“Beijing Express: The Epic of the Maharadjas” enters its final stages this Saturday, October 5, 2024 at 9:10 p.m. on M6. For Jean-Claude and Axel, the grandfather and his grandson from Gers, Fabrice and Briac, the spiritual father and son, Christophe and Claire, the chic father and the amazing daughter, and the campsite leaders, Clément and Émeline, the four pairs still competing in this All Stars season in India, a place in the semi-final is at stake. A camel trek in the driest region of India, the Thar desert, awaits them . But so that “Pékin Express” is not reduced to a competition, we will have to count on producer Thierry Guillaume to inject a humorous dimension into the program.
“As soon as the show starts, we forget the ridiculousness”
The latter “is more and more present and we work on it voluntarily“, confided this history of the show during the press conference presenting season 19. And constitutes the third pillar of the program with “surpassing oneself” et “the escape“. This season, Thierry Guillaume, that Puremédias recalled this Thursday, October 3, 2024, delighted in his findings. “I was the first amused spectator to see Christophe and Claire struggling on skis during stage 3 which ended in a white marble quarry“.
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The tests are, for the producer, an infinite playground. “Of course, the DNA of the program is preserved, the tests give rise to surpassing oneself and are inspired by the culture of the country. I’m thinking of ‘Piment Express’“But where does he draw his inspiration?”Our inspiration is social networks. Typically, we created the first test of this season, that of the biscuit which had to be swallowed without hands after having slipped it from the tilak (mark worn on the forehead by Hindus, editor’s note) to the mouth without dropping it, after seeing a similar challenge on social networks“.
If certain pairs would prefer more sporting events – Fabrice and Briac in the lead – “the candidates are most often amused by our ideas. We saw it during the biscuit test, they all died of laughter when they saw Jean-Claude struggling“. “As soon as the show starts, after ten seconds, we forget the ridiculousness. For those who haven’t completely forgotten, as soon as you put the cookie on your head, it’s done“, Christophe confided to Puremédias on July 1.
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Behind “the teasing spirit” et “the soul of a child“from the producer who is a fan of”surprises“, there is the desire to offer to viewers”a family entertainment show“open to all.”We want to make the whole family laugh (…) In front of his screen, Mr. and Mrs. Everyone, who do not have the qualities of an adventurer, do not speak a word of English and have no never hitchhiked in their life, can say to themselves, I too can participate and win ‘Beijing Express’“, assures the producer.
A complicated first part of the season on Saturday compensated by the replay
On Saturday September 14, 2024, the launch of this third All Stars edition in the history of “Beijing Express” was not full on the linear, with an average of 1.36 million viewers (7.5% of the public ) in the first part then 972,000 viewers (7.3% of the public) in the second part. The program saves its honor thanks to the replay – 700,000 viewers caught up with episode 1 on D+7 – and its honorable scores on the targets dear to M6 (19% among women responsible for purchasing aged under 50 and 25-49 year olds).
The following week, episode 2 also suffered with, on average and in watch audiences, 1.19 million viewers (6.9% of 4+) watching the first part. Barely 954,000 viewers (7.0% of 4+) were counted for the second part. The evening gained 713,000 viewers on D+7, which allowed M6 to rank as leader in the under-50s (23%) and the FRDA-50 (24%).
Last week, finally, the two parts of “Beijing Express” attracted only 1.07 million and then 904,000 viewers, or 6.0% of the public for the first and 6.5% for the second.
