“Numbers and letters”: an ex-candidate and a teacher to replace the pillars of the game

Europe 1 with AFP 11:59 a.m., August 30, 2022, modified at 12:01 a.m., August 30, 2022

A former candidate, Stéphane Crosnier, and a school teacher, Blandine Maire, will replace Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat as referees of "Numbers and Letters" after the controversial departure of these two figures from the show, announced the producer Patrice Laffont on Télé 7 Jours on Tuesday.

Stéphane Crosnier "is a very charismatic former candidate, prodigious in numbers. He was brilliant in many 'Numbers and Letters' tournaments. But he also has a very good sense of television since he worked as a sports editor at BFM TV and RMC Sport", explained Patrice Laffont.

A "forced and forced" departure

Blandine Maire is a "small section teacher".

In addition, "she is a lawyer and has also worked on television as a journalist (...) with Olivier Minne or on Fort Boyard", declared Patrice Laffont.

"With the arrival of Blandine Maire and Stéphane Crosnier, the animation will perhaps be a little more threesome, in a less mechanical way, even if Laurent Romejko remains the master of the game", he assured.

After an official from France Télévisions made the announcement in the newspaper

, Bertrand Renard and Arielle Boulin-Prat denounced a "forced and forced" departure after 47 years and 36 years respectively. years of presence in this game with exceptional longevity (half a century on the clock).

#DesChiffresEtDesLettres

A press release from Arielle #BoulinPrat and Bertrand #Renard, pillars of the emblematic game show of @francetvpic.twitter.com/H4n9nKFYjx

— Jean-Francois Guyot (@JFGuyot) August 22, 2022

They will appear on air for the last time on the weekend of September 10-11, during the broadcast of the last numbers recorded with them, and will be replaced on screen by their successors from September 17.

Broadcast only on weekends

The main host of the game broadcast on France 3, Laurent Romejko, will continue to occupy this role which he has held since 1992. The season which opens marks a revolution for the show: previously daily, it will now only be broadcast on weekends, at 5.15 p.m., with a few changes to bring "a little more suspense", according to Patrice Laffont.

"Saturdays and Sundays are always more complicated. For our public, which is a little older, Saturdays are often the day when people escape. I still think that at the end fifty years old, the show had a reason to disappear somewhere, but France Télévisions wanted to keep the brand, "commented Patrice Laffont, himself host of the game from 1972 to 1989.