- This Tuesday at 9:05 pm, M6 broadcasts the final of "Beijing Express, on the legendary road". The two finalist pairs are Pauline and Aurélie as well as Julie and Denis.
- "From the start, it will be special," warns host Stéphane Rotenberg. These pairs indeed finished both in second position of their first respective participations in the adventure game.
- Stéphane Rotenberg also returns for “20 Minutes” on the consequences of the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic on the shooting of the next season.
The party is almost over. The anniversary edition of Beijing Express , "on the legendary road" ends this Tuesday evening, at 9:05 pm on M6 with a final opposing the last two pairs still in the race. On the one hand, Pauline and Aurélie, the Lille frangines, and on the other, Julie and Denis, the Corsican couple. Particularity of these two duos who will compete to try to win a sum of up to 100,000 euros: they finished in second place in the game during their first respective participations (in season 3 for some, in season 9 for others) … “There is a huge stake”, summarizes Stéphane Rotenberg that 20 Minutes joined by phone on Monday. The host, confined to his home, also mentioned the suspended shooting of the next season ...
The filming of the next season of "Beijing Express" has been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic. Have you considered starting from scratch when it is possible to turn again?
We went to Uganda, then to Ethiopia and we had to go back. We're not going to throw away. The economic impact is already enormous. It would be a shame for the candidates who left and then we shot episodes which are very good. I think we will keep the episodes shot, but the route announced at the start may not be the one we will do at the finish, and again, maybe we will succeed in doing it. The viewer will understand that the route presented during the first episode is not the one that was used in fine. This is not very annoying.
Could it be that the planned route will be considerably modified?
We will try to go back on the same road. But it depends on the time. We were in Africa, which is out of step with us at the level of the pandemic. When Europe can leave, it may not be the case again for Africa. So are we going to wait for the situation to stabilize all over the world? Or are we going to go to another continent? We are not asking these questions yet, because in any case we are confined; but it will be necessary to ask them in due time.
Two weeks ago, "Beijing Express" was deprogrammed to pay homage to Albert Uderzo who had died a few hours earlier. This made many viewers pissed off, who made it known on social networks…
This surprised the chain a lot. Today, there is a culture of platforms where we have all the programs at once, we watch them whenever we want. Television operates on another lever with broadcasts on a specific date and time. It's pretty outdated, I would say. [In a period of containment], the channels remake audience scores from another era. The French watch television almost an hour and a half more a day than usual, that makes colossal, historical figures. The reactions on social networks are then the equivalent of the letters we received twenty years ago: people, when they don't have their programs, moan. A few weeks ago, they would have just skipped something else. There was a wait. It was however impossible not to pay homage to Uderzo, all the more for M6 which produced the last animated feature films Asterix. He was a considerable artist. Moreover, it was a success of audience [ Asterix, the domain of the gods allowed the chain to get ahead of all its competitors by gathering 3.8 million people]. So there is no debate. But it is true that there have been astonishing reactions. I was even sent videos of children who almost cried.
It may be a comforting emission during confinement…
There is an attachment from part of the audience. Many viewers watch the program imagining they are doing it. The program works on two rhythms: the race and the discovery of the other. The competition part is very prime time and the dinner part with the locals is almost France 5 I would say. Normally, a program only works on one lever. Beijing Express is an exception. Younger children love the game and adults often focus on something else: the links in pairs, the curiosity to see how people live… While we are in the era of multi-screens - kids are with their phones in their rooms and the parents are watching something else - we manage to gather several audiences. It's rare and pretty awesome.
This Tuesday, the final of the anniversary edition will oppose two pairs who each lost in the final of their respective seasons…
From the outset, this will be special, we know that there is a huge stake for each of the candidates. There is a pair who will ward off the spell and another who will relive the same mishap. It is true that it is great to be a finalist, but generally we find it very hard to lose the final. The participants philosophize by saying that they have lived a fabulous story, that it's great to have come this far ... but deep down they all admit it: defeat, they have it across their throat.
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