INTERVIEW
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of the show, Beijing Express returns to basics with an "all star" season that begins Tuesday evening on M6. First the route, which will connect Moscow to Beijing as in the first season, but also and above all the candidates. "We redid this original route, from which the show takes its name. We did an event season, with candidates who marked the different seasons", confides Stéphane Rotenberg, the game host, on Europe 1.
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"Good candidates"
For this 15th season, we will therefore follow former candidates through Russia, Inner Mongolia, or even on the Wall of China. "They are not necessarily winners, but simply good candidates, who know how to get the empathy of the locals to move forward," says the host, without revealing names. "We take people who love each other, who have strong ties. The pairs that go far in the game, it's because they love each other," says Stéphane Rotenberg.
"They are a little emotional at times, it's a race, a competition, and you have to win, so it ignites feelings. But these people basically love each other at the start and it shows," insists the presenter.
Complications for filming in China
But, as during the filming of the show of Top Chef , the team of the program encountered problems ... The shooting in China took place during the festivities of the regime's 70 years (and before the epidemic of coronavirus), and the filming authorization has been canceled. "We had crossed Russia, and arriving in China, the authorization of turning jumped", explains Stéphane Rotenberg. "We had to go back to France and come back later. Besides, I had to stop Top Chef to go back to Beijing! They said that 17 cameras were free during the Party's birthday, that was not a good idea. idea ", jokes the star host of M6.
Stéphane Rotenberg will soon start shooting a 16th season of the Beijing Express . It should unveil a new project to come on M6 at the end of next April.