- On the occasion of season 13 of Beijing Express , soon to be broadcast on M6, the channel will celebrate the fifteen years of the show.
- Seven pairs of former candidates take part in this season which will leave from Moscow (Russia) and will end in Beijing (China).
- On the regulatory side, the “prohibited car” sign, for example, remains in force, but this time, all stages are eliminatory.
The new season of Beijing Express, soon to be broadcast on M6, will be the thirteenth. But the adventure game having been launched in 2006, the chain chose to celebrate its fifteen years. For the occasion, the production called upon former emblematic candidates, embarked on the course of the first edition, between Moscow (Russia) and Beijing (China). "Back on the legendary road", as this edition was entitled, was presented to the media on Tuesday. Here are the main things to remember.
The casting
Seven pairs will be on the starting line. "We wondered about the possibility of doing this anniversary season with new participants, but going there with old ones made sense," notes host Stéphane Rotenberg. The names that leaked in the press at the start of the school year have been confirmed. We will therefore follow the tribulations of:
- Matthieu and Thomas, the lumberjack brothers of season 12
- Maxime and Alizée, the young Parisian couple from season 11
- Maurice and Thierry, the father-son duo of season 11
- Julie and Denis, the explosive Corsican couple of season 9
- Cécilia and Mathieu, the hyper competitive duo of season 5
- Pauline and Aurélie, the Lille twins of season 3
- Fabrice, who was paired with Briac in season 12, will team up with Ingrid in season 7.
Note that Laetitia and Aurélie, the Auvergne sisters who won season 12, will take the route of the Bis Itinerary , which will be broadcast after each episode of Beijing Express .
The course
The very first season, The Trans-Siberian Highway , took the candidates from Moscow to Beijing via Mongolia. Rebelote fifteen years later. Or almost. The route taken for this anniversary season will not be "exactly the same route, we notably squeezed part of Mongolia", specifies Stéphane Rotenberg. The shooting, which took place at the end of the summer, was interrupted for three weeks. “The decision was not made along the way, we knew from the start that we were going back to Paris. The teams therefore returned to France once the Russian stages were put in a box. The pairs were all aware before embarking on the adventure.
China, which had authorized filming on its territory, has finally backtracked seeing these cameras arriving in the country at the time of the celebrations of 70 years of the Chinese Communist regime, recalled Stéphane Rotenberg on Tuesday. The authorization was only reinstated after the festivities had ended.
All stages will be eliminatory
This anniversary season will not be quite like the others, in every sense of the word. "We took the risk of making stages in two days with only one night per bonus," warns Stéphane Rotenberg. The number of episodes will be tightened, especially since no binomial eliminated can hope to be saved by the black envelope: all the stages will be eliminatory.
No immunity test will be completely new. "We have reused those that we liked the most in previous editions," reveals the host. If the "express phone", which allowed those who had their hands on it to call a loved one, does not reappear in the thirteenth season, the new rules put in place recently remain current. The “prohibited car” sign will always oblige the pairs to change their means of transport and elimination will be played again at the end of a final test.
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