Niels De Ruiter was born on January 21st, 1983 in Lelystad, Holland. He made his TV debut in 2006 and has the nickname The Excellent Dude. He began playing darts in 1999 at the age of 16. On his debut at Lakeside in 2006 De Ruiter was knocked out in the first round.

In 2007 he returned to Lakeside and made it to the semi finals of the BDO World Championship. He failed to produce his best darts and was beaten by Phil Nixon. In 2008 De Ruiter was again unable to get beyond the first round of the competition losing to Glenn Moody.