- In the TLMVPSP chair since November, Sandrine bowed during her 143rd participation.
- She is now the fourth greatest champion in the history of the game.
It had been comfortably installed in the armchair since November 3, and punctuated the lunch of many homes. Sandrine, fourth biggest champion of Everyone wants to take her place on France 2, bowed this Saturday during her 143rd participation. It is a questionnaire on the round ball that will have got the better of this French teacher.
Confined to her home like all French people, the candidate took stock by phone with 20 Minutes , on this exceptional journey crossed by a historic strike at Christmas, and an unprecedented health war against the coronavirus.
How are you Sandrine?
Like everyone, we go around in circles in the apartment, we try to keep the children in almost normal condition! (laughs) It's complicated.
Do you go to school for your children?
Yes, I follow the instructions which are transmitted by the master and the mistress.
You bowed this Saturday during your 143rd participation, we do not hide our disappointment ...
You must not! It's already good ! And then there were people ready to explode so they were tired of seeing my head!
Really ?
If social networks are an indicator, obviously some can not take it anymore and are at the end of the rope! I think people find it boring.
And you, have you got tired of the game?
I do not know if I got tired, but it is true that it is a bittersweet impression. On the one hand you have to take the defeat and it's not very pleasant to digest. But on the other hand there is still a relaxation and a pressure less, compared to the fact of having to keep the wheelchair, to assume the role of champion and to be in representation… The fact of no longer being in this place, I breath.
Did you imagine getting to this point?
So not! When I passed the fifty emissions, I couldn't believe it! The more it progresses, the better not to think about it too much, because otherwise we end up putting pressure on ourselves by looking at statistics, comparing with previous champions ... But it's also very lucky. For example, this week, during a theme on Panama, I had no idea of the answer to the question "in which sport the Panamanian Irving Saladino, is he the only Olympic medalist in his country"? I responded completely to the snap “long jump”, and that was it! It is at these kinds of moments that we realize the most of the burden of being in the chair and making matches every day against different people, on different themes…
Sometimes you could wonder about your choices of somewhat risky themes ...
It's one in four choices! And then, there is a strategy part from the point of view of types of questions which fall on certain types of questionnaires. I often avoided questionnaires on an individual person, an actor or an author for example. Because, even if we know him well, there are not necessarily only questions related to his work.
And are there themes that you feared more than others?
This last final showed all of France that I suck in football! (laughs) There is nothing to do and it is a big mistake in choosing a theme.
Have revisions been taking up a lot of your time in recent months?
Yes, so much so that it had become a joke at home, my children couldn't take it anymore. I had three spreadsheets with questions, data, statistics ... Fifty open Wikipedia tabs ... It was a full time job!
But how can we make statistics on "TLMVPSP"?
There are fifteen years of programs, archives available ... Fans who keep accounts of frightening precision on the champions' averages, the probabilities according to the composition of the competition ... There is data to exploit!
Did you still set yourself a minimum goal to reach?
The cap of a hundred victories was important. One day laughing, I told my youngest sister that if I got to the hundredth and won the car, it would be for her! The closer it got, the more I felt compelled to win this car in order to be able to offer it. But if not on a day-to-day basis, these are the smallest goals that we set for ourselves, such as getting to the end of this shooting day, then the week… Or even reaching the record of this or that former champion… I am I'm glad I only lost today, because Thursday was my grandmother's 90th birthday, I was able to give her a little message on the show, and Nagui wished her happy birthday.
How were your last days of filming, did you have to respect certain precautionary measures with the rise of fears towards the coronavirus?
My last filming was on March 6, the government started to give instructions. But production has also taken initiatives on its own. From the filming on March 4, we had the firefighters at the entrance of the candidates, the staff and the public, and they took everyone's head temperature. The employees and the intermittent technicians had to sign a certificate to confirm that they had not visited areas which were homes at the time, or to mix with people coming from these areas. And from the second or third day of shooting that week, there was hydroalcoholic gel for the candidates. The following week I don't know since I was no longer there.
You have been champion since November 3, you went through the big strike, then the confinement. Two periods when many people stayed at home and were able to watch you daily. Are you aware of being part of the daily life of the French?
There are all kinds of reactions, which I don't know if it is a factor of duration or the effect of confinement, but when I go out to my neighborhood to go to the pharmacy or go shopping for basic necessities, there has more people than before who recognize me. Those who speak to me are happy to recognize me. There is an effect of sympathy, of humanity, which is very pleasant to see.
You talked about it before, but did you manage to ignore the critics?
At the beginning what touched me the most was that the comments were very misogynistic, on my physical appearance, my hair, my clothes… I contacted Marie-Christine [the biggest winner on the show very early on] with 213 wins], because I wanted to talk to her about the fact that I was rowing with comments… It is the benchmark as a champion but also as a woman. At the time, it was the only one that lasted the longest. She was so kind as to advise me, to tell me that everyone had been there, that misogyny was just a symptom, that even the male champions had taken it for their rank ... Everyone advised me not to go on the networks but it is not obvious, especially when we talk about you. I know it's not a realistic reflection of what people may think, it's mostly a small group of the same people who come to complain every day. As a teacher, I'm no stranger to criticism, I'm used to it. The students do not all love me, they are not all happy with what I do in my class, with my methods, just like some parents. But what was different in this experience was not having the right to reply, not having a channel through which to communicate, because responding on social networks is a waste of time ... They are cut off in their opinions and we won't make them change their minds. It is a dialogue of the deaf.
What can we wish you now?
Wish everyone that the containment is as successful and as fast as possible, so that we can all benefit perhaps not from spring, but or less from summer!
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