Jonathan and Aurore during the fifth stop of season 14 of Beijing Express.

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Patrick ROBERT / M6

  • Jonathan and Aurore were victims of a road accident while filming

    Beijing Express

    in Turkey in September.

    A car coming in front collided with the vehicle in which they had been seated.

  • If he came out unharmed, his wife suffered head injuries.

    The couple were hospitalized and had to forfeit the rest of the game.

  • The production was later notified of the death of the driver of the car which entered the one where the candidates were.

"The shock was extremely violent," said Jonathan.

The Pas-de-Calaisien and his wife Aurore were victims of an accident about twenty minutes before the arrival of the seventh stage of the

Beijing Express

.

The incident occurred while the couple were in a car "on a slightly winding road" in Turkey.

In the episode broadcast Tuesday on M6, the candidate recounted the facts: "I see a car arriving in front of a much too important pace which goes completely out of its path and hits us head-on."

“I turn my head and the last image I see is the car hitting me.

Afterwards, I have a thud. Jonathan picks me up more or less, I don't know in what state I am.

He said to me: "We absolutely have to get out of the car, now you get out and follow me."

(…) I had such a headache, my face was no longer the same ”, declared Aurore during the same interview filmed recently, several months after the accident which occurred in September.

"At that time, I'm afraid for my wife"

“What I especially don't want is to scare Aurore.

I try to be as calm as possible and as far-sighted as possible to make sure that I bring first aid and that she feels good, that she is not invaded by a deep anxiety because it is a moment terrible for her.

At that time, clearly, I'm afraid for my wife, ”continued her husband, recalling the moments that followed the collision.

If Jonathan came out unscathed, Aurore was injured in the head.

They were hospitalized, along with their cameraman and journalist.

No footage of the accident, which involved three vehicles, was shown in the episode.

Only a wide-shot photo, showing the cars surrounded by several men, briefly appeared.

After interrupting the race for a few hours, Stéphane Rotenberg announced to the other pairs that, even if the news was "reassuring", the doctors had decided to keep Jonathan and Aurore under observation and that they were therefore fixed for the rest of the race. program.

Psychological support

“They received psychological support immediately on site and on their return to France.

This is part of the planned system, ”said Thierry Guillaume, the producer of

Beijing Express

during the press conference to launch the new season.

"We know that this is one of the risks in this program, we are on the road, we have more than a hundred people who spend six to eight hours a day in vehicles," he added.

"It is very complicated and particular to live, it is always our anguish", confided Stéphane Rotenberg.

"This is the first time [that such a serious accident has occurred], we had little clashes, something happened to me a few years ago," added the host who had been the victim of a sidecar accident while filming in the Philippines in 2012.

Production was not notified until later of the death of the driver, an 82-year-old man, of the car that entered the one in which the candidates were located.

"All our thoughts are with her family and loved ones," she wrote in a message that aired at the end of the show.

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  • M6

  • Road accident

  • Television

  • Beijing Express