His name is inseparable from French television. First, because his mother, Martinewas a great reporter whose signature appeared for a long time in the news reports of France 2, then and above all because Alexia Laroche-Joubert, her daughter, took over brilliantly: at 55, she has just celebrate, she is today CEO of Banijay France.
Games like Fort Boyard, Koh Lanta or Don't forget the lyrics on the gaming side, shows like Don't touch my postfictions like Versaillesreality TV with Les Ch'tis : Banijay is a key player in French audiovisual creation. Alexia has been the boss of the French subsidiary for over a year. A strong woman who did not hesitate to take risks in her career.
“I have often said that I am an 'isk taker', she just told the magazine Capital. That is to say, I often put myself in danger.” An exhibition which earned him to also take blowsas when she produced Loft Story in 2001, launching reality TV in France, to the great dismay of some. The show was, however, a huge success, to the point that Amazon Prime Video devoted a season of its program to it entitled Worship, which does not only make people happy…
A press release drops: Alexia Laroche-Joubert leaves Endemol!
Loft Story was then launched by the Endemol group, for which Alexia Laroche-Joubert worked. However, in 2008, important information came to light. So in Challenges : “Endemol confirmed, Thursday March 6, the departure of Alexia Laroche-Joubert, who “leaves her position as director of reality TV programs“of the group”to devote himself to the creation of his own production company“.
At the time, few details had leaked about the circumstances surrounding the departure of the former director of the Star Academy. She just gave them away today. “I left Endemol one hand in front, one hand behind, without unemployment rightsslamming the door after thirteen years in the box,” she confides in this same interview to Capitalillustrating his side as well as possible “risk taker”. “I am one of those who have no not afraid to leave if they are no longer happy. I've been happy with Stéphane Courbit (majority shareholder of Banijay France, Editor's note) for twenty-eight years. But everyone knows that I am not afraid and I think that gives great human strength.” she specifies in the pages of our colleague.
Alexia Laroche-Joubert admits she can be tough
Strength acquired through experience. A woman of conviction, courageous, she admits in this same interview that in her early days she sometimes wanted to go too quickly, even if it meant that not everyone could follow her. “With hindsight and maturity, I tell myself that before I had leadership in which everyone had to get on board. Those who did not board were forgotten on the station platform. In the end, I probably forgot some very good people on the station platform.”
Over the years, Alexia Laroche-Joubert has learned to ensure that everyone actually gets on the train that she leads. “The goal is for us all to go together.” she says today.
This strength, even this hardness that she says she shows in this interviewparticularly during the first meetings she has with her interlocutors, Alexia Laroche-Joubert also forged her in the personal trials she went through and overcame. In 2003, she had to face the loss of her partner, Yan-Philippe Blanc, who died in a motorcycle accident. In April 2021, she lost her younger half-brother, Andreas, also in a road accident.
The family, the director of Banijay has not completely given up on it for her career. If she admits in this interview to having “clearly set aside part of his own”her daughters, Solveig and Isaure, have not suffered in any way from their mother's professional obligations. “I created a loving environment for them where I wasn't always present. And I want to believe that my daughters are doing very well and that they succeed in life, with values that are important to me.”
The only concession from this strong woman in this discussion with our colleagues, which relates to her sentimental life. Alexia, in a relationship with Mathieu Grinberg with whom she only spends half the year, confides in conclusion: “My guys might tell you that I sacrificed them a bit!”
