This day when Samuel Etienne learned that he was going to present "Questions for a champion"

Since 2016, Samuel Etienne has presented the cult game of France 3 "Questions pour un champion", while retaining his journalistic activities.

Guest Monday of the show "It feels good", he explains how he found himself in this role of TV game host, a role he never sought to obtain. 

INTERVIEW

He managed to take over after 28 years of Julien Lepers and to raise the audiences of 

Questions for a champion 

on France 3. The jack-of-all-trades Samuel Etienne, who recently started on Twitch, juggles the hats of journalist and TV host.

He explains to Anne Roumanoff in the show 

It feels good

how he found himself somewhat by chance in this role of presenter, which he had not imagined but in which he flourishes today.

>> Find all of Anne Roumanoff's shows in replay and podcast here

The anecdote begins with a phone call.

Samuel Etienne, already a journalist at France 3, was then called in to try out a TV game.

But no 

Question for a champion

.

"I made the person repeat, because I did not really understand why I was called me," he recalls.

His interlocutor explains to him that they are looking for new profiles. 

Samuel Etienne gives it a try, and comes out amused by this experience.

"And then, no news for several weeks," he explains.

The journalist then said to himself that he certainly had fun, but that he was not very good in this role which is then not his as a game show host.

A busy schedule

Three weeks later, he received a new call, this time from Dana Astier, then patron of France 3. And therefore his boss.

She tells him about the fact that he made a try for a game. "I started by apologizing, because I had not asked for permission," says Samuel Etienne.

"I said it was a bit of a laugh, that it was nothing very serious and that she shouldn't be worried."

But Dana Astier interrupts him.

"You didn't understand anything," she cuts him off.

"I'm looking for someone to present 

Questions for a champion

and I think that person is you."

Five years later, Samuel Etienne still presents the game of France 3.

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This new role also requires a certain organization, since he turns the shows in one week every month, at the rate of six shows per day.

"I accumulate with Franceinfo in the morning, so that makes me work days from 2 am to 7 or 8 pm", he explains.

"That week, I call it my stinging week."

One week per month that he says should be taken "like an endurance race".

And he knows what he's talking about: Samuel Etienne practices ironman, an extreme triathlon in which swimming, cycling and marathon follow one another.

Another cap.