The adventure The Best Pastry Chef 2024 stopped last week for Benjamin, a few steps from the final. Far from being disappointed by his elimination, the solo dad was relieved when he learned that he was leaving the M6 adventure, exhausted and tired by the fourteen weeks of competition. Sometimes criticized for his cold appearance on screen or for posts on Instagram where he appears shirtless while baking, the candidate returns to the comments he received and from which he took a step back.
Benjamin (The Best Pastry Chef 2024) : “I didn’t have the goal of breaking clichés”
Tele-Leisure : Did you recognize yourself in the image when the Best pastry chef ?
Benjamin : It corresponds to a part of who I am obviously, then people see what they want. There are all opinions, there are some who will find me haughty, others bitter, others super sensitive, there is everything… Depending on what we want to see, we will see what we want.
You have shaken up a few clichés, are you proud of it? Even Cyril Lignac told you that he had preconceptions about you at the start of the competition…
I didn’t have the objective of breaking clichés by participating in the show, I am the person that I am. There are plenty of athletes other than me who bake cakes. It’s not because we play sports or pay attention to our figure that we can’t enjoy baking, it’s perhaps less common. As soon as I see that I’m gaining a little weight I stop everything, I pay attention to what I eat.
Benjamin (The Best Pastry Chef 2024) : “It’s complicated, when you see yourself on the screen and you’re super closed off”
You have been criticized for not being smiling… Did you imagine that you would be criticized for that?Yes, because I knew very well that I was super stressed when there were the cameras at the beginning. Afterwards I found that on the last broadcasts things were going much better, that I was smiling more and that I was relaxed. I paid less attention to my image, I didn’t care. I think it’s mainly a control thing not to smile, it controls my image. I needed to get my bearings and it took time. At the beginning it’s complicated, when you see yourself on the screen and you’re super closed… I could see that I was closed off but hey it’s the stress, the fact of having a camera trained on you, this is not usual
The criticism also included the fact that you appeared shirtless on the networks. What is your reaction to these kinds of remarks?
I don’t care about people, I won’t do that again but it was a joke to make people laugh. In fact, I like to shock a little, so it was for fun but I no longer want to do that, it was a pass. I like to surprise so it surprised, it had its effect. In everything I do, I react like this. No matter what people say, it remains their opinion, in everything we do, there are bound to be those who will like it and those who will not like it. But is that why we should stop doing it? Of course not.
