the only child of Hendrik and Susan.

Initially, Ben wanted to become a mechanical engineer, as he loved motorcycles from an early age. However, his teacher advised him to follow journalism. He studied at Grijzestad University.

Career
Ben did several other jobs, before finally being accepted by Channel 5 in 2005. He was correspondent and was the one who covered the Roodstad bombings in 2006 for his channel. Soon enough he was co-host of the informative show Happening Now, alongside Charles Cropper and Hilda van Antwerp.

From then on, Ben began honing his craft not only as a reporter but also as a documentarist. A confessed fan of Akira Kurosawa, he brought to bear his passion for filmmaking in producing two documentaries about Barzona Libre (2008) and the Prohibition (2010).

Geelens had bein working on documentary show projects since 2009, but Motorcycle Diaries was broadcasted in 2011. It was very successful and it won the Barker Award for the Best TV Show at Rosetown International Film Festival. As of 2013, he is working on another documentary of unknown topic.

Motorcycles
Ben got his first big bike in 2002. It was a Yamaha DragStar 1100. Today this motorycle is broken, but he keeps it in his garage as a keepsake. In 2007 Ben bought a Harley-Davidson Sportster, with he rode in the Motorcycle Diaries.