Raphaël de Casabianca packs up! Last two issues of Meeting in unknown land already filmed are still planned with the presenter (one with Kendji Girac, filmed a few weeks before his family drama and one with Tomer Sisley). But it will indeed be replaced. This is what our colleagues at Parisian this Wednesday June 19, 2024. The one who flew to Guinea-Bissau a few months ago with the singer Slimane is leaving his place. Because the famous faraway escape program “is preparing to welcome a new incarnation“.
But then, who takes over? “Impossible to reveal to you the identity of the lucky one, because their identity has not yet been definitively chosen“, Write the Parisian. Frédéric Lopez, the creator of the show, who himself gave way to Raphaël de Casabianca in 2018, “must see Stéphane Sitbon-Gomez, number 2 at France Télévisions, very quickly to make this choice. With one goal: to relaunch the show, which had seen its audiences exceed 8 million viewers with Zabou Breitman in 2012, and which is less of an event“.
A forced departure for Raphaël de Casabianca?
We could therefore think that this was a forced departure. But no. Raphaël de Casabianca has just ensured At Parisian “be at the origin of this decision“. He then mentions “emotional fatigue“, to justify his choice: “Meet yourself in an unknown land is intense physically and psychologically and you don’t get used to saying goodbye. It’s a heartbreak with each journey that leaves its mark. I was attached to the idea of seeing the people I met again, but I quickly understood that this was simply impossible. It became harder and harder to manage and, over time, I became more and more fragile I think..”
What the one who co-presented Close call previously on France 5 adds: “I also find it more and more difficult to land and return to normal life after each trip, which has consequences for me but also for those around me. We do not emerge from these experiences unscathed. This is true for my guests, but even more so when you experience each trip intensely several times a year. Relax a little after 6 years of Échappées Belles and 6 years of Rendez-vous en terre stranger became necessary for me.“
A strong decision on the part of Raphaël de Casabianca, who now needs to rest. And he deserved it…
